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Night-time "human directionals": need help starting my empire :)

Meet the sign spinning champions of the world.

To the OP, does your wiring allow the sign to be spun like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_A4XJalsE0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

I'm quite aware of those tournaments and games, amazing how after all these years their still pretty popular! Yes, actually it will light those signs while still allowing them to be spun and flipped in some models that will be available using a weight-balanced battery pack attatched directly to the frame (no cable to waist battery pk) and super high-impact frame, all solid-state of course so it can withstand drops and bangs.
 
So, you have a patent and NO prototype at all?

In the process. It's a very very simple design. You don't need a prototype in order to file a patent. And depending on the idea, you can even sell just the patent itself to corporate buyers without any prototype at all. But I'd get far far more $$ from licensing over time rather than selling the patent outright. So that's why I'm going about it this way
 
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hahahaha... somebody added a new tag to this thread (wasn't me)

here's an idea though (sorry nightD, I patented it already) ...why not illuminate the client NAME instead of the signs border?

The sign itself will of course be brightly lit using the super-bright LED lighting strips located along the inside edge of the frame, but also the frame itself will be lit too.

If you're referring to backlighting it, there will also be version for that, like for clamping onto a truck's tailgate/side (making the mobile advertising industry more accessible to the small business and people wanting to start earning some mobile advertising $$ without having to permanently "wrap" their car in a single co's ad).

If you are referring to anything more complex than that, that's just more $$ that would need to be spent unnecesarrily on R&D+manufacturing which = higher pricetag. The whole point here is to make it as accessible as possible to every small business owner too, not just the big guys with deeper pockets. In advertising, if you've can offer something to business owners that's effective AND economical, you've got an all-around winner accross the board.

And just showing a name is not really getting the point of directional advertising. The signspinning firms that hire those signspinners (whether their spinners be zombies or gymnastic sign-flippers) has the client customize their signage to say whatever and look however they wish, but the point is to DIRECT (hence the name "directionals") vehicle AND/OR pedestrian traffic to a specific place close by using an arrow-shaped sign and/or other directing techniques (like pointing). At night, this is very difficult to impossible. This is where my lighting frames come in.

So if you can imagine an arrow-shaped frame (pointing in the direction the client chooses) with animated lights, encasing a brightly-lit cheap coroplast sign saying "60% OFF CLEARANCE AT MACY'S NEXT RIGHT", and have that at a time when EVERYONE is off work and actually able to shop...that's absolute GOLD to any advertiser/business, and they'll pay premium directional advertising rates ($50-100/hr, depending on time of yr) for that kind of service. They can either purchase the frame, or just rent the service.

And to all those in the peanut gallery here who are poo-pooing the whole human directional thing...ever wonder why it's still being used after all these years?? BECAUSE IT WORKS! It's remained a strong industry for years even through this recent economic downturn while other marketing firms have taken a hard hit. Regardless of how annoying the signspinners are to any of us, the firms that hire them are making MEGA HUGE $$$. They pay the signspinners a very small fraction of what they charge the businesses for their services. And they always get results.
 
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Flame

New Member
Not really, it's a utility patent for the means to light these handheld signs in evening hours using LED strips (+ flashers in some models) and battery attached to a frame in which any sign can be interchanged in.

So whatchya going to do when I tell you I put LED stripes on a sign spinners sign 3 years ago....?
 

Craig Sjoquist

New Member
Welcome to a outstanding forum and people.

Since there is alot ..human directionals here..it has my interest indeed.

Our government does not like businesses to have signs but they have not stopped human directionals YET.
 
So whatchya going to do when I tell you I put LED stripes on a sign spinners sign 3 years ago....?

Personally, I'd be asking myself if you did that, why you didn't patent it. But aside from that, I personally wouldn't worry about it, although I can't say the same for any company who purchases rights to this patent, develops and markets it. If you're a business profiting off of an idea that is not legally your right to use, you are setting yourself up for lawsuits no matter what you say is what. sorry bud, but that's how IP law in our capitalistic society operates. Just giving you a heads up so you don't end up :banghead: later.
 

Flame

New Member
Personally, I'd be asking myself if you did that, why you didn't patent it. But aside from that, I personally wouldn't worry about it, although I can't say the same for any company who purchases rights to this patent, develops and markets it. If you're a business profiting off of an idea that is not legally your right to use, you are setting yourself up for lawsuits no matter what you say is what. sorry bud, but that's how IP law in our capitalistic society operates. Just giving you a heads up so you don't end up :banghead: later.

So if I had a newspaper ad, advertising my "neon sign spinners" dated 3 years ago, and have invoices for a couple other companies who purchased them 2-3 years ago...you really think you could back up your patent? ;)

:corndog:
 
Welcome to a outstanding forum and people.

Since there is alot ..human directionals here..it has my interest indeed.

Our government does not like businesses to have signs but they have not stopped human directionals YET.

There's a reason human directionals have stuck around since the 1800's "sandwhich-board" folks...free speech laws! Virtually any sign not stationary on the ground, held by a human being falls under that Amendment right. It was recently challenged in Nevada, and opposition lost primarily because of that.
 

RalphGS

New Member
Where did you get that popcorn Pat? can any human directional sign me the way? Preferable in bright LED....
 

shakey0818

New Member
I would like to see a picture of this think.If it dont work out i will sell you my patent for my "i will work for food "sign kits.
 
So if I had a newspaper ad, advertising my "neon sign spinners" dated 3 years ago, and have invoices for a couple other companies who purchased them 2-3 years ago...you really think you could back up your patent? ;)

:corndog:
(hmm, not sure how that corndog ended up in there..and all this popcorn-eating....you all are makin me hungry!)
This is interesting. Prior to filing, I searched extensively in patent and general online searches to see if anyone offered this service before. And here I just happen to meet you...Universe works in mysterious ways lol.

Anyway, I spoke with my patent attny just now. There's no way to tell at this point. Seeing how you used "neon" for lighting or eye-catching decor purposes as opposed to LED lighting does make a significant difference, and especially the means you used to place that lighting near the sign to light it also makes a difference as well as your power source, etc.

Do you have a website and/or pics of this which shows your setup in detail?

I think we should keep in contact with each other (outside of the forum).

oh, and.....:corndog:
(I need to go eat now)
 
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No disrespect meant, but why would anyone help you become a millionaire, for free?

Why would anyone on this forum help anyone else on this forum for free?

Besides, I plan to use whatever wealth from this (IF this works out) in a way that the Creator intended, and that is to help others. I care about the poor, suffering animals and our dieing planet. Lots of areas I can choose from to do my part to help in (as I believe we all should in our own way). In a capitalistic system, you can't go too far in your service to others without $$$. I would like to be able to provide $$ to those in need (non-profits and individuals alike).

If you don't believe that's a good reason (or don't believe anything I'm saying to begin with) then I guess there's nothing more for me to say in regard to that.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Based on what you've said, I question whether or not you would be able to enforce such a patent. I say this because, as far as I can tell, anyone, particularly anyone in the sign business, could construct what you describe from commonly available components. As Flame said ... he already has.

I recall years ago a meeting I had with a British dealer for our clipart products. He came to my office with a transfer mask dispenser he had developed that he wanted me to distribute in North America. It was made out of PVC pipe and included a couple of other parts one could buy at a Home Depot or Lowes store. His price to me as a master distributor was just under $400 a unit by the time I imported it. We went out for a bite to eat and then I took him to a Home Depot just up the street. There I showed him the PVC pipe section and demonstrated to him that his main components could all be had for less than $10 total. I then described to him a scene I had witnessed numerous times as an exhibitor at various sign industry trade shows: A clever invention with a host of sign guys standing around sketching it. Needless to say, the dispenser never came to market.

The point is that what you have described will have to be presented and sold to a group that is highly skilled in custom fabrication. If what you offer can be duplicated with common components, no claim of patent will be respected.

Then there's all the Chinese companies that are highly into LEDs for everything under the sun who will follow any success you have with a flood of competitive products if you do look to them as if you are doing well.

I invented a product back in the late 1980s and applied through a patent attorney for everything he could imagine. In all we made 33 claims and eventually I was awarded a patent for two of them. One is not worth mentioning but the attorney and I had a great laugh over the other. It was for the concept of a pinch roller. The same concept that every typewriter, printing press and office machine uses to move paper through a path. I jokingly asked him if I should get in touch with IBM, Xerox and others to demand a royalty for their use of my idea. His serious response was that they would simply counter-sue and I would only end up losing my patent.

Good luck to you though.
 

CheapVehicleWrap

New Member
In the process. It's a very very simple design. You don't need a prototype in order to file a patent. And depending on the idea, you can even sell just the patent itself to corporate buyers without any prototype at all. But I'd get far far more $$ from licensing over time rather than selling the patent outright. So that's why I'm going about it this way

I'm more familiar with the patenting process than I care to be. What I meant was, why wouldn't you start at step 1 if this is so simple? At trip to lowes and hitting radio shack on the way should do it from what you've described no? Personally I would have at least double sticky back taped some super high power leds to a piece of coroplast long before I started searching for property to locate my world headquarters in. Spend your money wisely my friend. A patent is useless unless it's rock solid and you have the financial and legal means to enforce it.
 

MikePro

New Member
sounds like a lotta hot air to me... if you've really got it patented, then post a pic or get on with it, on your own, already. all i hear is a lot of adjectives, and an idea that you're going to become rich off coroplast signage. (LOL... and LOL again)
you're not the first guy to come on here, ask for help on this "great idea" he's got, and get all butt-hurt when people have no clue what he's talking about.
 

CheapVehicleWrap

New Member
Mike, you have to understand that the entrepreneurs prior to him are no longer here because they realized their dream and moved on to greener pastures. The only hope we have of seeing them again is if we get a call to letter the names on their corporate mega-yachts. AND, he can't post a pic because it's not invented yet. Now, he could photoshop one together, but that would take longer than building the actual prototype.
 

CheapVehicleWrap

New Member
Here

Just a couple of rough mock-ups.
 

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gnemmas

New Member
Many businesses like to put neon around their windows, thus make their window lettering unreadable unless it was also neon.

Customers does not follow arrows blindly, have you seem any blank arrow signs? The content is what draws traffic, just mho.

Have you frame the arrow with your high intensity LED and see if the content still legible without also LED the content?
 
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