Help – quick survey for a tool you never even dreamed about!

[HowdyNeighbour!]

I wouldnt mind seeing a far far cheaper chopstick making jig

Bridge City Tools make one, but even the UK price is nearly 300 quid. Sisters bestie married in Japan after working there for a decade, and i suggested this would be ideal, but the price is seriously off putting

I got the mujingfang chopstick making kit from Workshop Heaven to use up the change from a birthday voucher. Definitely not as fancy as the bridge city one but it's a fun little kit, but after a while, it's like, how many hardwood chopsticks does one person need!

And @chatometry I would also be interested in helping!

 

[mwinfrance]

Gwaaan then @chatometry , even though I'm happy with MK 1 eyeballs and MK 1 fingertips.. I'm in , even if just because of your "nick", which in french j'adore.

 

[SammyQ]

@chatometry? Count me in. I used instrumentation of all sorts for over 40 years alongside my woodworking addiction. Can't wait to evaluate for you.

 

[Jameshow]

Sorry to thread jack but can I chip in with a really amazing invention that I have come up with.... It's totally unique and life changing... Cannot say too much yet!

 

[ajs]

Bluouge.. ( portmanteau of Bleu and Rouge* ) pronounced "blooj" .. from a VW ad that ran here a few years ago when the indecisive customer was asked by the salesman what colour car he would like to buy.
*The joke being where they are on the spectrum in relation to it and each other.

ISTR reading about a study a few years ago looking into this. I'm sure most are aware that the eye can only discriminate between red, green and blue and even that is only in a tiny portion of the central field of view. The rest is rapid eye movements and brain power to fill in the gaps.

This study used computers to track eye movements and adjust a display to compensate for them. Test subjects were indeed able perceive "new" colours such as reddish-green that do not appear in nature.

 

[ajs]

One bit of advice though: when you've finalised your design and just before you market it collect a drawing/manufacturing detail pack and lodge them with a solicitor. It shows prior history so if someone sues stating that you are selling something against their patent you can show you have prior (Oh why can't I remember the correct term) rights.

Prior art is the term I think you are reaching for, but you need to be careful, the invention needs to be public knowledge, simply existing is not a defence. A couple of examples come to mind:

The British team that developed penicillin into a practical drug needed outside aid to ramp up manufacturing. This was during WWII and was regarded as secret as a war contingency but ultimately for the benefit of humanity. They went to the Americans for mass production who promptly patented the process and the original team ended up paying royalties on the method they themselves had developed.

Again in the UK GCHQ developed what is now known as the RSA encryption system, it was the first such system that did not need the source and recipient to have shared a common encryption key in advance. They kept it quiet for official and military purposes. Ten years later the Americans independently developed and patented it - prior use is no defence is not described publicly.

Remember the original motivation of patents was to encourage inventors to publicly document their inventions so that in time all might benefit - it wasn't intended as a reward for invention in and of itself.