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Mitutoyo digital calipers

CalgaryPT

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Vendor
Premium Member
I agree with everything you said. You summed it up nicely.

But your lawyer only has half the equation. The other half is secrecy. Many an invention created significant wealth without patenting anything. Patents require disclosure. Disclosure means everyone knows (unless you can get away with partial disclosure which rarely works).

I've made a pretty good side income in my life from royalties and patent sales. But I've made even more selling secrets.
Agreed.

Although secrecy only works long term when you can't reverse engineer the invention. I'm of the camp that The Colonel's Secret Recipe is actually fewer than 11 herbs and spices. His real genius was the red herring that it was more.
 

Susquatch

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Agreed.

Although secrecy only works long term when you can't reverse engineer the invention. I'm of the camp that The Colonel's Secret Recipe is actually fewer than 11 herbs and spices. His real genius was the red herring that it was more.

You got it! It works like that sometimes!

Then again, you can always keep it a secret until you go to production, and then file for a patent (or not) and then depend on the speed you mentioned before.

So when are you running for supreme leader of the world? I wanna be there to cheer you on!
 

CalgaryPT

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You got it! It works like that sometimes!

Then again, you can always keep it a secret until you go to production, and then file for a patent (or not) and then depend on the speed you mentioned before.

So when are you running for supreme leader of the world? I wanna be there to cheer you on!
I notice you've got higher aspirations. You've skipped galaxy and gone right to Supreme Dictator of the Universe.

I'm just shooting for domination of the planet—you know...keepin' it in the hood.
 

Tom Kitta

Ultra Member
The problem for the west is now that Chinese no longer copy many products but produce at home technologically superior products that the west could copy but cannot produce at such low prices.

Main example is Huawei. This company produces 5G tech that more or less is years ahead of western competition! Not just hardware to run 5G networks, but even simple phones.

When US prevented Huawei from running Android they were sure Chinese will have big issues - that they clone some freeware version of Android - that they will be hurt.... BUT NO. Chinese predicted that a) they may be cut off from Android and b) Android needs to be replaced soon. Google was found with its pants down, their Android replacement program just started. But Huawei already has its OS out the door and it is around 30% faster OS then Android incorporating advancements of the last decade.

Also Huawei latest phone can be charged at 100w rapid. Apple recently upgraded their phone from 22w to 26w or something like that for a whopping price of around 2k. Huawei is 1/2 that.

There is a reason US blocked them - they simply cannot compete. US only sees free market when they are a clear leader.

This is not just phones, they are creating all sort of other tech that is not just cheap but either a match or better - like latest calipers, that solved battery issues. If they do not have grinding dust in them - who would buy stuff from Japan - name recognition only? For how long?

As for patents - one idea is to have a factory in China - if you own a sweatshop there is no way it will be easy to capture your market with another sweatshop. Besides for electronics that sweatshop does circles around anything in Canada not just price wise but quality wise as well. As one of Canadian businessmen I talked to few years ago on a flight to China remarked, Canadian companies are smaller then washrooms in China and have 10x the defect rate.

I will not even mention innovation in China, you can design a bread board, send design to a small company and have 100 of them produced the next day or 1 if you like - for not much then millions per unit.
 

Susquatch

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Administrator
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I notice you've got higher aspirations. You've skipped galaxy and gone right to Supreme Dictator of the Universe.

I'm just shooting for domination of the planet—you know...keepin' it in the hood.

Maybe definitions have changed since last time I watched tv 5 years ago. To me, world = planet, not universe. But I'd support any goal equal to or greater than planet. Anything less doesn't work for me. ;)
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
I know a lot of guys use thread wires, but most of my measuring is for instrumentation threads, where 48 TPI is a coarse thread. A good thread mic can do these easily and using wires for very fine threads has me pulling my (remaining) hair out.
I tried the wires. I respect the guys that use them. But like you, I find that fine threads are fiddly. I can rapidly check 3 spots down the length of the thread before I can get 2of3 wires positioned & the gum out of my mouth LOL. I only have one thread mic, so by my definition it's a 'necessary tool'. Three would be 'still deciding/keeping options open'. Five+ is definitely collector/sickness class. LOL.
 
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