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Addition to Rand's requirements for invention

Posted by $ jbrenner 5 years, 8 months ago to Technology
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A good friend and former business partner of mine and I sold our former biofuels company (our form of shrugging) right after reading Atlas Shrugged in 2008. His shrug job is ownership of a used computer and electronics shop. Imagine Sanford & Son for electronics.

On the outside of the building is the linked sign about invention.
SOURCE URL: http://my.fit.edu/~jbrenner/galt/inventionsrequirements.jpg


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  • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
    Been buying and refurbishing some favorite vintage audio components for some time now. Only 2 amplifiers to repair and 1 to refurb at present. ;^) One man's junk is another's treasure.
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    • Posted by $ Thoritsu 5 years, 8 months ago
      Do you do tube amps, speakers, or components? I build speakers for a hobby, and along your lines, just refurbed a pair of Advent Legacies. Love those things. Henry Kloss and Paul Klipsch were awesome!
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      • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
        I've been restoring Carver solid state amps, but my business partner has 40 years of experience building and restoring tube amps. Together, we should have a tube preamp ready for market late this year. I'm also planning to build a kit tube amp when Bob Carver makes them available later this year.
        As you might have inferred by the topic I posted this morning
        https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
        when it comes to speakers, I like Maggies. In contrast, my business partner has had lots of different speakers of more traditional design, but he loves his 30 year old Altec's and is always asking me why anyone would want less efficient speakers ;^) I agree Kloss and Klipsch were amazing inventors, too.
        Although I really wanted Maggies (they were out of my financial reach), I almost bought the original large Advents in '71, but settled for some more economical Dynaco's instead.
        I have been thinking about building some subwoofers to work with my Maggies, but haven't made the time yet.
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      • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
        Thoritsu, you probably remember Astro Too from your time in Melbourne. When Roger retired, he sold Astro Too to my other friend, John, who renamed it MRAM (but still has Astro Too signage). I am sure that John has amps, speakers, and components. I saw them yesterday.
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
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      • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
        My business partner loves such "junk" shops. He comes out with ideas for new inventions frequently after he shops in one.
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        • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
          I come up with the idea first and then scrounge through my friend's junk shop to figure out how to turn the idea into a reality.
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          • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
            My other partner is a retired electronic special effects expert for movies and tv. His basement looks like a junk store, but he has hundreds of caps and tubes he has picked up at "junk" stores in LA. We are using some of them for evaluating the best brands and parts to use in our pre-amp design. We should have a couple of prototypes ready by September.
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            • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
              Are you "un-shrugging"? I am.
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              • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
                I guess it will depend on the reception our product gets (grin). Seriously, I will not support the enemies of liberty and I'm not confident how to classify the current regime, yet. A lot will depend on whether the obvious enemies are adequately punished for their actions.
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                • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                  I am not ready to debut my new products yet, but despite my reservations about Trump, I think that the penalties for production are sufficiently small for me now.
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                  • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                    I just got hit with 25% tariffs on what I buy from china. Trump is essentially increasing the value of the juan to cut our imports from China one way or another. Trouble is we can’t compete with Chinese labor and costd
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                    • Posted by Dobrien 5 years, 8 months ago
                      Speaking of China , The cost of labor is one of the issues another is the technology give away as an entrance to the market cost or the systematic theft of Intellectual property . Maybe Trumps tough stance on trade inequities to be used as a bargaining chip won't work. I'll give him the support to work his well honed skills as a negotiator till a better solution is derived.
                      My 2 cents worth........Oh add 25% if you are Chinese
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                      • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                        Trump is playing a dangerous game of chicken with the tariff situation. Putting tariffs on some things might make them the other countries sweat for a while before getting them to face up to reality, but ... can producers like us wait that long? Morally, he can claim the high ground, but his actions of doing the opposite in the short term of what you want in the long term kind of remind me of an Ayn Rand hero named John Galt.
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                      • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                        I have been systematically buying relatively low technology parts and assemblies from Chinese companies for about 4 years now. My experience is that the Chinese entrepreneurs and workers are VERY dedicated and honest, at least from the dozen or so u have dealt with. THIS is why they have taken over from the relatively lazy American workers, in my experience anyway.

                        I think they are industrious students of the internet and have learned a LOT from the free information in the internet. They are pit bulls and just work and work until they succeed

                        I am a mechanical engineer, have learned a lot of electrical engineering and practical things over the years, started a number of successful companies, but I have to tell you I would be hard pressed to compete with the Chinese when making plastic moldings, metal parts, printed materials, textiles, etc. I doubt they stole any intellectual property to make what I buy from them

                        If a company wants to sell to China, and they have to give up willingly their secrets to do it- that’s their choice. It’s not stealing

                        I think a lot of trumps complaints are in response to big us companies trying to justify their laziness

                        If we were in the gold standard, we wouldn’t have continuing trade deficits. It’s the lack of gold standard and the printing of US dollars that keeps the Chinese Juan from rising in value and making Chinese stuff assume it’s rightful costs relative to us goods.

                        These are the problems that trump us trying to solve , but given he isn’t accepting the real causes, tariffs will fail as a solution. He would have to tariff all Chinese goods at 300% to have a shot at encouraging me to make here the parts I now buy from chins
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                        • Posted by Dobrien 5 years, 8 months ago
                          I am not talking about wire harnesses or low tech items. Certain technology like chips advance microprocessing . The attempt to purchase Micron technology was halted due to national security interests. For example.
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                          • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                            But if micron developed intellectual property and wanted to trade it for access to Chinese market- isn’t that THEIR fault? Doesn’t sound like stealing to me.

                            I can’t blame China for setting up the conditions for trade. Micron didn’t have to agree.

                            I don’t c how tariffs will stop willing transactions between companies and China from occurring. The tariffs will be paid by USA consumers thru price increases to the benefit of the government coffers.

                            Maybe USA companies should guard their intellectual property better instead
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                            • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                              However, even if I get a PCT international patent, many in China don't honor it. There are many in China who are honorable, but just like with terrorists, it only takes a very small minority to ruin things.
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                              • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                                A patent, in my opinion anyway, is an artifificial monopoly granted by a government for an arbitrary period of time to the first person to jump thru the government hoops.

                                I point to the patent battles between the wright brothers and Curtis. Curtis exploited and improved upon wright brothers work, while the wrights pretty much rested on their patents and went nowhere

                                The Chinese seem to be more like Curtis in terms of really getting out there and making the best of new ideas. Maybe it undercuts the artificial governmental monopolies granted by patents, but in the end arentvwe better off to let competition work its magic ?
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                            • Posted by Dobrien 5 years, 8 months ago
                              Sorry term you lost me.
                              You think I'm a prosecutor or some thing.
                              The issue is sensitive technology that the U S determines to they need to protect it.
                              https://eandt.theiet.org/content/arti...
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                              • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                                I wasn’t thinking you were a prosecutor Sorry if I came across that way. I just have a small company and am upset at being targeted with tariffs to solve problems I didn’t make and can’t be fixed by the use of tariffs. Tariffs should be zero, period, at least in a rational world of free competition

                                As to sensitive technology developed by private companies, it’s theirs to protect or trade away, in my opinion. That’s all
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                    • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                      Ouch!
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                      • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                        Another issue is that a lot of USA suppliers simply buy and resell stuff THEY buy from China at a substantial markup. For example, we buy trailer plug wire harnesses for 65 cents from China. To buy the same thing from a us dustributor, it costs $2.20.
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                      • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                        I don’t think his tariffs will work unless they would be like 300%. Chinese stuff is generally 1/3 the cost of buying the same thing here in the usa
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                        • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
                          I'm looking for a chassis manufacturer (steel and anodized aluminum) who can cut my costs on a relatively simple custom chassis significantly on repeated orders of 100 units. Do any of your manufacturing contacts do this? (Thus far the fabricators here in GA can compete with what I have found overseas for the volumes that I currently need.)
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                          • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                            You can try Alibaba.com to search for chinese mfrs. Thats what we use to see what overseas prices would be. Something large like that might have significant sea shipping charges though which could make it impractical to go overseas.
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                            • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 8 months ago
                              Your comment is valid, term. The shipping that the vendors on alibaba charge for the chassis we need do make them barely competitive with US fabricators. I doubt that the ones we have found there are anything more than middlemen; I would hope that a factory could have done better both on the chassis and on shipping. In fact, the best value I found for our prototypes is a manufacturer in Europe - about 30% lower than the Chinese vendors' non-customized chassis. I suspect we will end up having the custom chassis made here unless our success makes for high volumes and lower prices overseas.
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                              • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                                I can offer this comment: For any given product, there seem to be many multiple companies "selling" it, but most likely only a few real manufacturers. What I do is ask for quotes and look for the lowest prices, which would logically be the manufacturers. I ignore the higher priced ones.

                                Be very careful to specify in great detail what you want. If its not specified, and this is made more difficult by the language barrier, is likely NOT to be made the way you want. Steel specs, welding specs, painting or finishing specs, not to mention dimensions that they can actually inspect to. In my experience, the chinese will do exactly what you want IF you tell them in advance what the specs are.
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                    • Posted by Korben_Rage 5 years, 8 months ago
                      "Trouble is we can’t compete with Chinese labor and costd"
                      - Which is why we need the tariffs, I'm all for tariffs on most imported manufactured goods.
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                      • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                        Trump is playing a dangerous game of chicken with the tariff situation. Putting tariffs on some things might make them the other countries sweat for a while before getting them to face up to reality, but ... can producers like us wait that long? Morally, he can claim the high ground, but his actions of doing the opposite in the short term of what you want in the long term kind of remind me of an Ayn Rand hero named John Galt.
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                        • Posted by Korben_Rage 5 years, 8 months ago
                          I don't see it as dangerous nor opposite of what I want in the long term. Tariffs are necessary to keep production in the US, while also providing tax revenue. They are win win.

                          There's an economic argument against tariffs, I get that. But the stability and national security they provide far outweighs the economic risks.
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                          • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                            I am perfectly OK with buying my items from China, and I can put them together into products worth selling anywhere. All that tariffs do is raise the capital cost risk for me as a businessman.
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                            • Posted by Korben_Rage 5 years, 8 months ago
                              I'm not OK with it. China is an enemy, a communist dictatorship bent on domination. They are an enemy of capitalism, freedom, objectivism, you, me, and the United States. Why then would you support them? It follows then that you doing business with them means you're an enemy as well.

                              Part of what tariffs do is raise the capital cost risk for you as an enemy.
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                              • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                                I support individuals, not countries.
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                                • Posted by Korben_Rage 5 years, 8 months ago
                                  The US is a team of individuals. Individuals who want to manufacture locally. Individuals who want to pay less taxes. Individuals who want to buy American made products. Individuals who want our freedoms to endure. Individuals who want our economy to grow.

                                  They all count less then a commie on another continent?
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 8 months ago
    Interesting...Upon learning about EMP's and CME's I wondered if a business that could rebuild blown electronics would be viable.
    The thought actually came when I had an electronic part fail in our refrigerator that was no longer available...couldn't we just replace the diodes, etc or what ever was the problem?

    I'm sure that a non-working piece of electronic equipment still has some good working parts in it.

    We used to joke in the car stereo business about Audiovox stereo equipment being made from used electronic parts because no to radios performed the same.
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
      Such repair of refrigerators is possible, and in fact, my friend's business fixes a wide range of electronic devices worth fixing when they don't have customers in the shop.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 8 months ago
    Great sign, BTW!
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
      I was the Dagny of our company at the time, and he convinced me correctly that it was time to sell.
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      • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
        I sold my two medical device companies after fda got involved. But I can’t sit around so I started another one but in off road industry
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        • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
          What kind of medical device companies did you have? My new one is going to make relatively inexpensive bioreactors and peripheral nerve grafts, as well as provide a tissue engineering test bed service.
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          • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
            I made infant respiratory breathing circuits in one, and anesthesia breathing circuits in the second one. It got to the point one couldnt introduce a new produce UNTIL the fda approved it, and that could take up to 18 months. Not the place for an innovative company to prosper.

            The FDA is very onerous. Now you have to go to a private company to prepare what they called a 510(k) application. God help you if your product is not something "substantially similar" to one already existing. That puts it into a the more stringent category.
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            • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 8 months ago
              The patent office isn't all that friendly either, they don't even speak the same language a human could recognize.
              Had two successful patents: 1, an angled speaker adapter to facilitate directing sound where you wanted it to go in the automotive environment and 2, a metal stretch band for finger rings.
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              • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                In essence you are applying to secure protection from competition for 20 yrs just because u were the first to successfully navigate through the governments pricess. I am not a fan of our patent process. I think it stifles innovation , particularly in the age of patent trolls
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                • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                  Ironically, in the medical device field, the patent and FDA approval processes favor the innovators over the inventors because of the 510(k) approval process. It is far easier to prove that your technology is conceptually similar to someone else's to get through FDA than it is to truly invent something totally new.
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                  • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                    I remember having to twist and turn things to show how it’s “substantially similar” to existing products in order to get the 510k. If I had come up with something really new, as a small company I could never gotten through the process

                    The 510k pricess doesn’t help anyone really, it just makes it cheaper to get premarket approval. It means that something radically new and better will only be made by large companies and not startups

                    My company came up with many products not similar to ones being marketed already. That’s why hospitals bought from us. But we essentially convinced the 21 yr old wannabe regulators that black was the same as white to get them to sign off. The whole process was a bit stupid if u ask me
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              • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                It's appropriate that you should mention the patent office. I have a meeting with my partners today to discuss an alternate synthesis method to our patented technology and whether, if someone else had the idea, they would be violating our existing patent. I think that we will have to write another patent to properly block out future competition.
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            • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
              Fortunately, my nerve graft product has gotten the 510(k) application approval! You are quite right about FDA. I wouldn't have gone forward with the nerve graft project unless it could get 510(k).
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              • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                Congrats!! U get the hank rearden award for just sticking to it. For me the fda visits were my “John galt visit” and I said NO MORE
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                • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                  Actually, it is my partner who is the one who can get things through FDA. That is his specialty. He also has more money than my respectable amount.
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                  • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                    Reminds me of hank rearden hiring Wesley mouch to “get things through” the government. The real purpose of the fda regulation of medical devices was to expand fda powers by securing the backing of large companies who want to restrict competition
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                    • Posted by $ 5 years, 8 months ago
                      Not exactly. My partner who can get things through FDA was the one who approached me to help on the technical side. He started the company. I am not calling all the shots.
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                      • Posted by term2 5 years, 8 months ago
                        I totally understand the need to deal with federal agencies such as fda , osha, epa, irs etc. one of my partners in the last business was such s person. In today’s world, the product is an essential part of a business, but it’s worthless without the permission to sell it to willing buyers- as granted by the governmental looters.

                        I hope your device is successful as it sounds like it would help people whose nerve pathways have been mechanically interrupted
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