Patents

**Youngblood** · 04-18-2008, 10:10

Someone posted a link to a patent using Google's patent search and I was impressed at how well that worked compared to what I had used before. I spent hours looking through hammock related patents and found some dozzies. I found an interesting recent patent and then I went back and looked starting from the oldest patents. I didn't get far, I have no idea how many there are or how long it would take to check them all out. Obviously the old ones have expired and aren't enforced anymore, but they should establish prior art. There is tons of prior art, I'm amazed at how much was done with hammocks in the 1800s and early 1900s (that is as far as I have gotten). Anyway, here are a few that should create interest for some of us.

A ridgeline on a 1898 patent http://www.google.com/patents?id=3Rx...ad=0_1#PPP1,M1

A bottom entry on a 1913 patent http://www.google.com/patents?id=GoM...BAJ&dq=1077229

A straight spine hammock from 1898 http://www.google.com/patents?id=GnZFAAAAEBAJ&dq=717119

A level hammock with cross braces from 2006 http://www.google.com/patents?id=Oi1...BAJ&dq=7020915

**TiredFeet** · 04-18-2008, 11:19

Well - funny how history repeats itself - the Bridge Hammock was actually invented long ago and patented on Dec. 30, 1902.

The straight spine hammock pointed to above.

I wonder if the recent spate of hammock patents and patent applications have fully cited the examples Dave found. It might be useful to point the patent office to their own archives.

**headchange4u** · 04-18-2008, 11:25

That rocks. I have never been able to get the normal patent search method to work correctly. I never could view pictures and drawings and sometimes text would cut off half way down the page. The Google links you provided look and function great. Google is so awesome. Should've bought some stock when I could have afforded it.

**nickelanddime** · 04-18-2008, 11:54

does this mean I can make and sell whatever?

(hopes of sinister laughter)

**Youngblood** · 04-18-2008, 12:47

Originally Posted by headchange4u

That rocks. I have never been able to get the normal patent search method to work correctly. I never could view pictures and drawings and sometimes text would cut off half way down the page. The Google links you provided look and function great. Google is so awesome. Should've bought some stock when I could have afforded it.

I had the same problem you mention with the USPTO search, plus it was very slow. Google just zips along, but I haven't tried putting specific search words in so it may not be all it seems to be?

These very old patents are scanned images, I don't believe a word search would flag anything from them. I'm guessing it would take lots of looking through the documents like I did to find things and I don't know how far I got relative to how many related patents are out there. I would hate to think what the legal fees would be for someone doing it the way I was doing it. I just got interested in what was showing up and couldn't quit. Every idea I have had about hammock stands seemed to have been done in several ways, and then a few dozen more. I would have thought every house in America would have had 2 or 3 hammocks in them by 1900 from all the patents I saw.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 04-18-2008, 13:24

Youngblood-
thanks for doing the digging and pointing these out. I find the patent stuff really interesting, and am looking forward a time when I have the time to go through the claims carefully.

btw, the other day when I was sniffing patent stuff with respect to a question Gunn Parker had, I stumbled across a patent awarded in 2007 on a modular superstructure for supporting multiple hammocks.

Now there's a hammock stand.

Grizz

**warbonnetguy** · 04-18-2008, 13:42

the one with the ridgeline is indeed very interesting, i wonder how hh could have patented it, and why the uspto can't even find prior art that they themselves issued in the past? that one could have some ramifications i think.