4 ms·

Somewhat tickled to say I thought of this about 10 years ago, told everyone who would listen, and many who wouldn't. As I was not remotely interested in develo

by jmkd 9y ago

Somewhat tickled to say I thought of this about 10 years ago, told everyone who would listen, and many who wouldn't. As I was not remotely interested in developing it myself I was happy to tell anyone. Got an audience with a designer at Dyson, gave it to him straight in the clearest most open terms imaginable, to be met by nonplussed disinterest. Just kept it for cocktail parties since then.

amelius 9y ago
I've been telling this for years every time I helped people move. The thought of patenting it crossed my mind, but I always assumed this would be "too simple" an invention, that companies probably already had figured out, but couldn't use because of some patent troll or something like that. Also, as a student, I didn't have the money for a patent application.
- dingaling 9y ago
  > Also, as a student, I didn't have the money for a patent application. That's the big probem for individuals. Patenting as an individual is expensive and as a friend learned the big companies can just sit-tight until the renewal fees become too much to bear. He had designed a self-assembly glassfibre astronomical observatory on the Buckmeister principle, with a wide-opening orifice using petal segments, and toured the major manufacturers in the field. None wanted to license the patent. Shortly after he let the patent lapse due to cost, several of the manufacturers brought out their variants. That's just the way the game is played.
  - Max_Mustermann 9y ago
    Maybe a space for crowdfunding? or a dreaded ICO...
  - petra 9y ago
    >> None wanted to license the patent. Where did it fail? no interest at all? weak patent ? terms negotiation ?
  - marcosdumay 9y ago
    That's the main failure on that argument that patents protect small inventors. It's a wonder that the companies on your case decided to ignore the patent, instead of implementing it expecting your friend to not have enough money to sue.
  - PatentTroll 9y ago
    Why didn't he make it himself?
Leszek 9y ago
I imagine the difficulty here is not in coming up with the idea of using a water tank, but rather in designing the shape and material of a container that is sufficiently strong to survive the forces acting upon it.
ynniv 9y ago
Did you build one to see if it worked? A used washing machine is essentially free. Perhaps the Dyson engineer knew that success in mechanical design of an everyday machine that's expected to take decades of abuse is somewhat more difficult than having a cool idea. We don't even know how long the professionally designed machine in the article will last.
slumberlust 9y ago
Had no clue what nonplussed was and went searching. Interesting read: http://www.punctuationmatters.com/nonplussed-definition/ http://www.punctuationmatters.com/nonplussed-definition/
- tomcam 9y ago
  I knew the correct definition so the story merely left me plussed.
andrewflnr 9y ago
Well, you're going to have a heck of a cocktail party story now.
pfranz 9y ago
Consumers care about 'plug and play' to a sometimes confusing degree. I've heard numerous stories about products made objectively worse to make it more appealing to consumers--pretty, but tasteless tomatoes, apples, and other produce are one example. I heard (a possibly apocryphal) story that bottled smoothie companies add questionable things to keep smoothies suspended because consumers prefer not to shake their drink before consuming. I wouldn't be surprised if this was investigated internally at multiple companies, but decided consumers wouldn't like the extra steps. I've also had many apartments explicitly disallow containers of liquids larger than a few gallons (the obvious case is fish tanks) because of insurance and liability reasons. I hope this is successful and takes off...but I can see still see it being rejected by consumers. Maybe these are the kinds of things where a regulation is the best course forward?
- netsharc 9y ago
  Plug and play? A washing machine already needs water input, it would be an interesting hack to pipe up the internals so that during the first run, it will first fill the ballast container, and only after that's full will the rest of the water be used for normal washing. And somehow make it so that the ballast container can be sealed off when it's full, maybe a tiny sliding door which will rise with the water, and when it's high enough, a magnet above it will pull it and seal the container shut. And if you want to transport it, just add a mechanism that can release all the water... and also open that door.

by jmkd 9y ago

amelius 9y ago

I've been telling this for years every time I helped people move. The thought of patenting it crossed my mind, but I always assumed this would be "too simple" an invention, that companies probably already had figured out, but couldn't use because of some patent troll or something like that. Also, as a student, I didn't have the money for a patent application.

dingaling 9y ago
> Also, as a student, I didn't have the money for a patent application. That's the big probem for individuals. Patenting as an individual is expensive and as a friend learned the big companies can just sit-tight until the renewal fees become too much to bear. He had designed a self-assembly glassfibre astronomical observatory on the Buckmeister principle, with a wide-opening orifice using petal segments, and toured the major manufacturers in the field. None wanted to license the patent. Shortly after he let the patent lapse due to cost, several of the manufacturers brought out their variants. That's just the way the game is played.
- Max_Mustermann 9y ago
  Maybe a space for crowdfunding? or a dreaded ICO...
- petra 9y ago
  >> None wanted to license the patent. Where did it fail? no interest at all? weak patent ? terms negotiation ?
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  That's the main failure on that argument that patents protect small inventors. It's a wonder that the companies on your case decided to ignore the patent, instead of implementing it expecting your friend to not have enough money to sue.
- PatentTroll 9y ago
  Why didn't he make it himself?

Leszek 9y ago

I imagine the difficulty here is not in coming up with the idea of using a water tank, but rather in designing the shape and material of a container that is sufficiently strong to survive the forces acting upon it.

ynniv 9y ago

Did you build one to see if it worked? A used washing machine is essentially free. Perhaps the Dyson engineer knew that success in mechanical design of an everyday machine that's expected to take decades of abuse is somewhat more difficult than having a cool idea. We don't even know how long the professionally designed machine in the article will last.

slumberlust 9y ago

Had no clue what nonplussed was and went searching. Interesting read: http://www.punctuationmatters.com/nonplussed-definition/ http://www.punctuationmatters.com/nonplussed-definition/

tomcam 9y ago
I knew the correct definition so the story merely left me plussed.

andrewflnr 9y ago

Well, you're going to have a heck of a cocktail party story now.

pfranz 9y ago

Consumers care about 'plug and play' to a sometimes confusing degree. I've heard numerous stories about products made objectively worse to make it more appealing to consumers--pretty, but tasteless tomatoes, apples, and other produce are one example. I heard (a possibly apocryphal) story that bottled smoothie companies add questionable things to keep smoothies suspended because consumers prefer not to shake their drink before consuming. I wouldn't be surprised if this was investigated internally at multiple companies, but decided consumers wouldn't like the extra steps. I've also had many apartments explicitly disallow containers of liquids larger than a few gallons (the obvious case is fish tanks) because of insurance and liability reasons. I hope this is successful and takes off...but I can see still see it being rejected by consumers. Maybe these are the kinds of things where a regulation is the best course forward?

netsharc 9y ago
Plug and play? A washing machine already needs water input, it would be an interesting hack to pipe up the internals so that during the first run, it will first fill the ballast container, and only after that's full will the rest of the water be used for normal washing. And somehow make it so that the ballast container can be sealed off when it's full, maybe a tiny sliding door which will rise with the water, and when it's high enough, a magnet above it will pull it and seal the container shut. And if you want to transport it, just add a mechanism that can release all the water... and also open that door.