Talk:Invention

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[edit] Ancient Inventions

How about some older inventions, like the plow, the stirrup, the aqueduct, the arch? They certainly revolutionized the societies of their times. Does agriculture count as an invention? Surely it would be one of the earliest influential ones, right up there with stone tools... -- April

Great idea: I'll put them in. The Anome

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I don't think that the 'parachute:powered flight' analogy is the best. Granted we now use parachutes *most* with powered flight, but it was primarily a way to get close to flight, or for base jumping (for a more modern term). They weren't designed to be airplane survival systems. In fact, WWI was notorious for pilots not having parachutes (even if they had been previously designed).
~ender 2003-10-02 17:07:MST

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I have got some problems with the definition of innovation and invention. If there is no need for application for an innovation, what is than the distinction with invention? In this definition, innovation and invention are the same. I would like to use Schumpeters definitions here, with the remark that an other school looks at it a different way. --MaxB 12:55, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I don't think there's anything wrong with outlining Schumpeter's theory. However, to balance the article, it is important to note conflicting views from other theorists. I don't think there is any reason to limit the article to Schumpeter. --Westendgirl 07:10, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

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In lay terms, an invention is a novel device, material, or technique.
But what means "novel"? --Montanesko

[edit] Sibling word

Is Invention a sibling word of convention? does anybody know if there are such words as revention, suvention, etc.? --SuperDude 03:49, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Invention vs innovation

I removed this paragraph from the article:

Further to the disinction between invention and innovation. Innovation generally solves economic problems whereas invention solves technical problems. When both are achieved then ongoing success is more likely.

Please reinsert it with appropriate sources. I have never heard of that distinction. --Edcolins 06:59, July 27, 2005 (UTC)

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This article is too short. Why not include such things as a short descriptions of inventions or types of inventions - such as stone age, iron age, industrial revolution, technological age etc. For instance, the industrial revolution should be mentioned to show how the invention of the factory process revolutionized the production of goods for the greater economic benefit of the countries using it. The iron age - having the general society upgrade from bronze to metal, which is a more durable metal.

Why not list some inventions, such as the airplane, the Dav Vinci's to wright brothers to whoever helped develop it next. Or - the above - the evolution of inventions.

Are there listings for how interested inventors can start learning how to do inventing? I mean, i have ideas, but how does one make them reality? Thanks Fieryfaith

[edit] Wiki

Is there any general wiki to propose inventions or to propose open / free design ? --193.144.127.248 12:09, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone know it ? . I am interested in invention (no necesarily patent ) wikis. --Mac 06:45, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Invention in patent law

I claim that a patented invention is an idea, not a real object.

The current article says that it is an actual thing.

I have difficulty with the article's definition:

a) an invention can cover variations on an idea whereas a particular object, process etc. is always necessarily a subset. If I invent a telescope, and produce an example that is 2 foot long; does my invention cover one that is 200 foot long? If it is particular object(s), then exactly what is and isn't invented is extremely difficult to say, whereas a written description outlining the idea can define it far better.

b) patent law in US and UK at least says that it is the idea that is the invention.

c) the definition that the article uses seems to be unreferenced. WolfKeeper 21:04, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Definition of "Invention"

Copied from users' talk page. Please continue the discussion here. Thanks.

Hi, There is another problem at the top of the "Invention" page which I cannot gain access to fix myself. In the definition of invention it says that an invention is an object, process or technique. The word "object" in common usage in the US implies a form that is relatively small, e.g., objects are considered to be forms that can be lifted. A wall is not generally considered to be an object, nor is: a building, an airplane, a monument, other huge immobile forms, a system (like a large system that runs throughout a building or throughout a landscape), etc. Yet any of these forms can be inventions. This must be why patent offices allow patent applications for what they call "compositions of matter" (instead of objects). The term "object" in the Wikipedia definition of invention must be expanded. I suggest adding something to the effect that an invention can be: a composition, a form, a tangible form, a composition of matter, or something like this.

Thanks. --Sara USA (talk) 19:32, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree. The introduction needs improvement. I am not sure what you mean by "..I cannot gain access to fix myself". Normally you should be able to edit the introduction by clicking on "Edit this page" on the top of the page. Feel free to improve the intro, but let me know if you can still not edit it. Seems strange.--Edcolins (talk) 19:45, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Suggestion: There is a huge distinction between mechanical process invention and ornamental design invention that has only to do with shape, lines, appearance (not function, process, mechanics). When someone invents a process to do something new and novel, then millions of specialized formats of that new mechanical means can be formalized. Invent a bread toaster with hot wires cooking the bread in a pull-down spring-loaded fashion; when that was new and novel, then a mechanical patent would be appropriate. But then the hundreds of products that use that mechanical process can be shaped diffently, colored differently, sized differently...etc. each of which could be formalized in an appearance design to make a product or art piece different thatn the next; those hundreds of distinct uses of the basic mechanical patent can only obtain from USA, UK, Australia... ornamental design patents, not mechanical process patents. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Joefaust (talk • contribs)

[edit] Patents on Inventions that have not been made in real forms

Sometimes inventions that are only ideas and have never been made in reality can obtain patent protection. I believe these would be ideas that are very well worked out, just as patents require of all inventions. You can for example, carefully and completely work out all the details of an invention (e.g., do drawings, models, tests, or samples of difficult parts of an invention, etc.) and file a patent on it before you have the finances or the technical means to make the entire invention. Also, you can for instance, file a patent on a composition that has a specific function or use, that can be made of a mixture which includes one or more ingredients described in the claims as a broad categories, e.g., a mixture that includes an oil or a polymer would include any oil or any natural or synthetic polymer. So your patent will cover many specific useful compositions that could be made from the mixture described in your broad patent claim, that have never been made in reality. --Sara USA (talk) 00:02, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Invention and Innovation

The following sentence was removd from this section because the facts prove this statement wrong so overwhelmingly. Here is the sentence. "The political economist Joseph Schumpeter believed that inventions are theoretical, and innovation is invention put into practice." Millions and millions of inventions patented by governments all over the world prove that inventions are not just theoretical, inventions are practical, useful forms, compositions, and processes that work and serve a wide range of purposes in the real world. It is easy to find examples by searching patents at www.uspto.gov and at the websites of the patent offices for other countries. --Sara USA (talk) 13:06, 26 April 2008 (UTC)