Engineering Investigations
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Steve_B
The key issue in a patent is not the figure or description, which are just ...
Battar
There is an old joke here told about the "stylish" dudes who always wear their ...
What were they thinking: heated glasses
Brian Bailey
2/15/2013 11:07 AM EST
OK, it’s time to make fun of a patent this week and I have one with a very simple title “Heated eyewear”. Yup, you heard that right. In the abstract, the first reason given is to provide heat that may be sufficient to provide warmth to a wearer of the eyewear. Huh – so the double speak starts. Now just in case you are wondering, this is patent 7,410,254 issued in August 2008 – so actually quite recent.
I would like to concentrate on description for figure 2 of the patent. It reads:
In the embodiment shown, the power source 24 is electrically connected to a voltage protection element 26, such as a fuse. The voltage protection element 26 is in turn electrically connected to an output amplifier 28. The output amplifier 28 is in turn connected to a thermistor 30. The thermistor 30 may function to regulate the amount of heat generated by the heating element 16. The thermistor 30 is electrically connected to the heating element 16 in the frame 14 by a connecting wire 32. According to one embodiment, the connecting wire 32 is permanently connected to the heating element 16 in the frame, while in an alternative embodiment, the hinge 22 is configured to selectively connect the connecting wire 32 to the heating element 16. For instance, in one such embodiment, the connecting wire 32 may be connected to the heating element 16 when the ear-piece 20 is moved to the open position, e.g., the position at which the eyeglasses 10 are worn, while the connecting wire 32 may be disconnected from the heating element 16 when the ear-piece 20 is moved to the closed position, e.g., the position at which the eye glass are stored.
So, how is this meant to work? We feed a power source into the input of an amplifier and somehow it magnifies the power. Then a thermistor is meant to control to temperature source but it is positioned so that it will only respond to ambient temperature. The switch (don’t you love that description of a switch) is positioned such that power would continue to be consumed and would expose a live connection that is clearly so shocking that it needs a fuse.
Oh, and in case you are wondering what 36 and 38 are- well that would be a GPS and a light detector and 40 is your built in memory and 25 is your backup power source just in case you run out of juice.Brian Bailey – keeping you entertained
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Duane Benson
2/15/2013 2:34 PM EST
I've always thought of my ears as heat sinks. Even in moderately cool temperatures, they can easily get painfully cold. I suspect they are thermally connected to specific areas of my brain and over cool those areas.
Given that, I would welcome an ear heater. Perhaps they could even add some improvements such as a heat pipe people like me can stick in their ear.
On the other hand, I don't wear glasses, so never mind.
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EREBUS
2/15/2013 5:16 PM EST
If you wear glasses as I do, there are times when having heated eyewear would indeed be useful. In winter time, your classes can get very cold and instantly fog when they encounter warm moist air. Depending upon what you are doing, this could introduce a element of confusion that could have serious consequences.
So I would not laugh too hard at this one, it actually addresses a need, albeit a low probability one.
Just my opinion.
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BrianBailey
2/15/2013 5:19 PM EST
Yes, I had thought of that as a use for this invention, except they did not mention that. They did talk about melting ice and snow from the glasses!
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OleAlexander
2/19/2013 5:49 AM EST
Well, just yesterday I had to "rescue" my five-year old daughter who had fallen face down in the snow and had her glasses totally covered in snow. Given the price of kids speciality glasses I'd happily fork up an additional $50-100 USD for this feature.
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GlobalPMO
2/16/2013 9:57 AM EST
Well stated - there's nothing more annoying than heading outside to get the mail in the morning, and having to wait 60 seconds for the eye glasses to clear up so you can see where you're walking when you come back into your house. Or, if you store your sunglasses in your cold car, the moment you put them on to back out of the driveway, instant fog. It takes a good 30-60 seconds for the heat from your head to clear up the lenses when you're wearing contacts and want to wear sunglasses. The application is long overdue in my opinion.
Likely, only those with expendable income might be able to afford these. Electronics comes at a cost as we all know. ; )
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Bert22306
2/15/2013 7:03 PM EST
Indeed, the invention might have its use case. In cold climates, the heating element in the lens frame (crucially important components not shown in the excerpt) will supposedly keep the glasses from fogging up.
My issue is that item 28. What's it for? What signal is the "amplifier" amplifying? Presumably the cell 24 is providing the bias voltage for the op-amp, but to what end? Anyone?
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BrianBailey
2/16/2013 1:41 PM EST
I just presumed the person thought a power amplifier could make the power from the battery more powerful! No connection is provided to the supply rails - oops.
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DaveE
2/16/2013 5:47 AM EST
More proof that you can get a patent for just about anything.
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BrianBailey
2/16/2013 1:42 PM EST
Yes - the patent office is not require to ensure the patent is plausible - only novel and non-obvious.
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Duane Benson
2/17/2013 7:10 PM EST
I could definitely see a need to be able to heat the lens, or de-fog it in some other way. The frames, on the other hand, I don't really see the need to heat.
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DrQuine
2/17/2013 10:14 PM EST
Anyone who tries to ski (or clear a snowy driveway) while wearing glasses and a ski mask quickly discovers the problem of fogging glasses. A working glasses heater would indeed be very helpful. If the patent has errors, that is no big deal; it is easy enough for a manufacturer to correctly connect the power wires.
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chanj
2/19/2013 7:09 PM EST
It is a very interesting patent application. I'm not sure whether there is any safety concern given the heated elements so close to the eyes.
Just a bit side track, in cold weather, feet, hands, nose and ears will be cold first. A helm to generate heat to surround your head might keep you warm. A simple beanie will certainly come handy. In extreme weather, professional climbers wear mask. ;)
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MLM-TS
2/20/2013 9:13 AM EST
Uhhhh! Has no one bothered to estimate how much energy and at what rate it might be needed and compare it with a cell/battery that might actually fit within the confines of a practical glasses frame? I guess if you have a power amplifier, you don't need much of a battery. [;-D
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BrianBailey
2/20/2013 11:31 AM EST
Exactly. I am surprised that it took so long for anyone to pick up on that! Plus that battery needs to power all of the other things like the GPS and the memory. Good job it has that backup battery!
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wmwmurray01
2/20/2013 2:51 PM EST
I would say this was the work of a patent troll lawyer
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WKetel
2/22/2013 3:15 PM EST
The very first thing that I noticed was that the power source is so small as to be unable to provide a useful amount of heat. After that, the only needed control is an on/off switch, with the design size of heater setting the maximum heating level. So now the amplifier and thermal controlling system can be eliminated and the whole thing gets quite a bit simpler. But that still leaves the power source as a large problem.
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Battar
3/1/2013 3:03 PM EST
There is an old joke here told about the "stylish" dudes who always wear their sunglasses pushed up on their foreheads. When asked about , ah, certain body part temperature differentials, they point up and say "it's the solar collectors on the roof". Maybe you could convert the light blocked by sunglasses into electricity to charge your phone...there, now that idea is public domain and can't be patented.
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Steve_B
3/2/2013 9:31 AM EST
The key issue in a patent is not the figure or description, which are just examples, but the claims.
If you look at the claims on this patent, they (to my non-attorney eyes) seem pretty reasonable for what they claim -- which is NOT heated lenses, but a heated frame.
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