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Is there a particular resource you need to help develop your business or invention? Please post your needs in the comments below and we'll do our best to help match you with the right resource. This area is specifically for finding product and service providers to help you grow your business. This is not a place to post general questions or requests for advice.
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Inventions Column
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Hello,
Has anyone used Lambert & Lambert to license an idea. I want to sell the licensing rights to one of my inventions that has potential uses in hospitals and in homes. I need an honest company that can connect me to companies that might cater to both outlets. Any help would be greatly appreciate.
Thank you
Jess
Hello Lydia and InventingJoy, thank you both so much for your comments.
Lydia, that is a very good idea. I actually have a crude prototype where I've used foamcore. Its rough but it gives people the idea of how it works. At this point it is a question of finding a way to get some viable samples -- at least to demonstrate how it will can be manufactured on a large scale. It sounds like you might be at this same point.
For Inventingjoy, congratulations on the Camp Stamp and good luck with the changes. It would certainly be valuable to explore the die cutting area to see if it might be an appropriate alternative. I guess I'll need to have some kind of conversation with him to see if he think my concept can be adapted to a die cut format. What is the best way via email to send you photos, etc. (which is a very kind offer)?
Lisa
Oops! My email caringpro@gmail.com . In looking over the site, my same post can also go to Lydia. Sorry Lydia, I should have included you. For those who don't have experience with die cutting, think cookie cutter embedded into a piece of wood, You give your die, (cookie cutter) & your material to die cutting company who stamps your material. For samples, I have put my material on the die & hit it with a rubber mallet (gently) to just stamp out a few samples. I do not recommend doing this. But I have done it. There are also die cutting machines for around $300 that you can purchase. I haven't had much luck with them but my products are fabric. I think they work better for paper & something like foam core. It is hand cranked. If you want more info, ask & I'll see if the info will appear in the hard drive in my head. It is a teachers product. But that's all I remember right now. email someone out of gmail mentioning die cutter & teacher, & I bet an ad will probably appear for it. InventingJoy
btw, I have a patent on a product which uses velcro. In patent language, hook & loop fastener. It attaches the rubber letters of a stamp to the handle. I sell this to the military. The patent is necessary to prevent my competitors from doing same. My competitors are my size companies who I can go "Boo" to & they back down. It is simple & can't be changed. That's what makes it a good patent. I have to come up with several thousand dollars this year to keep my patent current. My competitors are sitting like vultures, waiting for me to miss my payment. Don't forget a patent is only good for 20 years. I've been in business that long. (not with that product) but pretty soon I'd better come up with something new pretty soon because I've given my competitors an invention. Its out there. I know you all don't think your going to live that long but take it from me. You do. YOu wake up one morning, your hair is gray, you've been in business for 20 years & you wonder what the H happened! So think about your exit strategies. InventingJoy
Hi Lisa,
I ran across your question and I too have been looking for a US based company, to re-produce a charm in resin for my product. I did the Alibaba route, no success. I did learn if you have a actual art store (not a craft store) in your area they can assist and guide you with the materials you will need to create your own sample.
I hope that helps a bit, please post if you do find a US based company.
regards,
Lydia
Hello, I've created an accessory/charm which uses a combination of EVA (plastic) and velcro. I'm looking for a reliable manufacturer in China that I can work with to create some samples.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd prefer to deal with them directly.
Thank you!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Have you tried Alibaba.com?
In the U.S. you can try MFG.com and ThomasNet.com
Warmest regards,
Tamara
Hi Lisa, Is it possible to produce your charm by stamping out with a die cutter? I have an excellent inexpensive die maker who works for my company right here on this side of the pond. Have you protected your product? patent? provisional? or???? InventingJoy
Tamara and Inventing Joy, thank you very much for your suggestions.
Tamara, I have gone to Alibaba and have been in contact with some people. However, this product needs some assembly of different materials and the people I talked with seemed to have limited ability to do that. They had their products and molds and could customize a bit but not too much. That is why I wondered if anyone had some experience with some particular factories because it is difficult to pinpoint their true capabilities of a company from their Alibaba profile (and even communicating with them).
As for using US companies, I have spoken with some of them but my experience was that it is very expensive to have molds done and it becomes particularly expensive if you have different designs. This product will have very low price points.
That's just been my particular experience but I am open to any and all ideas.
Inventingjoy, thank you for your suggestion. I did do a bit of exploration of die-cutting but it could certainly be worth revisiting it. If you know of someone good, I'd love to have a conversation with them. Maybe they have a way of looking at it that I hadn't considered.
As for the patent area, I have thought about it, but I am taking this very incrementally and thought I would make sure I could see a pathway to cost-effective manufacturing before taking on the patent issue. From what I understand, this might not be a good candidate for a full fledged utility patent but possibly a design patent. I'll definitely delve into it if I can get the manufacturing issue successfully resolved.
Again, I appreciate your comments and am very open to hearing anything!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I ran across your question and I too have been looking for a US based company, to re-produce a charm in resin for my product. I did the Alibaba route, no success. I did learn if you have a actual art store (not a craft store) in your area they can assist and guide you with the materials you will need to create your own sample.
I hope that helps a bit, please post if you do find a US based company.
ps. i'm new to this site, I sent a comment instead of a post. :) haha
regards,
Lydia
Hi Lisa, I haven't had much luck wi Ali Baba, either. I wonder what other's experience has been? Have any of you had good experience with Ali Baba?
My die maker's English isn't too good. Your best to go through me. email me your ph# & earliest & latest I can call you without disturbing anyone. It would be most helpful if you email me pictures, description, description of material you plan to use, & projected volume. A die can be 1 up or 10 up. The best price point is acheived by making the appropriate die. I can send you a Non disclosure form which is probably a good idea, not for trust necessarily(this is totally out of my product line), but if you end up using an agent or presenting on one of the tv shows, you need to be able to say you have it.
I always use die cutting if I can bcs it soooooo much cheaper & very consistent. The only down side with die cutting is getting a good cutting company who doesn't break your dies. On the whole, however, the dies are so inexpensive compared to other molding, its worth doing if it works for your product. It really brings your price point down & consistent quality up. There isn't too much that can be done wrong with a die cut.
I think you are right on to study your market & analyze costs before doing a patent of any kind. Although my company does patent searches, I keep trying to put myself out of business by stressing that there are reasons to have & a lot more reasons to not have a patent depending on the product & the situation & who your competitors are. 1 rule of thumb: If you can't afford to go to court & defend your patent or good enough to look threatening enough to get your comptetitors to back down, its a waste to get a patent. sometimes it actually works against you.
Pls be patient with me getting back to you as I'm running deadlines & under a lot of pressure right now. This is the beginning of Camp Stamp Season http://www.CampStamp.com . I'm making some big changes in Camp Stamp & of course, I'm behind doing it. just keep after me & give me as big a window of calling time as possible.
I can guarantee if you decide to get dies from my company, that you will be satisfied with the dies that Quoc makes . He has been making my dies for about 15 years. I've never had a bad one. Prior to him, I had many bad ones. Quoc's work comes with my company's guarantee of satisfaction. Besides your going to give feedback here on this forum so I better be good! InventingJoy