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I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

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Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#361

Post by fifilura »

gpt5 wrote: post #105
schlauerfox wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I'm sure she's patented it and amazon wouldn't want to get caught for intellectual property theft so will be diligent about policing sellers. They wouldn't want a bad reputation. And the customs office will destroy any imported product in violation of her patents.

You cannot patent a foldable coat hanger. The only thing she could patent is the specific mechanism she used to enable folding, but I doubt the copycats would use exactly the same design.

You can also protect your design. You dont have to patent it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#362

Post by snitty »

withinboredom wrote: post #268
nitwit005 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, they could patent every variant that was in her bin, which would at least present some challenge to a knock off.

You can't do that IIRC, because it is based on prior art in the public domain. Just like you can't patent a chair with 5 legs. There's also no reason to patent that many things for the same thing. You only need to be sufficiently vague to how it folds. IANAL, but I've gotten a few patents rejected.

>You can't do that IIRC, because it is based on prior art in the public domain. Just like you can't patent a chair with 5 legs.

A point she made in the video (and at least partially confirmed by a quick patent search by me) is that there really isn't one of these in the prior art.

> There's also no reason to patent that many things for the same thing. You only need to be sufficiently vague to how it folds.

As far as patents are concerned, those are the same. Getting a patent broad enough to cover all her embodiments of the invention is the same as getting a patent that covers all the prototypes. In the US you get up to three "free" independent claims per patent application, that can cover different approaches that are non-overlapping. But they can't be addressed to different inventions. In other words, you can get a single patent on three reasonable variations of a folding coat hanger and slight variations thereof. You cannot get a single patent that covers a folding coat hanger, and precision timing device, and a popcorn maker.

Source: IAAPL

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#363

Post by yieldcrv »

Zanni wrote: post #63

I came across the Kickstarter [1] for this as a Facebook ad and passed over it for all the reasons folks are citing below. Folding hanger? What's the use case? But watching the video, she's really put a lot of thought into this. The system with the paired rod is pretty slick. I love the notches for keeping the hangers spaced. This solves a problem not everyone has (not me, for instance--I have full-size closets), but…

> The Kickstarter is already double-funded.

It’s just public posted sales revenue for a product that didn’t need a kickstart.

But I understand, in comparison to kickstarters that don’t succeed at all, yes.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#364

Post by heeton »

beAbU wrote: post #136
Zanni wrote: post #63

I came across the Kickstarter [1] for this as a Facebook ad and passed over it for all the reasons folks are citing below. Folding hanger? What's the use case? But watching the video, she's really put a lot of thought into this. The system with the paired rod is pretty slick. I love the notches for keeping the hangers spaced. This solves a problem not everyone has (not me, for instance--I have full-size closets), but…

Worth noting this is Simone Giertz, she's a very popular maker on the internet, and her youtube channel has over 2M subscribers. A lot of her funding on KS is porbably based on that alone. It is a cool design, but 3 years? She definitely worked on other projects in that time. Ultimately the volume taken up by the clothes is the same, you either have a shallow but wide closet, or deep but narrow. If you are not worrie…

> It is a cool design, but 3 years? She definitely worked on other projects in that time.

She's a nice lady, but 9 months to incubate? Her mother definitely did other things in that time.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#365

Post by murermader »

beAbU wrote: post #136
Zanni wrote: post #63

I came across the Kickstarter [1] for this as a Facebook ad and passed over it for all the reasons folks are citing below. Folding hanger? What's the use case? But watching the video, she's really put a lot of thought into this. The system with the paired rod is pretty slick. I love the notches for keeping the hangers spaced. This solves a problem not everyone has (not me, for instance--I have full-size closets), but…

Worth noting this is Simone Giertz, she's a very popular maker on the internet, and her youtube channel has over 2M subscribers. A lot of her funding on KS is porbably based on that alone. It is a cool design, but 3 years? She definitely worked on other projects in that time. Ultimately the volume taken up by the clothes is the same, you either have a shallow but wide closet, or deep but narrow. If you are not worrie…

> Also, where are trousers supposed to go now?

In the Kickstarter video she shows how you can hang pants with it: You split the coat hanger in half (where the 2 'triangles' are connecting by a plastic piece), and then just put the pants on half of the coat hanger. I guess it is the same as just folding the coat hanger and only using one half, but it looks tidier this way.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#367

Post by yencabulator »

jack_riminton wrote: post #184
morsch wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The notched rod looks neat, but isn't rifling through the clothes on the rack kind of an essential part of the experience? Can't do that with a notched rod. First time I'm illustrating a comment with stock footage: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/studio-shot-of-hand...

I think the idea is in a large part aimed at van-lifers, so a notched rod could be quite beneficial

There's practically zero hanging clothes storage in a typical van build. Shelves and drawers use the space much more efficiently.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#368

Post by david422 »

konschubert wrote: post #223
jackdoe wrote: post #181

I just love the maker's mind. > I want something that does not exist, I will make it. Making things has never been so accessible, if you don't know how to start, join a community and ask, if they are hostile, just ask chatgpt and start from there. 3d printers are 200$, esp32 is the same cost as arduino nano. Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. I…

I think the best ideas come when you make something that you really want for yourself. In 2020, I really wanted an eink calendar to hang on my wall. Still, many people built one for themselves and never turned it into a commercial product. It’s a lot of work and some of it is boring. And you have to pay for certification and worry about all that paperwork that comes with a business. It took me 3 years: https://shop.i…

Ha, awesome! I half built one but never finished. Good for you.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#369

Post by ninjaa »

jot wrote: post #273
konschubert wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy crap, now I am impressed! If I am seeing this right, I could use your screenshot API to implement a website rendering feature for the display, super easily! I was toying with running headless chromium, but if I can get that as a service, it's an absolute winner! But I would need to see if I can afford the pricing. Providing this service to my users for an average device lifetime of 10 years free of charge is a l…

Thank you! I have a few ideas about some tweaks we could make to support you and your customers with this. We're up to 11 years and profitable with a small full-time team... so I'm very confident that we'll still be around in another 10 :) I'll drop you an email to discuss.

Urlbox has a beautiful website. And the invisible calendar is beautiful too. Would it happen to render multiple calendars concurrently? (I share an office, seems like the perfect xmas gift)

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#370

Post by SiempreViernes »

bear141 wrote: post #341

Can’t this already easily be accomplished and even flatter to the wall simply by using a hanger with a swiveling head? Only downsides compared to this invention would be the way the different items nested together and the fact that they stuck out to the sides 50% of each hanger at the ends?

Well, being nested together leads to the downside that you can only easily add and remove things at the end of the rack, while with OPs solution you can easily insert and remove from random points of the rack.
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