Inventor needs help.

[Gummerfan 0]

Okay, I've developed a neat little gun accessory (U.S. Patent Pending). The few people I've discussed it with (shooters, a soldier in Iraq, survival enthusiasts) agree it's a great little item. It's nothing revolutionary, but something every gun owner could use and should be standard military and LE issue.

I've filed a Patent Application, so now all I need is a means to manufacture, market and distribute it, without getting ripped off. I'm not looking to get rich, but I'd like to see it become a reality.

Any ideas how I should go about approaching industry with the idea?

[BattleRifleG3 16]

My thoughts are that it would depend on:

1.) The design

2.) Quantities needed

3.) Your background, ie what qualifications you have to design and present something for manufacturing.

 

Here's what I mean about qualifications - if you're a licensed professional engineer, you can sign off on a drawing you send to a company and they would give that a certain level of recognition. If you are not, most manufacturing companies would get their own engineers involved. You don't have to be licensed or educated to design and build something, but the relationship between design and production can affect economics and terms with a manufacturer.

 

I for example have an engineering degree and have completed the FE/EIT exam. When I do design work for my company, my work is subject to review by a licensed PE.

 

Question for you - how do you want to get started? Do you have your own facilities for smaller scale production with professional quality, or do you still need some made for testing in house and by third parties?

 

I have limited machining facilities of my own and could help to prototype and produce small quantities. The downside is price per item, the upside is low initial costs. When these quantities aren't enough and you believe you can have larger quantities made at a lower cost per item, then you go to someone else.

 

Feel free to E-mail me confidentially about your project using my screenname at hotmail. I can't tell you much right now since you haven't shared anything about the product. There are a few members of this site who often test products before they hit the market.

 

Regarding marketting and distributing, if your quantities are not too high you may be best off doing that yourself. If it really does catch on and the sales work is a bit much, there are a number of low scale vendors here and at other sites who are great to deal with.