In part 1 (link here) of this series of short articles on the value of “prior art” searching, I (Iain Russell, founder of Russell IP) explained how I came up with an idea for a telescopic hex key, but knocked it out through some quick and basic prior art searching.
I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea and used the setback of knocking out my first attempt as a catalyst for some further development.
Back at the drawing board, I got thinking. Actually, maybe my idea isn’t limited to hex keys and perhaps it could be used for all sorts of different socket types, including screw heads. What if, rather than a central key and hexagonal shells (per the original idea), there was a set of ‘spikes’ that could drop down into the socket and conform to the particular socket in question.
Here’s the exact sketch I drew in my notebook and the notes I made. Again, please forgive my terrible sketch and awful handwriting, which says “spikes → drop down into hole → also works for screw heads”:
Off I went again to do some more prior art searching. Here’s the note I added to the above:
Well, again, it turned out, from some quick prior art searching, that this idea had been around for decades. Here are some drawings from US Patent No. 3,674,070 (Espacenet link here):
This really was exactly what I had in my head… again! In part 3 (link here) of this series of short articles, I’ll explain how I went back to the drawing board… again!
If you’re a patent-savvy tech business looking for patent help, get in touch with Russell IP here!
The information above is for general interest and information only and does not constitute legal advice.
