To Tom Gralewicz - Inventor of the Telephone

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Scott Swanson

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Oct 20, 2016, 11:30:33 AM10/20/16
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Tom:

The inventor of the telephone is a real sore point with me.

An engineer by the name of Elisha Gray at Western Electric invented the idea first and applied for a provisional patent, but Bell (who had viewed Gray's patent application) was able to get the design working first.

Bell had deep pockets and this was able to win in court.

See this link for the gorey details:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray

--Scott

Scott Swanson

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Oct 20, 2016, 11:37:24 AM10/20/16
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Here is a more biased article:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray_and_Alexander_Bell_telephone_controversy

Tom Gralewicz

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Oct 20, 2016, 1:02:20 PM10/20/16
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Pretty much my point.  Parents don't hold up against a big pile of cash.

The question I alwsys ask:

Name an inventor who got rich in the last 10 years?

Name the person responsible for a big invention in the last 10 years?


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Pepin Lachance

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Oct 20, 2016, 1:05:50 PM10/20/16
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Mark Zuckerberg

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Pete Prodoehl

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Oct 20, 2016, 1:09:39 PM10/20/16
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What did Mark Zuckerberg invent?

(And don't say "Facebook" because that's just a web site.)


Pete

Adam Cohen

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Oct 20, 2016, 1:27:17 PM10/20/16
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Not in the past 10 years but...

https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/02/lonnie-johnson-super-soaker-royalties-hasbro.html


Tom Gralewicz

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Oct 20, 2016, 3:17:50 PM10/20/16
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Did the patent make him rich or was it the marketing?  Same goes for Jobs, marketing genius but not an engineer.


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Tom Gralewicz

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Oct 20, 2016, 3:21:43 PM10/20/16
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Johnson didn't sue over the patent, he died over the contract.  So instead of getting a patient, get a good contracts lawyer.


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Pepin Lachance

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Oct 20, 2016, 4:48:13 PM10/20/16
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If a website is innovative I would say as it counts as an invention. I may detest him as a person, but I gotta give him credit.


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Tom Gralewicz

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Oct 20, 2016, 6:20:28 PM10/20/16
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Because he patented "social media" and no one could compete with him?  (Remember, we're talking about patents)

Or because he had a good idea, did a decent implementation, good marketing and was one of the first to the market.


Tom Gralewicz
Chronic Maker


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Steve Pilon

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Oct 20, 2016, 6:54:36 PM10/20/16
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How about multiple people on Kickstarter Tom?

No you don't have the money yourself but an extra couple million for your company can certainly get you headed in the right direction!

People have this idea that once you have a patent your done and money is just going to start flowing in, their wrong, they are only JUST beginning a long process with opportunity to wildly succeed, meh, or massively flop. 

Dont let google be evil

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Oct 21, 2016, 1:52:35 AM10/21/16
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Dr. Bruce Saffran ended up losing an appeal at the Supreme Court level over bazillions of dollars regards medicated stents. I think he had already gotten a butt-load from another party in a related case.
Dr. Julio Palmaz invented the original non-medicated stent, and now apparently created the largest wine cave in Napa Valley. Wine cave?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Palmaz

Sara Blakely inventor of Spanx:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Blakely
 
Stents weren't invented in the last ten years, Spanx is recent -A maybe thing w/ Spanx was that it likely could have been stolen, or "worked around" at a number of points during it's development as a product.
 
   Arguably, enabling people's butts to defy gravity as a 'big' invention -for an individual inventor- in the last ten years either says something about the last ten years, is kinda punny, or maybe both.

IcedTea

Dont let google be evil

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Oct 21, 2016, 2:09:06 AM10/21/16
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... to go further, since I like the topic.
  I do get, and agree w/ the premise that spending a bunch of money to file a patent can be a big waste.
  Additionally, there is also a position which claims it can be better to specifically -NOT- file a patent, as a filing informs competitors what your claims are vs. leaving them to sweat what they might be sued for infringing on later.

IcedTea


Steve Pilon

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Oct 27, 2016, 2:08:50 PM10/27/16
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How about Grypshon Industries? Tom Burden was in the Air Force and realized that fighter jet mechanics had too climb up and down fighter jets while working on them since you cant place tools and part on the skin of a jet. Forgotten tool inside the plane while flying could also be catastrophic. He came to Milwaukee Makerspace and made some prototypes for his tool mat, I helped him out on the old router with prototypes. While I don't think hes rich I do know that his invention is available to the public on Amazon. 


Tom Gralewicz

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Oct 27, 2016, 3:19:00 PM10/27/16
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Does he have a patent on it?


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Pete Prodoehl

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Oct 27, 2016, 3:36:01 PM10/27/16
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Wow, very cool! I didn't know we/MMS/you assisted with this. How long
ago was this?

(It would have been nice to have had a blog post about it. We could
still do one.)


Pete
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Steve Pilon

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Oct 27, 2016, 3:40:55 PM10/27/16
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Pete, im not exactually sure, maybe 3 or so years agoish??? 

Rick Bowman

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Nov 5, 2016, 1:27:49 PM11/5/16
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@ Tom G. Yes, at the time he was working on it I helped him obtain a provisional patent on it.
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