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

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

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.

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: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: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?