RE: Clutch + transmission, or not?

["Ian Clifford" <ian@digit.ca>]

It seems since December 21st I have been receiving 5 copies of every message
posted to the list.

Any thoughts?

Ian Clifford

-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-ev@listproc.sjsu.edu [mailto:owner-ev@listproc.sjsu.edu] On
Behalf Of Dennis Marer
Sent:	December 31, 1998 2:58 AM
To:	ev@listproc.sjsu.edu
Cc:	ev@listproc.sjsu.edu
Subject:	Re: Clutch + transmission, or not?

> Bob MacDowell writes:
> Although other things would work too.  My favorite solution would be one
> from the railways - have two motors and switch them series/parallel.
> Series would double your torque, ideal for "first gear".  Parallel gives
> efficient high-speed cruise, and you can cut out one motor.   Consensus
> seems to be that this would work, but no one I know of has tried it.

Yeah yeah yeah!  This is a really clever idea - I think it'll fit nicely
into what I have planned.  Neat.


> He has a lot of wisdom about patents; namely that they are a waste of
> energy and money, and will likely result in your patent being busted by
> a predatory corporation rather than you seeing a nickel, that's if you
> even bother to take them to court and associated hassles.  And that there
> are better ways to accomplish what you want, which is to recover money
> from your invention.  He oughta know, that's his living.

It's not the money I'm interested in, it's the legal protection.  Without
a patent, you've got nothing.  With a patent, you've got at least a little
something.  Of course, you have to have something patentable to begin
with...

And, considering an eraser on the end of a pencil is patented, it doesn't
take much.  Just spoke with a friend tonight whose company is paying him
$6000 a patent, whether it is approved or not.  Just to beef up their
portfolio...silly, silly.

	Dennis