Ideas you came up with that turned out to be patented

[Joseph F]

One day I was taking a shower and I thought "Fuck, wouldn't it be nice if soap came out of the shower head?" so I googled "Soap dispensing shower head" and it turned out to be already patented. Anyone else have a unique idea that also turned out to be patented?

 

[coxmaster]

I dont think anybody has patented the idea of injecting caffeine through an IV..

 

[Evadman]

The plow.

 

[blackdogdeek]

magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price

 

[gorcorps]

If soap always came out of your shower head, wouldn't you always have to have your eyes locked shut less they burn out of your skull?

Seems like a terrible idea... though I suppose that's not the point. The vast majority of patents are quite stupid ideas that never go anywhere.

 

[Joseph F]

I was thinking about having two canisters (one for soap, one for shampoo) and two valves so you could turn on the soap/shampoo as needed and turn them off to rinse off.

 

[purbeast0]

apparently you did not come up with this idea ... since it was already patented.

 

[Joseph F]

*sigh... What I meant was Ideas that you thought up but turned out to be patented.

 

[Lamont Burns]

fleshlight

 

[Imp]

Solar roof panels. Turns out there are businesses using them.

 

[Paladin3]

My first job was in an arcade where you won tickets playing games and redeemed them for prizes. After a few years we got a ticket munching machine that counted and shredded the tickets automatically and gave a guest a receipt so we didn't have to count tickets manually. Guests, especially kids, loved the muncher (it went NOM NOM NOM as it ate the tickets) and it increased sales.

I got the idea of using a vending machines with prizes that accepted the ticket receipt to totally automate the process and save on labor. Plus seeing all the prizes on display in a cool lighted vending machine would increase sales.

The very next year a vending machine exactly like that was debuted at an amusement trade show in Las Vegas.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

Slip-n-Slide
Though putting this right after Lamont's submission makes this really dirty.

 

[Farmer]

Automobile.

 

[Blackjack200]

I thought of a keyboard with a hinge at the top so you adjust the shape of it. Like 5 months later the Microsoft Natural Keyboard came out.

 

[DrPizza]

I thought of caffeinated soap around the first time I understood that nicotine can be absorbed through the skin. I considered patenting the idea, but realized that if the product went to market, some idiot somewhere was going to have a get rich scheme: put baby in little baby tub with caffeinated soap, leave baby soaking in the water and suds for hours until it suffered some problem from the caffeine. Then, I'd be sued into oblivion. I believe that they now make caffeinated soap - it's more of a novelty type item. I'm guessing the big companies haven't chosen to incorporate it into their products for the exact reason I realized I wasn't going to make money.

In 1st or 2nd grade (around 1971), we were making pinwheels in class. I suggested - "if you make a little pinwheel and put it in a tube and suck the air through the tube, it'll make the pinwheel spin." "That's right Thomas." "Couldn't you make the pinwheel out of razor blades and attach it to a vacuum cleaner? It would suck in your hair and cut it all at the same length automatically." "Don't be silly, Thomas."

F You! The Flowbee hadn't been invented yet. In fact, it wasn't invented for over a decade after I suggested the idea in 1st grade. Had I one of those encouraging teachers who helped students pursue their ideas, I'd probably be retired by now.

When they first started putting RFID chips in credit cards, and before they started putting them in wallets, I realized that you could weave a metal mesh into a wallet to create a faraday cage, protecting your information. Too late on that one.

And, when Tasers first came out, I realized that you could do a similar thing to clothing - weave a metal mesh into the clothing and you'd be protected from tasers. It's expensive to patent something. As mentioned above, most patents are pretty useless. Quite a bit later, someone patented the idea. Big deal, I thought. He wasted his money. WTF??! The US Government wants some of them?! They have a use for them???! Darn it!!

One of these days, something new will come to me. I just want to own a couple of patents.

 

[rivan]

I had the bright idea, back in the first days of digital cameras, to build what amounts today to a digital camera back, but would have been compatible with the 35mm cameras in almost every home.

It'd be the form factor of a 35mm roll of film, and would fit into any conventional 35mm camera. The image sensor would be held in place my the film tractors, and the processor and memory would live in the 'film canister'.

Polaroid had patents all over it. Like hundreds.

 

[bobdole369]

Automatic transmission for a bicycle. Pretty much my entire stoned idea is already patented in several forms.

 

[MetalMat]

Coffee flavored peanut butter

 

[ViviTheMage]

Heated wheel wells ... to keep snow from building up in them. Man, thought I had a money maker right there ... but some bastard in St Paul patented it.

 

[FirNaTine]

I dont think anybody has patented the idea of injecting caffeine through an IV..

Not sure if serious.....

They give it IV to premature babies in the hospital.

Caffeine citrate for apnea of prematurity if you want to look it up.

 

[KGB]

Gene splicing. Seriously.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Notifying mailbox. Grandma could sit in her chair and wait for a little light to come on and know when her SS check/other mail has arrived. Some sort of radio transmitter that sent a signal inside the house to a tiny box. The transmitter in the mailbox was solar powered so you didn't have to change batteries or plug it in. The inside unit plugged into the wall. A simple gadget I thought that would make tons of money if only 10% of the people used it. During a patent search I found something similar but not totally sure.

Then theres this Dual Channel Single DIMM

My dad was a roofer and I thought of plastic tiles that never wore out. TV commercial proved I was too late.

 

[manimal]

at home colonic pyramid scheme...

 

[edro]

TVs in the back of car seats
tracking device arrows for hunting
fan in mouse to cool hand

I gave up when I grew up and saw how easy it was to get around patents and how easy it was to obtain patents.

I still hold hope that I will come up with an amazing widget that I can easily produce and sell online for massive profit.

 

[Blackjack200]

at home colonic pyramid scheme...

Sounds delicious... but can you patent a food?