J. Phil Thien's Projects

I got a "page not found" on that link?

That one also says patent pending.

Huh.

Quote from: dbhost on November 16, 2021, 11:55:40 AM
@Phil

Sorry I have been out so long. Life happened ya know...

I am so sorry to hear that some jacknut is stealing your generously shared idea.

I'm no lawyer or anything like that, nor did I spend the night in a Holiday In Express, but if there is anything I can do to help with this issue. please let me know.

Wow, nice to hear from you.

Nothing much to do I guess.  I don't know what this guys application status is, I do know several reached-out to the patent office to object.

Hope you're doing well.

I'm here but nothing to report, I have no idea what the status of his patent may be.

I had never heard of a Younker lift, that is a pretty neat!

Very clever implementation!

Good stuff.

Running those large roundover bits in my table is a little on the exciting side, but I've done it.

Some have absolutely modified and tried to optimize the shape, I don't know whether the NACA shape specifically was used.

That, sir, is absolutely gorgeous!

What beautiful wood and grain.

What did you use for a finish?

Sorry it took me so long to notice this.

The purpose of that dowel is to provide a means of attaching the indicator.  You could just as easily screw (with a wood screw) the indicator into the block.

In my case I used the 1/4-20 threaded cross-dowel so I could turn it back and forth 90-degrees and use the same 1/4-20 screw to attach the indicator to both edges of that block.

I now realize that sometimes those videos guys make, would make this a whole lot easier to understand.  Unfortunately, I don't have a video.

Glad it worked for you!  I still use it routinely.

So whatcha making?

Sorry for the slow response.

1/4" because you're cutting the full depth of the material, because you're going to lose your pivot point when you're done.  1/2" is more difficult to plow through material.

Thank you but you're going to get an automatic response indicating they don't do anything with E-Mail.

I've snail-mailed them evidence of prior art.

The work is all in the public domain, I didn't receive a patent and certainly others have contributed improvements.

I'm honestly suspicious and question the motivations of anyone attempting to patent the work at this point.

Quote from: retired2 on January 20, 2019, 03:22:27 PM
Phil,

I will send an email to the patent office, but it won't be immediately, my wife has some unresolved medical problems. 

I don't know what improvements this guy has made to his design because he intentionally doesn't reveal those details.  However, for a brief moment when he lifts his unit off the bucket it is clear that at the heart of his device is the Thien baffle, copied shamelessly.  Without that baffle his device doesn't do squat!

I never contacted the guy, having the opinion at the time that his work was based entirely on the work of others (myself and others here).

The circular cross-section aspect he was claiming, should make the unit perform less-well on fines, as it would induce a 2nd rotation of everything above the baffle and allow the fines to approach the outlet tube during each of those rotations.  We want to keep fines AWAY from the outlet tube.

Good luck on your wife's medical problems, I'll keep you guys in my thoughts.

Hello everyone.

I was recently alerted, via E-Mail, to a patent application:

http://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?PageNum=0&docid=20170266596&IDKey=05943D35F854&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fappft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D41%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPG01%2526s1%3Dhuntley.IN.%2526OS%3DIN%2Fhuntley%2526RS%3DIN%2Fhuntley

This would be the Dustopper separator, available at Home Depot.

The unit, IMHO, is nothing more than a collection of the ideas expressed at this website/forum.

The man selling that product was in contact with me by E-Mail, writing this (8/5/2016):

QuoteLike many others out there, I am grateful for the initial work you did with your "baffle". That said, the next few sentences could have you cursing me, or perhaps partnering with me. It just depends on how you think, I suppose.

I made a Thein separator, including some of the changes that have appeared on other designs posted on the web. It worked reasonably well, but my attempts did not separate fines as well as I had hoped for. Next step was to buy the Oneida, which is a terrific separator, albeit a pain in the butt work with. So, armed with some experience, and some newly acquired knowledge on how cyclones work, I set about to make my own. My design gets is inspiration from yours, but I've added a couple subtle changes, and some not-so-subtle improvements in the shape of the chamber, which is significantly different. Basically, I wanted good fines separation; the ability to swallow an occasional large piece of debris;  good throughput; and for it to be difficult to others to make in case I set about the process of commercializing my design. This is what l I came up with:

https://vimeo.com/163336371

As you can see, it's performs incredibly well. So well, in fact, that I spent two months going back and forth with Oneida before they finally issued a rejection. I think they are selling well enough Dust Deputies that they don't feel all that threatened by my design. Then I went to Home Depot (still in play), who referred me to Emerson Electric, makers of Ridgid Tools. Emerson loves it, but doesn't believe there are enough buyers out there to justify adding a separator to their line. (maybe they'll copy and introduce anyways...like big companies have occasionally have done.) So, after 6 weeks of talking with Emerson, they too issues a rejection.

This morning the thought occurred to me that it may be in our mutual interest to talk. I would like to know more about why you did not prosecute your patent application. Was it prior art, cost, lack of an interested buyer, something different? You seem like a bright and fair guy, and I am hopeful we can talk openly about your experience, lessons learned, etc. My goal is still to commercialize this product. Since you were part of the initial inspiration, I am open to sharing some of the rewards should we be successful in that endeavor. This thought is very fresh in my mind, so I do not have particulars yet. I thought we would talk first to see how we match in terms of ethics, integrity, desired outcomes, and more, in hopes of finding a fit. (not having one!)

I used to live in Okauchee (on Okauchee Lake), about 30 miles west of Milwaukee. for 18 months, I worked at GE Medical Systems' headquarters as a marketing manager for their Nuclear Imaging Product Line.

So...are you interested in having a conversation?

I'd like for you guys to consider writing the United States Patent Office, and telling them to reject this patent application based on work prior work published here.  Any specifics in terms of his claims and specific threads will help the patent examiner reject the application.

Edit:  You CAN NOT E-Mail the patent office, apparently they don't accept protests sent via E-Mail.

Here is information that can be used to file a protest:

https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1901.html#d0e193937