Sunday, October 07, 2007

Design Notes for "Low-Cost Products using Sand"

Hello All - This posting looks at designing "Low-Cost Products using Sand". Some areas included are bricks, adobe, building blocks and other materials, pottery, sculpture, art, sandpaper, water filters, etc. - all using sand in some form. Some of these areas might be helpful in providing basic survival needs and some others might be made into products to sell. Good Luck!

FYI - As a start, how about these old "Products using Sand" 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.
METHOD OF FORMING EARTH BUILDING BLOCKSUS Pat. 2388679 - Filed Nov 3, 1941
Poured adobe building construction and method of forming sameUS Pat. 4365451 - Filed Jan 8, 1980
PROCESS FOR MAKING BUILDING-BLOCKSUS Pat. 1162172 - Filed Mar 19, 1915
BUILDING MATERIAL AND HOUSE CONSTRUCTIONUS Pat. 1256384 - Filed Apr 4, 1917
CONFINED SOIL BRICKSUS Pat. 3545155 - Filed Sep 17, 1965
MORTAR OR COMPOSITION FOR COATING WALLSUS Pat. 348644 - Filed May 24, 1886
Decorative potteryUS Pat. 4457103 - Filed Sep 9, 1981
Sand painting unitUS Pat. 3992811 - Filed Mar 10, 1975
METHOD OF PRODUCING A SAND PAINTINGUS Pat. 3819436 - Filed May 15, 1972
SAND FILTER FOR WATER PURIFICATIONUS Pat. 3563385 - Filed Apr 23, 1969
SAND-BRICK MACHINEUS Pat. 889920 - Filed Oct 4, 1906
SANDPAPER-MAKING MACHINEUS Pat. 13913
SAND OR EARTH FILTER FOR SHELTERSUS Pat. 2888870 - Filed Feb 17, 1956
TimerUS Pat. 4527905 - Filed Nov 19, 1984
MACHINE FOR ORNAMENTING GLASS BY MEANS OF THE SAND-BLASTUS Pat. 415230 - Filed Mar 16, 1889
RECOVERY OP PRECIOUS METAL FROM DESERT SANDS AND FROM DESERT PLACERUS Pat. 2265977 - Filed Jan 21, 1939

To search for more "Products using Sand" patents, try the following. Please remember that newer patents are probably not expired, and therefore active.

In the Patent List above, look at the "Citations" and "Referenced by" of each of the patents that interest you the most. By doing this, you're essentially finding "more like this".

For a Worldwide search, go to esp@cenet.
1 - In the "International Patent Classification (IPC)" field, copy and paste in the following - C04 OR B01D OR B24
2 - In the "Keyword(s) in title or abstract" field, copy and paste in the following - (sand AND (brick* OR filt*)) OR sandpaper*
3 - Press SEARCH. View your results.

In addition, here's some other information you might find interesting.
SAND - Especially see "Uses for Sand"
Extraordinary Uses for Sand
Industrial Sand Uses
Sand: Encyclopedia II - Sand - Uses of sand
sand :: Uses of sand. -- Britannica Student Encyclopaedia
Online Sand: Sand Uses
Create Your Own Sand Mandala: For Meditation, Healing, and Prayer by Eileen M. Rose and Abby Rose Dalto (Paperback - Mar 2004) - Box set
Design Your Own Sand and Seed Vases
Biosandfilter.org
Science Fair Projects - Does the particle size of sand used to ...
Earth Building by Laurence Keefe (Paperback - Oct 27, 2005)
EXN.ca One Week in the Wilderness - Shelter
Crafts: Easy Sand Sculpture Kids Can Make - Kaboose.com
Soil Brick Making Machines Can Save The Forests
Brick manufacture
Sandpaper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How Is Sandpaper Made? - Science Fact Finder
Find your local library at Libweb and ask about "Products using Sand".
You could ask for help from an Engineering School. Find schools at
All Engineering Schools.

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 "Products using Sand" 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. Design around active patents.

Here's some brainstorming ticklers to help you launch in new directions around the topic of "Products using Sand".
System for recovering viscous petroleum from thick tar sandUS Pat. 4019575 - Filed Dec 22, 1975
Recovering viscous petroleum from thick tar sandUS Pat. 3994341 - Filed Oct 30, 1975
SIEVE FOR SANDING PAPERUS Pat. 5602
GLASS FURNACEUS Pat. 2263848 - Filed Jan 11, 1941
SOLAR FURNACEUS Pat. 811274 - Filed Jan 6, 1904
SOLAR FURNACEUS Pat. 2987961 - Filed Apr 17, 1958
CEMENTUS Pat. 2176862 - Filed Aug 31, 1934
CEMENT OR PLASTERUS Pat. 2227790 - Filed May 6, 1935
Boot for walking on soft materialsUS Pat. 4447969 - Filed Feb 12, 1982
Method of producing low-carbon, white husk ashUS Pat. 4049464 - Filed Sep 2, 1976
COREBINDERUS Pat. 2974048 - Filed Dec 30, 1957
Method of consolidating sandUS Pat. 4560588 - Filed Aug 20, 1984
MANUFACTURE OF CERAMIC PRODUCTSUS Pat. 2215215 - Filed Jan 12, 1938
Filter for water jugsUS Pat. 4491520 - Filed Feb 22, 1984
Device for filtering beveragesUS Pat. 4181243 - Filed Mar 23, 1978
BENEFICIAL REUSE OF SPENT FOUNDRY SAND
Sandcastles
Make your own Climbing Holds!
Casting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaWeeds of Rain Fed Lowland Rice Fields of Laos & Cambodia ...
The Use of Rice Husk Ash in Low - Cost Sandcrete Block Production

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! 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!



2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:44 PM CST

    It was rather interesting for me to read the post. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything connected to them. I would like to read more soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:13 AM CST

    It is very interesting for me to read this post. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.

    ReplyDelete