Time to get something patented

I know that, here and now, getting a patent is a very long expensive process. But, my searches of the net have been coming up empty for the length of time it takes to get a patent in place in earlier times, and to get it protected internationally. Has anyone seen any websites that might help here?

Are the inventions protected sufficiently to begin negotiations with a possible buyer before the patent is finalized?

Currently, my interests are 1919 through the 1940's, in the USA and getting them recognized internationally.

Also, how would a patent for something so militarily useful that the government decides that it needs to be secret be handled then?

Patents, and the time needed to get them in place, are shaping up to be an important part of my ASB timeline.

Thanks all!
 

Insider

Banned
umm bump and how were things before the great war? From what I already know getting something patented in one country is not a problem. Getting it patented in many countries is. I wonder how did Edison's company worked in this area? Were his inventions patented just in USA or around the globe? Or at least in eight countries that matered
 
umm bump and how were things before the great war? From what I already know getting something patented in one country is not a problem. Getting it patented in many countries is. I wonder how did Edison's company worked in this area? Were his inventions patented just in USA or around the globe? Or at least in eight countries that matered

This is just after the Great War; 1919. What are the ones you're calling, "The eight countries that mattered?"
I'd guess the USA, Britain (did that include the commonwealth?), Germany, France, Italy, perhaps Japan, Switzerland for watchmaking ideas, and who else? Russia is out of the picture, China is a mess.

I found a few resources this morn: According to THIS: http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm patents always took several months--and possibly much longer.

Also, what would happen in this era if someone filed a patent that someone thought, "This needs to be kept secret! This is too militarily useful to be released!"

This is mainly for my work on "Humanity's Last Hope, Tomorrow's Mountain," https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/humanitys-last-best-hope-tomorrows-mountain.383235/ but also generally interesting and useful for anyone working on that era.

I have Alex patenting--well ahead of anyone else--the self-winding watch. The watch mechanism she's patenting for several reasons...among others to get a hands-on feel for the process, as well as to get a reputation for thinking outside the box and a good access to the Swiss banking system.

From there, patents in the electronics field will soon follow.

Thanks!
 

Insider

Banned
I asked about the time before the Great War, so the eight countries that mattered were these

Great links, they would be great use to me. Shame that this didn't attracted wider attention, but I understand that intricacies of patent law may be less fascinating than battleship design.

BTW self winding watch? Doesn't it bends second law of termodynamics? You cannot create energy out of nothing and watch uses a tiny bits of it to run. Which begs for another question, can you patent something that doesn't work, or something that should work, but requires another technology that makes even building prototype imposibly expensive.

EDIT
connected the dots... its ASB story
 
I asked about the time before the Great War, so the eight countries that mattered were these

Great links, they would be great use to me. Shame that this didn't attracted wider attention, but I understand that intricacies of patent law may be less fascinating than battleship design.

BTW self winding watch? Doesn't it bends second law of termodynamics? You cannot create energy out of nothing and watch uses a tiny bits of it to run. Which begs for another question, can you patent something that doesn't work, or something that should work, but requires another technology that makes even building prototype imposibly expensive.

EDIT
connected the dots... its ASB story
Of those eight, by 1919, Russia is not important for patent purposes, and Austria Hungary isn't there. For a watch, Switzerland is an important one.

Legal discussion is very dull to me, but I needed to find out what was involved in getting patents so I could forge onwards. I'd rather be playing with battleships or high performance interplanetary craft also!

The self winding watch does not bend the laws of thermodynamics, is far from ASB, and was quite common until the quartz ones came out. It takes the energy of your everyday movement and uses it to wind the watch. If you don't wear the watch, it winds down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_watch there's even a solution for that: A rotating stand to store it on.
 
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