Lock Miter Master Patented!!

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Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
I still drop by to read the forums every now and then, but haven't posted in a bit, but thought this was newsworthy. Those who know me, may remember that in addition to woodworking, I also do a bit of tinkering. A few years ago I came up with a revolutionary box joint jig design which I was lucky enough to license to INCRA and which became the I-BOX. It is still selling well. A few years after that, and after a few unsuccessful attempts to sell other misc. designs that were less marketable, I came up with something that made it easy to set up the notoriously finicky lock miter router bit. I called it the Lock Miter Master which I licensed to Infinity Cutting Tools- less than 6 months from proposal to production!!! Over three years ago, after a year of successful sales while still under the protection of a Provisional Patent Application, which I drafted and submitted to USPTO, Infinity decided to apply for a full Utility Patent. We just learned that a patent has issued. It sure took a long time! I know, I know, some say these days a patents is only as good as the money you have to pay lawyers to defend it, but Yippee, anyway! Below is a partial image of the first page of the patent followed by a photo of a retail item. The patent has 17 pages worth of drawings and patent gobbledegook, all for something barely the size of a book of matches, but if you want to read the full version follow this link to the USPTO webpage. If you are not familiar with the Lock Miter Master and how it works, check it out on the Infinity website.

LMM_Patent.jpg




00-lmm_base_4.jpg
 
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ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
Congratulations!

I know you have been working towards this for quite some time and it is neither easy nor cheap to get a patent through from start to finish. I hope that it ultimately sells as well as some of your other past inventions.

Good Luck!
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Congratulations Alan! That's a great accomplishment. Hopefully you get some royalties from that invention. I know I really like my Lock Miter Bit!
 

CaptnA

Andy
Corporate Member
Just think - we knew you back when! I also hope you might pocket some dollars but to know you did this is pretty awesome!
 

McRabbet

Rob
Corporate Member
As I already did in a personal email earlier this week, let me extend my heartiest congratulations on yet another great accomplishment! Well done!
 

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
Congratulations!

I know you have been working towards this for quite some time and it is neither easy nor cheap to get a patent through from start to finish. I hope that it ultimately sells as well as some of your other past inventions.

Good Luck!

Believe it or not, it has been on the market since the early summer of 2013. Except for helping the patent attorneys interpret my Provisional Patent Application when they drafted the Utility patent, I haven't done much with it since then!

It is a small, low dollar, low volume (sold by only one company), specially item earning a typical very small royalty, so I don't make much money from it. On the other hand it didn't cost me much- my brother made the prototype on his old Bridgeport mill and I didn't pay for the patent application process. However, as I always say to people that ask me about licensing, patents, etc. "Unless it retails for a ton of money or sells millions of units, e.g.things with a small 'i' in their name like 'iPhone', 'iPad', etc., it ain't gonna make you rich." Even the I-BOX (notice the capital 'I' :)), which has better sales, is not making me rich, just a little more beer money (if I drank beer). :)
 
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nn4jw

New User
Jim
Congratulations on the patent.

Just ordered the master set for that gauge. Looking forward to testing it out on some upcoming boxes.
 
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Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
The world is always better off by having people who focus on solutions rather than complaining about the problem.......
Kudos to you, Alan.
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
Well done Alan! That is a far better lock joint than the 2 piece set we use for the Burial Urn Project urns. Thank you for your continuing efforts toward better woodworking tools!
 
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