April 21, 2005

Delphion Research - not the most thrilling intellectual property website, definitely not the best of the web. But their archives of obscure patents (complete with animated demonstrations)? Entertaining. And...odd.
posted by tracicle 19 years ago
  • Feathered associates have asked me to say: Boo on the bird diaper!!!
  • There *is* actually a bird diaper on the market, but I think not the same design. Blimey. I like the anti-eating face mask. This may be the only thing that would work with me. Makes me think maybe that's Vader's problem.
  • Another thought: Body Squeegee sounds like a Bob Burden superhero.
  • Bird trap and Cat Feeder: " ...for catching birds and feeding the birds to a cat. The trap designed to catch birds the size of a sparrow while releasing smaller song birds, wrens, swallows, or the like." *sniffs* *sobs*
  • On the other hand the... Fly Swatter with Sound Effects is hilarious!! Die, bugs, die!
  • I heard that the inventor of the bird diaper made millions off it. Seriously. Which makes it all the more depressing that I am not yet a millionaire b/c of one of my stupid ideas.
  • Sweet, maybe I can use their faster-then-light antenna to message myself in the past and patent it myself! High five!
  • The bird diaper that's most often recommended is the FligtSuit. I have one, and I've heard that others have had great success with them. Personally, I wasn't keen on the fact it took 2 people to wrestle a 200 gram parrot into one. She was not pleased afterwards, and took comfort in neither almond nor time on the porch. It's now in the box of Toys Parrots Do Not Like. If anyone wants to give it a try on their bird, let me know and I'll send it. The same folks make costumes for large and small birds. It's nearly impossible not to giggle.
  • Oh man. These are brilliant. Braille Slot Machine -- robbing the casinos.. er.. blind?
  • Brids can be trained not to shit all over your furniture, but it's a pain in the ass to do (your ass, not their's).
  • I used to use Delphion for work, it's actaully really good, a damn sight better then going through the USPTO web site. Also try http://ep.espacenet.com It's the patent search for the EU, it's free, better than the USPTO, it's easier to find patent applications that haven't issued yet (applications are supposed to be published 18 months after filing regardless of whether they are issued or not). The basic free Delphion service doesn't let you search for patent applications, only issued patents. Patent applications are good to look at, since it gives you a kind of "preview of upcoming events"