By Ken Tarlow
As you're developing your product, you're entering unknown territory. This is both the wonderful part of developing a new item and sometimes the most frustrating. There's no guide book--you're doing it all for the first time. And so you're going to be trying many new things. Sometimes they'll work and sometimes they won't.
As you test, you need to be keeping records of everything you try in a stitched journal. This journal shows the Patent Office that you've gone through the process of trying things and experimenting with things to finally arrive at a particular solution. That's what the Patent Office is looking for to determine the date of first invention, the originality of the idea and the fact that you've worked this experimental testing process to get your solution. You need to start this journal as soon as possible. And as you're experimenting, trying various solutions, you should take notes on what you've tried so you can show the step-by-step progress in the development of your product.
Each time you come up with a new piece of your product, you need to test it to make sure it works the way you want. If it doesn't perform to your expectations, then you have to either make it stronger, make it lighter, or do whatever it takes to make it work. Sometimes there's too much friction in things and you have to add a bearing or some Teflon to make things slip easily. Sometimes the motor isn't powerful enough and you've got to replace it. You'll run into dozens of different challenges as you're developing your product and discovering what the needs are.
If your product will present some danger to the public, then it's going to need to be tested by an official testing agency such as Underwriter's Laboratories. They will test your product for temperature or fatigue or electronic safety to make sure people aren't going to shock themselves when they use the product. If your product is plugged into household current, there must be an official test. Underwriter's Laboratories can do that. They have safety standards which you can send for (United States Testing Company, Inc., 291 Fairfield Ave, Fairfield, NJ 07006). If you're going to license your product, in many cases the manufacturer will do the UL testing. You won't necessarily have to do it, but you should be aware of it.
What I try to do with electrical products is see if I can get them to work with low DC voltage. Then I can use a wall pack transformer. These are already UL approved. And the power coming from the wall pack transformer through the wire to your product is low DC voltage that can't hurt anyone. So it's not a danger and it doesn't have to be tested by an official agency. The less testing that's needed the better because testing can be very time-consuming and expensive.
So if there's any way to design a product more safely so that it doesn't need to be officially tested, the better off you are. When you make your presentation to an investor or to a potential licensee, it always makes a positive impression on them to say you've built your prototype, tested it for X amount of hours, made sure that all components and designs are safe and that nothing will break or deteriorate during normal use, even during conditions of misuse.
And if you really want to have the complete "silver-platter approach" when presenting your new product idea to investors or to potential licensees, it's nice to have some packaging and also to think up a product name.
When thinking of a product name, think of a name that people can remember easily and that in some way describes the product. Be somewhat creative though, because if it describes the product too closely or too generically, you can't get trademark protection on that name. You'll have to do a trademark search to find out if anyone else is using that name. Once you've achieved this, you'll want to come up with a few catchy phrases that describe your product.
Packaging graphics can be accomplished by taking some good photographs of your prototype and then having those photos blown up to the proper size of the box that would contain your product or prototype. Next, go to any art store to find press or rub-on lettering in the size and style that you want and following the directions, apply your product name and description letter-by-letter to your box or package. This creates the impression of a finished box and makes your presentation all that much more effective and complete.
When you make your presentation to a manufacturer, a licensee or an investor, you not only have your prototype and your patent pending, but you have a beautiful box and a product name that is trademarked. It makes what you're presenting to them all that more valuable.
And it makes them more willing to give you a royalty on your product .
Ken Tarlow is president of Tarlow Design, a full-service product development company that helps independent inventors design, prototype, patent and license consumer product ideas. He has developed more than 300 consumer products worth over one billion dollars in retail sales. Tarlow's office is in San Rafael, CA. He may be reached at (415) 457-6428.
The above article was excerpted from Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a cassette tape/workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from the Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and$5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to the Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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