Patent for Winged Spacecraft issued

Burt Rutan has just been awarded the patent for "Winged Spacecraft"
Read here

I don't think it was actually "winged spacecraft" in general, but the design behind SpaceshipOne..... isn't it?

Personally, I believe Burt Rutan to be our real life version of Zephram Cochrane (he's the fictional character in Star Trek who invented the warp drive).



Karl

The patent is for a "Winged Spacecraft"
however if you read the detail it specifies the type of of wing as
"A rocket-powered spacecraft having a wing which has hinged aft portions which can be elevated about a hinge line...."

Now if we only had someone that had Bert's genius for design but in propulsion we would have our Zephram Cochrane. Maybe that person is a member of TRF or being inspired by a member of TRF. Wouldn't that be great.

This could possibly for the vehicle the they're building for Virgin Galatic.

The patent in question.

Looks like it was filed in 2004.

D'oh!

The US Patent Office needs to go through a major revision.

Reading the patent, it is nothing more than a ship ( that goes into space) that has wings that can change their angle because they are hinged.

Just like swept wings jet fighters and even helicopters ( the Bell / Boeing V-22 Osprey). Why even some planes.

This is something that was patented?

Originally posted by sunward
The US Patent Office needs to go through a major revision.

Reading the patent, it is nothing more than a ship ( that goes into space) that has wings that can change their angle because they are hinged.

Just like swept wings jet fighters and even helicopters ( the Bell / Boeing V-22 Osprey). Why even some planes.

This is something that was patented?

Click to expand...

Angelo,

My experience with the patent office is limited, but my take is that in recent years, instead of saying no, they've tended toward rubber stamping applications and then letting the courts settle disputes. I might hypothesize that they got sued once or twice for rejecting patents and thus are now reluctant to say no.

But I've definitely seen some things patented that sure looked like rehashes of old stuff.

Doug

Originally posted by doug_man_sams
Angelo,

My experience with the patent office is limited, but my take is that in recent years, instead of saying no, they've tended toward rubber stamping applications and then letting the courts settle disputes. I might hypothesize that they got sued once or twice for rejecting patents and thus are now reluctant to say no.

But I've definitely seen some things patented that sure looked like rehashes of old stuff.

Doug

Click to expand...

That's all true to some degree, but patent holders still need to show that their patent is not infringing, or superceeded by "prior art", or else risk losing it.

That said, the posting in the blog is inaccurate. The patent is not for winged space craft. It's for a specific type design of winged space craft. Buzz Aldrin is part owner of a patent for an earlier, different winged space craft design, and that's not even the first. I believe the concept itself is unpatentable because the first designs were German, pre-WW II. Prior art exists, but any prior patents are probably unavilable, if they even existed.

Go here and waste a few hours looking for some cool ideas.

https://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/lvfam/winged.htm

The oddest one there is EARL.

Now who would name a spacecraft "EARL"???

Sandman nails it again! wow, lotsa cool modelling ideas on that page. hey does the X15/Navajo give anyone else the willies? wow that's a scary combination.

If you scroll down near the bottom there is the NORMA!

Sort of a female version to go along with you EARL winged spacecraft!

But really some of those designs are just outright sexy looking!

Like some of the Saenger designs or the TU-2000.

Originally posted by sunward
The US Patent Office needs to go through a major revision.

Reading the patent, it is nothing more than a ship ( that goes into space) that has wings that can change their angle because they are hinged.

Just like swept wings jet fighters and even helicopters ( the Bell / Boeing V-22 Osprey). Why even some planes.

This is something that was patented?

Click to expand...

Angelo

You need to read the whole patent. https://www.freepatentsonline.com/7195207.pdf

What Burt has patented is his reentry system which is unique and has not been used before his Space Ship One. It has been patented internationally as well.

Bob

Originally posted by bobkrech
Angelo

You need to read the whole patent. https://www.freepatentsonline.com/7195207.pdf

What Burt has patented is his reentry system which is unique and has not been used before his Space Ship One. It has been patented internationally as well.

Bob

Click to expand...

I had already printed and read parts of it.

Couldn't select the text of the abstract, but a vehicle with wings that are hinged and that whose angle can be changed depending on what the vehicle is doing.

The space shuttle with an engine built in and with wings that can move.

Nothing new.

Originally posted by doug_man_sams
My experience with the patent office is limited, but my take is that in recent years, instead of saying no, they've tended toward rubber stamping applications and then letting the courts settle disputes. I might hypothesize that they got sued once or twice for rejecting patents and thus are now reluctant to say no.

But I've definitely seen some things patented that sure looked like rehashes of old stuff.

Click to expand...

I have eight patents, and several more that are working their way through the patent approval process, so I have some idea how the system works. In the department of 8 guys that I work with, we have received about 20 patents in the last four years. Every application that we submitted was first rejected by the USPTO on grounds of "prior art". In a few cases the patent examiner was correct in discovering prior art that we were not aware of. In most cases, however, our invention had some innovation that was significantly different than the prior art. After exchanging several communications with USPTO via our patent attorney, we eventually got most of the patents issued.

It helps a lot that I work for a large corporation that places a lot of value on its patent portfolio and is willing to devote the money to patent attornies to pursue the filings.

So I can say from experience that the patent process is far from a rubber stamp. On the other hand, I have heard anecdotally that the examiners get paid based on how many cases they clear so they probably don't want to spend forever trying to reject each application. An applicant with a half-way decent case and enough persistence can probably wear down the examiner. It is then up to the court system to determine the validity of the patent after it has been issued.

Originally posted by sandman
If you scroll down near the bottom there is the NORMA!

Sort of a female version to go along with you EARL winged spacecraft!

But really some of those designs are just outright sexy looking!

Like some of the Saenger designs or the TU-2000.

Click to expand...

Maybe Norma and EARL would like to visit Fred:
https://www.astronautix.com/craft/spanfred.htm

Originally posted by BobCox
I have eight patents, and several more that are working their way through the patent approval process, [snip]

Click to expand...

Good for you, Bob. And thanks for the post. You've restored some of my confidence in the process.

Doug