Design Notes for Low Cost Dew Collectors or Solar Stills for Water

FYI - Here's some information you might find useful in designing Low Cost Dew Collectors or Solar Water Stills. As a start, how about these old Dew Collectors or Solar Water Stills patents that have expired due to age (generally more than 20 years old from the filing date). Expired patents are free to use by anyone.
DEW AND RAIN COLLECTOR...US Pat. 1284042 - Filed Dec 23, 1916
DEW COLLECTING METHOD AND APPARATUSUS Pat. 3318107 - Filed Aug 11, 1965
APPARATUS FOR SOLAR DISTILLATIONUS Pat. 3846251 - Filed Mar 2, 1971
Process and apparatus for solar distillationUS Pat. 4055473 - Filed Nov 4, 1974
Process and system for recovering water from the atmosphereUS Pat. 4146372 - Filed Mar 28, 1977
Solar stillUS Pat. 4141798 - Filed Jan 30, 1978
PNEUMATIC SOLAR STILLUS Pat. 3337418 - Filed Sep 21, 1964
DEW COLLECTING METHOD AND APPARATUSUS Pat. 3270515 - Filed Aug 9, 1965
SOLAR ACTIVATED DEHUMIDIFIERUS Pat. 2462952 - Filed Aug 3, 1945
WOODBURY COLLOIDAL DROPLET COLLECTORUS Pat. 3616615 - Filed Sep 11, 1969
ATMOSPHERIC WATER COLLECTORUS Pat. 3675442 - Filed Feb 12, 1971
Solar powered dehumidifier apparatusUS Pat. 4242112 - Filed Jun 1, 1979
Method and apparatus for abstracting water from airUS Pat. 4342569 - Filed Sep 4, 1980
Apparatus for extracting potable waterUS Pat. 4351651 - Filed Dec 12, 1980
IMPROVEMENT IN EVAPORATING AND DISTILLING BY SOLAR HEATUS Pat. 102633
SOLAR STILLUS Pat. 983424
IMPROVEMENT IN EVAPORATING AND DISTILLING BY SOLAR HEATUS Pat. 102633
LENS-DOME SOLAR DISTILLATION UNITUS Pat. 3351536 - Filed Dec 2, 1964
MOLDED PLASTIC SOLAR STILLUS Pat. 3655517 - Filed Oct 22, 1969
EDLIN AIR SUPPORTED SOLAR STILLUS Pat. 3174915 - Filed Jul 16, 1962

To search for more Dew Collectors or Solar Water Stills patents, try the following. Please remember that newer patents are probably not expired, and therefore active.

For a Worldwide search, go to esp@cenet.
1 - In the "International Patent Classification (IPC)" field, copy and paste in the following - b01d OR c02f OR e03b
2 - In the "Keyword(s) in title or abstract" field, copy and paste in the following - (dew OR fog) AND water AND collect*
3 - Press SEARCH. View your results.
4 - Repeat step 1, then step 2 with the following - (solar* OR sun) AND still AND water - Press SEARCH. View your results.

For the U.S. only, go to U.S. Issued Patents.
1- In the "Query" field, copy and paste in the following - ccl/62/$ AND abst/((dew OR fog) AND (collect$ OR condens$) AND (water))
2 - Press SEARCH. View your results.
3 - Repeat 1 with the following - ccl/202/$ AND abst/((solar$ OR sun) AND (still$ OR distill$) AND water) - Press SEARCH. View your results.

For the latest in U.S. only, go to U.S. Published Applications.
1- In the "Query" field, paste in the same search strings above.
2- Press SEARCH. View your results.

In addition, here's some other information you might find interesting.
Fog Collection
Solar Still
Journal of Arid Environments : A comparative study of two large ...
Large Scale Dew Collection as a Source of Fresh Water SupplyHow to Make Water from Thin Air - Water collection machine - Softpedia
Solar Distiller
How to Make a Solar Still for Purifying Water in the Wilderness ...
Desert Survival: The Solar Still (DesertUSA)
HOW TO BUILD - AND USE! - A SOLAR STILL
Solar StillHow to Make Water in the Desert - wikiHow
Modeling and testing of a dew collection system [An article from: Desalination] by P. Gandhidasan and H.I. Abualhamayel
Building a solar still.(water distillation)(Brief Article): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal
The effect of using different designs of solar stills on water distillation [An article from: Desalination] by I. Al-Hayeka and O.O. Badran
Performance evaluation of a one-sided vertical solar still tested in the Desert of Algeria [An article from: Desalination] by M. Boukar and A. Harmim
How to build a solar still (Series 75 - Sea Water Conversion Laboratory ; issue 13) by Lee Edson
Plans for a glass and concrete solar still (Technical report) by T. A Lawand

So what can you do with all this information? Here's some suggestions.
+ You could make and sell the device described in the expired patent. Please note that just because something is patented or written, it might not work all that well or might not be safe in today's standards. Use your own judgment, or seek help, to stay safe and out of trouble.
+ You could "translate" the expired patent into easy-to-understand instructions for others to make the device. These instructions could use easy-to-find materials, like trees, plants, rocks, people, scrap materials, etc.
+ You could recruit the inventors or authors to help you, since they are experts in their field. Some of the inventors of older patents might be retired now and might be looking for something to do.
+ Existing manufacturers of Dew Collectors or Solar Water Stills could use this information to make their already fine products even better, more efficient, or less expensive.
+ You could use the information to brainstorm new ideas. Build on the work of others.

Here's some brainstorming ticklers to help you launch in new directions around the topic of Dew Collectors or Solar Water Stills.
Apparatus and method for automatically watering vegetationUS Pat. 4315599 - Filed Mar 3, 1980
RECOVERY OF POTABLE WATER FROM HUMAN METABOLIC WASTES BY DISTILLATION AND OXIDATION OF THE ...US Pat. 3127243 - Filed Aug 15, 1960
Namib Desert Beetle-based Dune Dew Collectors: Science Fiction in ...
Does Solar PV Still Make Sense for the Developing World?
Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things: How to Turn a Penny into a Radio, Make a Flood Alarm with an Aspirin, Change by Cy Tymony
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival (Survival School Handbooks / Tom Brown, Jr) by Tom Brown
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature and Survival for Children by Tom Brown
Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
Adventure Travel in the Third World: Everything You Need To Know To Survive in Remote and Hostile Destinations by Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin

That's about all for now. As background, the site "Design for the Other 90%" said to "GET INVOLVED", so I did. I plan to continue posting these LOW COST DESIGN TOPICS on my Blog for a while yet. Let me know if you have a topic you would like covered. I'm open to suggestions on improving my blog format, too. Please e-mail me directly.

I hope you find this helpful. I'm sure you can do much better though! Go for it! Good Luck!

For more of my LOW COST DESIGN TOPICS - Click on the tag below "design for the other 90%".

See disclaimers on TG Ideas LLC publications and website - http://www.athenet.net/~ideas/, Thanks!