An invention

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Gentlemen

This may be premature to announce But, I have come up with a case that can hold Steam and Deisel Loco’s from 13" to the Big Boy size of 24" one that never has to be handled by the human hand but once when you first put it in the case . After that its drive in and drive out. I have a patent on this and will be available to view very soon on the web. What gave me the Idea was my BLI 2-6-6-4 unit was a bear to hook together all the time. Between not being able to see the plug anymore because of bad eyes , and taking the chance of screwing up the rods. It also works great for Deisels when you keep 3 or 4 units together all the time. Like an A-B-B-A config. Well thats all I can I say for now.

2

Necessity is the mother of invention. I would say for you to patent it, to protect your rights, but the Chinese will steal it anyway.

3

Is it anything like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRAIN-SAFE-HO-CARRYING-CASE-12-USED-/170582240484?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item27b77e6ce4

4

Or like this: http://www.train-safe.de/index_en.php?section=10 ? (Their stuff is expensive, and their web shop is pretty poor - but the products looks cool).

Or for that matter, like this:

(Home made cassette - a 1x3" plank, two aluminium brackets, a strip of track bed and some flextrack - cost very low, no copyrights or patents :slight_smile: )

It is not a given that a train cassette (with a box around it or not) will be a new invention you can get a patent on. But the best of luck to you, anyways!

Smile,
Stein

5

Without actually seeing what you have invented, it’s hard to say for sure, but similar devices have been in existence for G-scale trains for some time, so your patent may be challenged.

See, for example,

http://www.backontrackrr.com

and I’ve seen another one advertised called Trackrtote.

6

You really need to use the Aqua Teen Hunger Force “GENTLEMEN, BEHOLD!” when presenting inventions… [:P]

Why do you even need to handle it manually even once - can’t you just ‘drive’ in the locomotive initially?

Getting a patent is not cheap, at least not in the US - I’ve read it cost $5K to $10K for simple ones (I could have misread - it is the Internet after all), and already in this thread we have had 3 examples of commercially available similar prior art (admittedly 2 seem from Europe), along with some home-built concepts (actually, isn’t the train storage cassette concept big in the UK, in conjunction w/ fiddle yards)? Any good patent search for prior art should have turned up this (and probably others too), but unless you
a) have some sort of documented proof you came up with the idea awhile ago (I’d guess the 1980s),
b) came up with a new, non-obvious improvment/twist/modification to such cassettes
c) got someone else to pay for your patent application
I fear you may have gotten rooked.

7

No not at all. It’s much much better. There isn’t one like mine out there.

8

It is patented.

9

You could be correct unless, you have been in the manufacturing buisness for several years and real good friends in the buisness.

10

Getting a Patent is cheap. Defending a Patent usually prohibitively expensive. All the while some off shore company is selling your design for 10 cents on the dollar. Welcome to America.