New socket and switch idea

dahac

I have come up with the idea to create a new electrical socket and switch which is safer than the standard ones on sale now. I know I need to protect my ideas. Are there any regulations on creating these items or electrical bodies which can accept these new ideas.

keystone

If you want to protect your design you need to patent it. That could easily cost you £10k. But an idea without a business plan isn't much use.

If your new design cannot be manufactured and retailed at a price close to the standard ones on sale (which are already relatively safe anyway) then you have no business and without a volume business you won't make any money. If the manufacturing costs and retail price are substantially more then Joe Public won't be interested for a perceived small safety increase. The buying public's perception is the key.

Ask a Dragon.

Cheers

david39

If you are proposing a change that also involves a redesign of the plugs that the sockets uses then I think this would be totally impractical as the cost to then change a plug on each appliance in a house would be too high. And, you would need to change all the sockets in a house to allow items to be moved from one room to another - think of the problems of using a vaccuum cleaner.

Also, every appliance manufacturer would have to supply two different electrical leads to cater for the two styles of sockets it might be used with.

dahac

My idea is the back box and the socket or switch. Wouldn't cost much as its very simple idea which would save electric accidents.

keystone

dahac wrote: »

My idea is the back box and the socket or switch. Wouldn't cost much as its very simple idea which would save electric accidents.

I had assumed you wouldn't be wanting everyone to change their plugs.

How many accidents will it save per annum? Have you done a cost benefit analysis before embarking on patenting this which is your only method of protecting it and will (as advised) prolly cost you iro £10k over 2,3 or 4 years????

Owain_Moneysaver

Deaths in the UK caused by fixed wiring are approximately nil each year anyway.

You'd have to give volume housebuilders and electricians a business reason for fitting your sockets instead of industry standard ones. I don't think many end users would pay extra.

Possibly your best idea would be to approach some of the big manufacturers (MK, etc) and see if they would like to licence your idea or buy it off you for a fixed amount.

Ectophile

Ultimately, the new socket would have to be type approved to British Standard BS1363 before it could be used. So you'd need to comply with that.

I can see you have two ways forward -

1. Get the patent first, then hawk it around the likely manufacturers.
2. Find a manufacturer who is interested, and discuss it with them under a non-disclosure agreement. Ensure you get an NDA before disclosing any important details.

keystone

Trouble is that both patents and NDAs are easily circumvented by the unscrupulous.

Cheers

zax47

And you pretty much have to give all the detail about your idea in order to patent it - many famous inventions and discoveries were never patented to protect the secrecy behind them.

zax47

Ectophile wrote: »

Ultimately, the new socket would have to be type approved to British Standard BS1363 before it could be used. So you'd need to comply with that.

I can see you have two ways forward -

1. Get the patent first, then hawk it around the likely manufacturers.
2. Find a manufacturer who is interested, and discuss it with them under a non-disclosure agreement. Ensure you get an NDA before disclosing any important details.

You'd also need to get the IET (was the IEEE) involved to vet/test the design and give their approval (or not...) for incorporation/reference in BS7671.

http://electrical.theiet.org/index.cfm?origin=org-site-electrician-audience-tab

Owain_Moneysaver

keystone wrote: »

Trouble is that both patents and NDAs are easily circumvented by the unscrupulous.

Which is why it might be better to get a manufacturer to pay £1000 for the idea, instead of spending £10,000 patenting it and then being unable to enforce the patent.

Lost of companies buy up ideas even if they don't intend to use them, just to stop their competitor possibly doing so.