Axioms for the Inventor: Twenty Two Tips to Produce Patentable Inventions

By Charles C. Rayburn

What is an invention? Are all inventions patented? Is an inventor someone who has patents issued? How are potential inventors identified?

Industrial managers are constantly wondering how their company can build a better product and upstage their competition. They seek inventions. They wonder if there are fledgling inventors in their midst just waiting to receive that flash, that lightning bolt which will forever alter the future of mankind.

During the past thirty-five years, Ive worked as an industrial manager and inventor averaging just over two US patents per year. My failures outnumber my successes. Fortunately, my successes have far more than subsidized my failures. My bosses have been tops, always supportive, willing to carry me through the lean times, hoping that I will hit a home run.

The purpose of this writing is to assure the reader that we are all inventors. There are no proven scales for measuring the potential for invention. Is there a test for babies to indicate who will accumulate wealth over their lifetime? Probably not. The same is true for inventing. Wealth accumulation and successful inventing are each directed by interest, effort, and opportunity. My interests and efforts were about average, but my opportunities were abundant.

For easy reading, I have condensed various points, printing them in bold type and underlining. Some commentary accompanies each to explain the inclusion of the bold statement.

Finally, let me assure you that inventing is a game. It is show biz, technology, law, marketing, manufacturing, internationalism, and science rolled into one. If one has a streak of luck, it can be financially rewarding and personally satisfying.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499055276

Charles C. Rayburn

Born and raised in poverty stricken eastern Kentucky’s Appalachia, enrolled in Berea’s Lower Division, at age 14, finished high school and completed the freshman year at Berea College. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942, trained in B29 engineering, served on Guam, promoted to captain, and was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war he completed the Bachelor Degree, and Master of Science Degree in Physics at the University of Kentucky. His first patent filed at age 30 involved developing an automated production system for the first electronic integrated circuits. Mr. Rayburn served in many senior engineering and management positions for the next 35 years at Illinois Tool Works, Inc. A total of 914 invention claims were protected in his 78 U.S. Patents. Companies in Europe and Japan licensed his patents.

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Copyright © 2014 by Charles C. Rayburn. 650141

ISBN:      Softcover         978-1-4990-5526-9

                EBook              978-1-4990-5527-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 07/30/2014

Xlibris LLC

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www.Xlibris.com

PREFACE

What is an invention? Are all inventions patented? Is an inventor someone who has patents issued? How are potential inventors identified?

Industrial managers are constantly wondering how their company can build a better product and upstage their competition. They seek inventions. They wonder if there are fledgling inventors in their midst just waiting to receive that flash, that lightning bolt which will forever alter the future of mankind.

During the past 35 years, I’ve worked as an industrial manager and inventor averaging just over two U.S. Patents per year. My failures outnumber my successes. Fortunately, my successes have far more than subsidized my failures. My bosses have been tops, always supportive, willing to carry me through the lean times, hoping that I will hit a home run.

The purpose of this writing is to assure the reader that we are all inventors. There are no proven scales for measuring the potential for invention. Is there a test for babies to indicate who will accumulate wealth over their lifetime? Probably not. The same is true for inventing. Wealth accumulation and successful inventing are each directed by interest, effort, and opportunity. My interests and efforts were about average, but my opportunities were abundant.

For easy reading I have