THE PATENT PROCESS
Richard Cortese, the inventor of the Hand Truck 360, had a problem that many movers, carpenters, builders, distributors, delivery drivers, and about anyone who moves items in tight spaces has daily: “How do I move bulky items in tight spaces?”
You see, Richard is an industrial designer by education and trade.
He completed projects all over the world—including Disney World. But one problem he couldn’t solve was safely and easily maneuvering plywood around his equipment and through his garage door.
So, Richard looked on the Internet for a solution and found nothing but regular push/pull hand trucks that have been around since the 17th century when “sack trucks” were first used.
(“Sack trucks were originally used to move large sacks of spices by young boys, from the age of 11, who were unable to lift the large sacks by hand. By using this method, they were able to work as well as grown men in moving items around.” Here’s the link to our blog about the history of hand trucks— (https://bit.ly/3RTJEaF)
Because Richard could not find any suitable solution, he decided to “reinvent the hand truck” so he could pull the plywood away from the garage wall, set it down, turn the wheels parallel, and drive the load through the doorway into the back yard.
But it wasn’t that easy. Others in the material handling industry have tried and failed to design and manufacture a workable, safe, and lasting multi-directional hand truck. We won’t mention the manufacturers here but let’s just say that there are hand trucks in garages and distributing centers that are gathering dust.
The Design Process
Designing a sturdy, easy-to-use, hand truck that moves not only sideways, but in all directions, was a challenge; but Richard answered that challenge in less than a week. Because Richard wanted more than just a hand truck that could go sideways and not “hold the line”, he developed and tested a hand-level turning device that could safely move that load of plywood out his narrow garage door. After studying frames and hand grips of other conventional push/pull hand trucks, he built his prototype with 2X4” and 1X4” pieces of wood, hinges, two treaded tires, a couple of handles, flat metal, and some wire.
Richard wanted each wheel to be free of the other wheel to turn each, as needed, to the left and right, actually making the hand truck steerable and able to turn 360 degrees.
Once Richard decided on a final working model, he first drew his unique invention by hand then used his CAD abilities to draw a prototype using steel. This “marketable” hand truck that he called Slider “D”olly was built at a local shop using 1” steel tubing for the body (standard in most hand trucks) and incorporated the finger-operated turning mechanism for the wheel.
The Patent Process
This patent process should be renamed the “patient” process. It usually takes months if not years, to obtain a patent from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).
Two types of patents are primarily used in the US per the USPTO website:
· Design—issued for a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. It permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the design.
· Utility—issued for the invention of a new or useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. Also referred to as “patents for invention.”
Next to determine was what type of patent application to file—provisional or non-provisional.
1) Provisional--Provides a low-cost way to establish an early effective filing date (priority date) with fewer formalities.
• A provisional application does NOT issue as a patent; but only a later-filed
non-provisional application may issue as a patent and benefit from the provisional application filing date.
• Provides a 12-month window to file corresponding utility non-provisional application in order to benefit from the priority date of the provisional application
A provisional patent is not examined.
The term “patent pending” may be used if either a provisional or patent application has been filed, but before a patent has been issued.
Richard made an initial provisional patent application which protected his design for a year after the provisional patent was granted.
The provisional patent allowed Richard to continue to refine the hand truck, the drawing, claims, etc. to then apply for the utility patent. It also allowed protection as he presented the steerable hand truck idea/prototype to potential manufacturers, customers, etc. The provisional patent was the correct path to follow but was just the beginning of the journey.
The Hand Truck Company, LLC, also used the provisional patent application successfully to determine if it was going ahead with a second utility patent application for its Attachit Strap for most hand trucks.
2) Non-provisional--A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.
In principle, the patent owner has the exclusive right to prevent or stop others from commercially exploiting the patented invention. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported or sold by others without the patent owner's consent. The protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application. (uspto.gov)
The Steps
A non-provisional utility patent application must include the following: a specification, including a description and a claim or claims; drawings, when necessary; an oath or declaration; and the prescribed filing, search, and examination fees. (uspto.gov)
The patent application for the Hand Truck 360 consisted of 6 pages of drawings, the results of a patent search, references, an abstract, claims, a detailed description of the drawings, and pictures of the hand truck from several angles.
The Abstract
“The hand truck or dolly of the present invention is capable of multi-directional movement and provides an operator with complete control of movement and directional choice without having to remove his hands from a handgrip to achieve mechanical adjustments of the wheels. Rather, an operator may adjust a wheel index position on-the-fly by means of a trigger assembly to rotate a wheel about an axis of rotation within a range of 100 degrees. The two, independent wheels of the hand truck of the present invention achieve multi-directional movement, a lateral index position allowing for lateral, or side to side movement, or a rotational index position allowing for rotational movement, such as for cornering and circular movement.”
Claims
The number one claim is “A Slider-D hand truck is comprised of a backing frame with a toe plate, a pair of wheels supporting said frame above the floor, and for each wheel of said pair of wheels.” There were a total of twelve claims on the application.
You can get the idea here from just one claim that a patent application is very complex. Because of Richard Cortese’s extensive design and engineering background, he was able to complete most of the application work himself.
Description/the Field of the Invention
“The field of the invention relates to a hand truck capable of multi-directional movement.” There are a total of 78 references to the six pages of detailed drawings.
Summary of the Invention
“The hand truck has a various index position…that allows for multi-directional movement orientation of the hand truck in a standard direction, a lateral direction and a rotational direction.”
Legal
Hiring a patent attorney is almost always required to help lead you through the provisional patent and the utility patent process. Patent attorney usually have a scientific or engineering background so they are able to understand your invention, deem its patentability, and provide both the guidance and legal expertise to secure a patent.
Summary
The patent process for the hand truck turning device that is employed in The Hand Truck Company’s variations of a multi-directional hand truck took over three years of hard work from the original prototype, through hand drawings, CAD drawings, patent searches, provisional patent application, hiring a patent attorney, patent application, back and forths with the examiners, and the final granting of a utility patent.
As was mentioned earlier, you have to be patient when applying for a patent.#