spring steel wire and its strength

[Petrol & Powder]

Actually, the guy was an independant who first came out with it. Don't remember his name but he didn't think it was something neat, just a better (stronger) thread for his sewing Co.

Sounds like that 100-mpg carburetor that didn’t actually exist but lots of people claimed it did because someone else told them it existed.

The gal that invented Kevlar worked for Dupont and had a chemistry degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Dupont held the patent on Kevlar because thier chemist invented Kevlar.

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[Snakeoil]

And because she was working for Dupont at the time and specifically working to create those types of fibers, Dupont owned the patent, not her.

That is common practice with pretty much all companies. At GE if you developed a patentable product, you got your name put on the patent and GE would issue a really nice plaque honoring your accomplishment. And you usually got a check with the plaque. But GE owned the rights. We all signed a document when we were hired agreeing to this. The doc said that pretty much anything you develop, belongs to them. But they also were fair in that if they had no interest in the design, they would not snatch it away and sell the rights to someone else. They would let you have the rights to do with as you please. I seem to remember somebody coming up with an idea for a better toothpaste tube and GE let them keep the idea. A lot of the stuff we take for granted was invented/created at GE R&D over the years.

Gortex is another product with an interesting birth. Apparently, the drive system that was used in making plastic sheeting like the stuff we see in plastic bags. Got out of whack and incorrectly stretched the plastic material. At first they thought it was just a huge role of plastic scrap they'd not be able to use. But they looked closer and found that the molecular structure had been altered such that liquid water would not pass thru, but water vapor would. I might have screwed up the details a bit, but that's the general story I was told by the scientists. A type of Gortex was used in the Plug Power Fuel Cells.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

That is common practice with pretty much all companies. At GE if you developed a patentable product, you got your name put on the patent and GE would issue a really nice plaque honoring your accomplishment. And you usually got a check with the plaque. But GE owned the rights. We all signed a document when we were hired agreeing to this. The doc said that pretty much anything you develop, belongs to them. But they also were fair in that if they had no interest in the design, they would not snatch it away and sell the rights to someone else. They would let you have the rights to do with as you please. ...........

/\ I am perfectly fine with that arrangement.

That practice goes back centuries, and it is very reasonable.

The company is taking the risk. The company is laying out money to equip a laboratory, shop, drafting studio, etc. The company is paying the salaries of the people who were expressly hired to invent things, solve problems, engineer some process, etc. and the company pays those people whether they succeed or not. (of course, if they succeed, they may also get a nice bonus)

The company is not taking advantage of the employees. Intellectual property is only your exclusive property if it is exclusively your work independent of the company. If you want exclusive ownership of your inventions, go out on your own and take all the risk. You may become very wealthy, or you may starve to death but either way, you own the risk and reward.

 

[CZ93X62]

I have learned a few new things on this thread--thanks, gents.

It is good to learn that GE and other firms doing R&D take such enlightened views on inventions birthed by their employees.