8-Year-Old Receives Patent

Knile writes "While not the youngest patent recipient ever (that would be a four year old in Texas), Bryce Gunderman has received a patent at age 8 for a space-saver that combines an outlet cover plate with a shelf. From the article: '"I thought how I was going to make a lot of money," Bryce said about what raced through his brain when he received the patent.'"

Comments

Considering how long it takes to get a patent...

[Lord Byron II]

Considering how long it takes to get a patent, he must have been in diapers when he submitted it. Kudos to him.

And the invention is a good idea too. My cell usually rests on the kitchen floor while it charges.

so sad

[Anonymous Coward]

Something about this story just makes me want to cry soo hard. Faith in humanity lost yet again..

Re:so sad

[bluefoxlucid]

That was my first thought too. We see cartoons where talking animals kick over a rock and it's a lump of gold and "GUH GUH GUH GUH GUH GUH GUH GUH GUHGUHGUHGUHGUH O_O" ... I don't even do that when a hot 18 year old girl sits in my lap. I mean I make a grab for the hips and keep her close but hey. I certainly don't get an unmitigatable hard-on over a couple tens of thousands of dollars in front of me; my first thought is, "What's the catch?" (the catch is you have to market this shit, and you're minimally likely to change our cultural view of what outlets look like; this is a gimmick.)

A better man would have thought about the practical purpose of such an invention. A thinking man. A man who is going to invent something even better.

Re:so sad

[j00r0m4nc3r]

What made you sad?

It makes me sad too. Here's an 8-year-old kid who is already turned into a money-grubbing materialist by his parents. The quest for money is the most empty and fruitless thing in life but our society idolizes it beyond everything else. He should be out playing with his friends and teasing girls and enjoying his youth instead of writing patent applications and worrying about how much money he's going to make and what useless crap he's going to buy with it. Not only that but he's going to take his money and feed it straight into the pockets of overpaid professional sports players, who certainly don't need it. I don't blame the kid because he's probably just emulating his patent-lawyer dad, but it would be nice if our society was less focused on money and material possessions and more on things that actually matter. Maybe the kid will turn out alright, but I don't hold much hope.

Re:so sad

[kheldan]

IN THIS COMMENT: Butthurt Anonymous Coward cries and whines over the fact that someone of single-digit age came up with a simple yet innovative idea that might just put him through college one day, while the AC OP sits lonely and fat in his stepmother's basement, unable to even hold down a job at the local Burger King.
Stop being such a fucking whiner, AC. Go back to community college and actually learn some job skills (Protip: XBAWKS360 doesn't count as "job skills") and maybe you'll actually get a job someday.

Re:so sad

[HaZardman27]

It pains me to see an adult (I'm assuming) get so butt-hurt about an 8 year-old succeeding that they'll whine this much about so-called "vile behavior." He didn't come up with this design to save the freaking world, he recognized his father's problem and then realized he could make money for solving it. Do you go to work every day for free?

Re:so sad

[ffreeloader]

Oh, for Pete's sake. Think about this for a minute.

Money has never been my first priority in life. My brother? It's always been his first priority in life and I despise the guy as he's an insufferable prick and as cruel a human being as I know of because of money being his first priority. He's so tight he squeaks when he walks, and doing something for someone else is always at the very bottom of his list of priorities. My old man was a prick too, but at least he helped other people when he had the money, and my brother hated him for helping others.

That being said, if I had received a patent on an invention of mine, my first response wouldn't have been another invention, but how I could put the proceeds coming from this invention to work for me. You know, pay off bills, investments I could make so the money would work for me, buy some land, etc.... If the rewards were big enough to do more than that I'd think about what I could do for others with it but I have needs too and if I don't consider my own needs first I'll never really help anyone else because I'm not being responsible.. But, condemning an 8 year old kid for having dreams of things that 8 year old's like is just stupid and mean-spirited, as you're condemning a child for not being mature.

Also, the question asked, and the answer given, could very well not be what the kid does with his money. All he did was answer the question posed to him, and he already may have changed his mind. He isn't going to get an immediate return on his money, and it sounds as if his parents are responsible people. He will have a chance to rethink his priorities before he gets any money back on his invention, and the experience of having to deal with delayed gratification may well teach him something. Even if he does buy a few hundred dollars worth of sports equipment what's that to the possible income from his invention? Probably only a very small part, and I'll bet you that you've spent more on entertainment in your lifetime than this kid has stated would be his first purchases. Plus, you're much older than he is, so what's your excuse for blowing money on entertainment?

wtf

[richy freeway]

These things have been available for years. Also the link to the patent is wrong.

Re:wtf

[Arancaytar]

These things have been available for years.

When has that ever stopped a patent?

Re:wtf

[Jaysyn]

Yup, I've seen them & variants for sale online for a while now.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_hi?_encoding=UTF8&node=228013&field-brandtextbin=Power%20Shelf

http://www.amazon.com/PLUG-SHELF-BLACKBERRY-ORGANIZER-PORTABLE/dp/B002A91X4Q/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1291132840&sr=8-16

http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Charger-Valet-Phone-Camera/dp/B003OFB5PC/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1291132927&sr=8-22

Re:wtf

[Palidase]

He isn't the youngest patent recipient. The youngest was a 4 year old who created a device for grasping round knobs on doors and cabinets, intended for peopel with physical disabilities.

Re:wtf

[Java Pimp]

Only the first link is similar to the kid's "invention" because it is the only one that is a replacement wall plate. The kid did improve on the invention by placing the shelf "above" the outlets instead of below so you can actually stack things on the shelf without blocking the outlets. Of course IANAPL but the kid's idea is probably sufficiently different from the first link that neither infringe on each other's "IP". I mean he didn't patent "wall plate shelves" (overly broad) but only his "design" of the wall plate shelf (specific)...

Pretty good for an 8-year old if you ask me...

Re:wtf

[tlhIngan]

Only the first link is similar to the kid's "invention" because it is the only one that is a replacement wall plate. The kid did improve on the invention by placing the shelf "above" the outlets instead of below so you can actually stack things on the shelf without blocking the outlets. Of course IANAPL but the kid's idea is probably sufficiently different from the first link that neither infringe on each other's "IP". I mean he didn't patent "wall plate shelves" (overly broad) but only his "design" of the wall plate shelf (specific)...

Last I checked, most outlets were pretty symmetrical, so that "below the plug" shelf can be turned 180 degrees around and made into an "above the plug" shelf. It may not look nice (if it was designed to below the plug), but anyone with a screwdriver could trivially turn it around if twas that useful.

Hell, there's enough bad handymen out there that at least several people would've installed it upside down. Other than looking funny, they probably don't know better.

No, there's got to be more to this patent than simply turning it around...

Re:wtf

[Lord Bitman]

unless you're in England, "Outlet Cover" is not synonymous with "Outlet Plug"

What's in a number?

[geegel]

The age seems pretty irrelevant. He actually invented an useful contraption, which he intends to produce and sell. This is actually a patent working as it should.

Pass Code

[MyLongNickName]

Would this pass U.S. electrical codes? I am not an electrician, but wonder if the hazard of weight busting the cover would present a problem.

Re:Pass Code

[MyLongNickName]

Or imagine that because there is a shelf protruding that it is much more likely that someone kicks it, something falls on it, or something else unexpected suddenly puts tremendous torque on the plate.

Re:to bad billy mays is not around to sell this!

[assemblerex]

Shouldn't that be in all caps?

Re:Considering how long it takes to get a patent..

[Unkyjar]

He was 6 when the patent applied for. I guess it also helps that his father is a lawyer that founded a law firm actually named Patent Technologies LLC.

Re:Great!

[sconeu]

No, that's just in Soviet Russia

Dangerous

[samjam]

I saw one of these demo'd a while back on Dragons Den as the "inventor" tried to get funding.

The dragon nearly showed that while it looks like a shelf, it's really a lever for exposing high voltage electrical wiring.

So we appreciate the idea behind it, but it's so obviously got dangerous and potentially operational modes that can occur in normal (not intended) use.

Better to tie your phone to a piece of string and tie the string to the charger - then if anyone yanks or kicks it, it'll just pull the charger out. I realise that this won't work on flimsy US sockets, I also realise that a half-out plug can be a fire risk as well as cause damage to the connectors that can make it a permanent fire risk, so it's still a bad idea - even making a shelf out of the charger is a bad idea

Re:Considering how long it takes to get a patent..

[SimonTheSoundMan]

*double facepalm*

Either his father encouraged his son to make the patent as a sign of goodwill to educate his child on how to become an entrepreneurial inventor, or he owns a patent troll company and needed to file a patent and used his son.

I'll let ./ readers make up their mind.

I'm hoping it was not the latter. Patent doesn't seem broad enough for a troll.