Rings of Saturn

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By Matt Mets
Posted 2011/01/30 @ 12:10 am
Category Energy

I can’t say I’m convinced of the viability of this amusement ride concept by Thomas Casey, however I’m entranced by the model version that he shows off in this video. So many colorful moving parts!

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2 Responses to Rings of Saturn

WpgJason on January 30th, 2011 at 9:03 am said:

It’s good work, and it looks cool, and I’d like to see his efforts rewarded, but when the first thing he says is that it’s patented in the U.S…..It automatically lost my interest. The world would be a better place if he explained how he did it rather than why you can’t use it.

Sorry it wasn’t entirely positive feedback, however, everything about the machine itself is positive.

Reply ↓
- dZed on January 30th, 2011 at 2:26 pm said:
  
  WpgJason,
  
  I respectfully disagree with your analysis of this man’s work, his patent, and his intentions. I imagine his goal is to sell this device to someone with the capital to actually build the thing — an amusement park or the like. A patent, in this case, is serving the purpose it was intended to — protecting this man’s intellectual property against exploitation by others, especially those with much more capital. I am sure that is the reason he even mentions it.
  
  Furthermore, him not “explaining how he did it” is more of a decision of him as a videographer. A decent mechanical engineer, I imagine, could quickly come up with a solid guess at “how he did it,” and that patent itself no doubt contains at least some drawings and explanations. The patent is not designed to prevent people from knowing HOW he built it (nor is he using it in such a manner), but simply to prevent them from making money off of his property.
  
  Whatever you think of the current state of patent law (and I’m certainly against many common, modern implementations — stifling innovation, patent trolls, etc — this seems to be a pretty clear cut case of the patent system working in the way in which it was intended.
  
  Reply ↓