This is interesting....

[Milamber]

Patent application for that folded refractor thingie.

Hard to read but it looks like it was refused and withdrawn... can anyone read it and confirm - I think it is saying that although the system would work it's nothing new?

Arthur

edit - oops, maybe this should be in the Lounge?

[asteria]

Hi Arthur - is this the zerochromat scope? The website is at http://www.zerochromat.com/

I think this is the individual who did the Newise scope as well which seems to have disappeared from the market.

Ed

[Ben Ritchie]

I'm not a patent lawyer, but have been through this process at work so know a little. Patents must be novel, inventive and applicable - it appears that the application failed on the 'inventive' step, i.e. the proposed solution would be obvious to anybody skilled in the area covered by the patent if they were trying to solve the same problem. It didn't fail because it was 'nothing new', that test was passed.

So the law's saying that you can't patent something just because nobody has thought of it before, it also has to be a non-obvious solution to the problem.

The test for obviousness we use at work is to tell an assessor the problem but not the solution we're proposing. They go away and think about it, and if they would solve it in the way we proposed then it's not inventive.

[Milamber]

Hi Arthur - is this the zerochromat scope? The website is at http://www.zerochromat.com/

I think this is the individual who did the Newise scope as well which seems to have disappeared from the market.

Ed

Hi Ed

Yup, the very one. On both counts.

Arthur

[canuck]

Interesting that a patent would even have been applied for...folded refractors are not a new design, and have been sold before.

[John]

Interesting that a patent would even have been applied for...folded refractors are not a new design, and have been sold before.

I can recall Unitron (showing my age now !) having a folded refractor in their range in the 1970's and also Pete Drew of Astro Systems (Luton) making an 8 inch folder which was bought and sold by a number of people in the early 1990's. It's certainly not a new idea. I guess, with the advent of affordable and available apochromats, the interest in the folded refractor design may have waned in recent years.

John

[canuck]

I can recall Unitron (showing my age now !) having a folded refractor in their range in the 1970's and also Pete Drew of Astro Systems (Luton) making an 8 inch folder which was bought and sold by a number of people in the early 1990's.

John

I've seen the Unitron model too...that's the one I was thinking of. Ultimately...I think refractors look sexier without being folded! 8)