My Good friend Raju Jairam living in Colorado, sent me an article about an "Affordable ventilator for Covid Patients being developed in Colorado, Woodward CSU team"
(Click on Link above to read the article)
I wrote the following to him:
Raju, Sounds Great. Very keen on finding out how it works. I have been forced to use a Sleep apnea machine since 1989 and have battled with the limitations of these machines all these years. The researchers initially used a vacuum cleaner in reverse for testing on patients. Dr Sullivan who went to USA and Presented his findings at a medical conference and explained his machine and how it works to the medical community. Poor sucker being a doctor did not know his idea had to be patented. Even before he returned to Australia his invention had been patented and a new company Resmed was formed and Dr Sullivan was made consultant just to shut him up and later was kicked out of his own dream product..
I was Dr Sullivans early patients during the research stage and known him as my Sleep Apnea Specialist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.
The CPAP Machine today in 2020 is very very sophisticated. First you had the CPAP, then to make breathing easier they created the BPAP which still had its limitations as it did not match patients breathing frequency and now Resmed has created the VPAP Machine which means variable positive air pressure to suit each individual patient.
The biggest problem with Sleep apnea treatment was the mask as it is the key interface between the machine and the patients and I was having endless problems with leaky masks. when a mask leaks it does not produce the pressure reqd to keep a patient's airways open.
From 2007 to 2016 I designed and created a suitable mask and had to abandon the idea as it was "no go" without getting FDA approval and it was going to cost me as much as $350k to get Global Patents. Was not possible unless I sold my house or remortgaged it. I still have seven folders on my inventions sitting quietly in my study.
Doctors have no clue about what patients face every night on these ventilating machines as they have never worn them and we wonder why so may Covid patients on Ventilators are dying (as many as 90% of the patients globally).
The CPAP Machine today in 2020 is very very sophisticated. First you had the CPAP, then to make breathing easier they created the BPAP which still had its limitations as it did not match patients breathing frequency and now Resmed has created the VPAP Machine which means variable positive air pressure to suit each individual patient.
The biggest problem with Sleep apnea treatment was the mask as it is the key interface between the machine and the patients and I was having endless problems with leaky masks. when a mask leaks it does not produce the pressure reqd to keep a patient's airways open.
From 2007 to 2016 I designed and created a suitable mask and had to abandon the idea as it was "no go" without getting FDA approval and it was going to cost me as much as $350k to get Global Patents. Was not possible unless I sold my house or remortgaged it. I still have seven folders on my inventions sitting quietly in my study.
Doctors have no clue about what patients face every night on these ventilating machines as they have never worn them and we wonder why so may Covid patients on Ventilators are dying (as many as 90% of the patients globally).
I have told my family if I get Covid I will not go to hospital and into ICU to be intubated as I have narrow airways and anaesthetists have failed time and again to intubate me. I almost died when I went for an endoscopy and the anaesthetist said "Sir we thought we lost you as you stopped breathing on the table in the theatre. We struggled to revive you and no you did not have he endoscopy".
Hence my curiosity Da want to know what these chaps have designed as an affordable Ventilator.
RK
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Raju Jairam
4:08 AM (7 hours ago)
to me
Do you want to talk to a patent attorney here and get it patented in the US? It would probably cost you 5K to 10K; depending on how much you rely on him to write-up and create drawings, etc. Let me know and I will put you in touch with him. R
Ramboaus <ramboaus@gmail.com>
10:50 AM (42 minutes ago)
to Raju
No this is all water under the Bridge. I set up a company post stroke in 2007 "Novo Design Concepts" Trading as NoDesCo spent about $50 grand in designing, getting 3D drawings, making prototypes doing patent searches meeting with patent attorneys (I have contacted a few in USA too) got provisional patents etc etc.
First to get to grips with the patenting process. I read all I could find on Patents and printed them all. Then I came across an interesting article that said there were over 6000 patents for just one commonly used product in every home - "The Coat Hanger" and I studied these in detail. The article said if "One could improve and come up with a better coat hanger then he has the right mindset to invent things.." This was at the back of my mind when I went shopping with Mithu a few days later. She walked into "Katies"- a ladies clothing shop. There were heaps of blouses on the racks and I realised the minute I touched one it fell off the hanger on to the floor and I was picking them up and placing them back on the racks and I said to the sales girl you must be getting tired of picking these up all day. She said fed up is putting it mildly it breaks my back she said. Wish someone would come up with a better coat hanger soon. That was it, I got started and believe it or not within two to three weeks I had a damn good design. The chap who did my prototype in Sydney Neil, suggested I contact a Lawyer in Queensland named Garry who had helped other innovators and he was good. I did and he told me as a First step I should apply (email got sent accidentally at this point)
Ramboaus <ramboaus@gmail.com>
11:12 AM (19 minutes ago)
to Raju
for a Provisional patent in Sydney and once done he told me if I wanted a patent just for Australia it would cost about three to five grand and a World Patent about 10K but that was not enough and I would have to create a patent in each country to protect your patent. so I listed a few countries and he said it could cost you US$ 75K to just patent your coat hanger and that I should can the idea as even with all these patents if the design was good someone somewhere can make it could be in china, vietnam philippines or even Bangladesh and I will have no control and it costs a tonne of money to take them to courts which will send you broke.
He said The Patenting Laws have been changed to suit the Major Corporations and MNCs who have half a dozen patent lawyers on their payroll just creating any number of phoney patents to keep competitors at bay.
I was not going to give up as a CPAP mask was going to help patients and save lives so I went ahead with my designs. I had my Good friend Herbert Brinkman an airconditioning specialist spending a few hours a week with overviewing my progress and doing some flow and pressure tests etc using a home made you tube manometer and blood pressure machine etc etc
Having completed my design the first step was to get a Provisional Patent and I went to the Patents office in Sydney. At the customer service was a Sri Lankan Tamil Lady who helped me with the necessary forms and procedures and costs etc. Then she asked me what the product was and I said a "Mask for Sleep Apnea" and she said good and went back to her seat.
Then she came out and said lets us go and have a coffee outside. It puzzled me. I thought she was hitting on me but I said Great idea. I ordered two lattes and a Banana cake each and we sat down and she says "I am not supposed to tell you this but my conscience says I have to". She asks do you know of Resmed I said "of course they are based just here in Bella vista in Sydney sydney and I am on their research patients list testing out their products before launch.." "Good she says, you know more about Resmed than I do". All I want you to know is that Resmed has a strong legal team of four brilliant lawyers who will do anything and everything to block you and pinch your idea. Right now as we speak Resmed has about 300 provisional patents in Sydney Office not of any real value but there to be used to shut down anyone else.Also the her Boss was a very good friend of The Resmed CEO and if I lodged an application for Provisional Patent the info might go straight to Resmed and you may not get a Provisional patent.
She quietly suggested that I go and get a provisional patent from a Country like Singapore where the Country will defend your patent if necessary against global theft. Don't waste your money and risk losing your idea she said as even before you lodge a complete design Resmed would have taken out a patent on the same idea and you will be block you officially. "A Good Samaritan and a God send. God Bless the lady. Plus my Lawyer wrote to me and said Ram It will cost you about US$ 350K to get Global Patents and then your product cannot be marketed unless you have an FDA approval. That was it. I decided it was not worth losing my house chasing a dream.
In 2016 I had to wind up my company NoDesCo and deregister the name from ASIC.
One of the Authors of Reflections by IITians I published is Chida Raghavan IITM B Tech 1974 Batch shared his bad experience with Patent Laws in USA. His smallish firm developed the water-jet cutting technique and patented the process which it used for production. Johnson and Johnsons Pinched the idea and developed it further and started using it is their production facilities and not long after Kimberly Clark was using the water jets to make kids Nappies. I know because I built an acoustic enclosure for their noisy nappy machine. So Chidas company took Jhonson and Jhonson to court. He told me they had more lawyer in Jhonsons than his total work force. His company spent millions they could not afford trying to defend their patent and it took many years before the courts ruled in their favour with a Ten million dollar payout and amount they had already spent on lawyers and his company went broke. So he told me Rambo stay away from this Patenting Process as it is geared to support US MNC's.
My Google Searches told me that there were a few big players making sleep apnea machines globally. Resmed, Respironics - a Philips subsidiary, Fisher & Paykel -NZ and Innomed and a few smaller ones trying to enter the field.
Innomed CEO was an IITB Alumnus Chandran and I communicated with him and wanted to know if he would take up my Sleep apnea mask design. Yes he wanted all details and design without any contract or agreement. I refused to divulge details.. Soon after Frank beckman based in Germany who did my 3d Drawings messaged me to tell me. Resmed was suing Respironics and Respironics was suing Innomed and this was a dirty game and not worth entering the conflict.
Innomed in 2012 had the best sleep apnea mask called Hybrid Mask. within a year Resmed and Respironics had pretty similar designs but with cosmetic differences and Innomed was forced out of the game virtually.
This is no different to Aplle Suing Samsung and Samsung counter suing Apple.
Zero Ethics Game
Types of Cpap Masks
Click on Link to see the number of Cpap masks in the market today . The market is inundated with CPAP masks.
I use the Resmed Autoset S-9 CPAP Machine with a Respironics Amora Full Face Mask
Sydney has about 50 sleep apnea specialists and in my opinion there is just one Sleep apnea specialist who knows everything about this therapy and that is Prof Sullivan all others are quacks raking in dollars.
A Repiratory specialist will ask you if you snore and feel tired and sleepy during the day and if the answer is "yes" you will be told you need to go for sleep studies and fix an appointment for the patient in the hospital they are linked to.
You are told to arrive by 4.00pm for the sleep studies, you check in and get an early dinner you are not used to and a zillion leads are attached to the face and chest etc after shaving off the body hair and by 8.00pm they switch the lights off and start the sleep study and the nurse and technician are monitoring everything from next door on a computer screen. I can see them through the glass window. Every now and then the nurse will come and check BP temperature and fix leads that are not secured properly etc etc. In other words the Patient is in a new hospital bed tucked into bed when he /she is not sleepy and measurements are recorded of a patient lying wide awake and breathing normally as he is awake but with the cpap machine.
Whatever information they collect is all flawed as the patient was "not sleeping and snoring and the airway did not collapse". and Just when you fall asleep around 3.00am or so the testing is over as they have enough data and prescribe a pressure that has zero relevance. A report goes to the specialist and you have to see him and cough up about $ 250 four times a year for doing buggerall.
My pressure was determined as 12 cms water gauge by the nurses and the doctor insisted that was the correct pressure yet my sleep apnea index was 5.7 apneas per hour as recorded by the machine and the doctors explanation was that I was a restless sleeper and must be tossing and rolling all night.
Then I met another good samaritan. A Greek Gentle man John at my local chemist and he was incharge of CPAP Machine sales. He was a sleep apnea patient himself and we both knew all about it and he tried to link me up with the Rep at Fisher and Paykey to see if I could take my invention forward. Did not get anywhere as he was just a salesman in Oz for a Kiwi Company..
Anyway I asked john to change the setting from Fixed 12cms pressure as recommended by my specialist and change it to "auto" and allow the machine to determine the reqd pressure. He was hesitant for legal reasons and I convinced him that the auto set can do me no harm as it was designed for that purpose.He obliged after I promised him that it will remail between us.
Believe it or not I started to have good nights sleeps and my sleep apnea index came down from 5.7 apneas per hour to 1.3 apneas per hour. But guess what the pressure I needed was 19cms 95% of the time and of course I was struggling with a low pressure of 12cms per hour that was not adequate to open my blocked airway.
So if you think all doctors know what they are doing it is no different to assuming that every motor mechanic knows all about cars.
You have the Good the Bad and the Ugly in every profession and if I am alive today despite all the quacks I owe it to my own intelligence and logic and constant questioning.
Most Hospital Emergencies are manned by Rookie Registrars who have just passed their last exams with very little experience and there is one senior doctor who is fully stretched and decides to stay with the worst cases in emergency at that point of time to save lives mostly head injuries from motor accidents, Drug Overdoses and heart attack and stroke patients.
Hence my curiosity Da want to know what these chaps have designed as an affordable Ventilator.
RK
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Raju Jairam
4:08 AM (7 hours ago)
to me
Do you want to talk to a patent attorney here and get it patented in the US? It would probably cost you 5K to 10K; depending on how much you rely on him to write-up and create drawings, etc. Let me know and I will put you in touch with him. R
Ramboaus <ramboaus@gmail.com>
10:50 AM (42 minutes ago)
to Raju
No this is all water under the Bridge. I set up a company post stroke in 2007 "Novo Design Concepts" Trading as NoDesCo spent about $50 grand in designing, getting 3D drawings, making prototypes doing patent searches meeting with patent attorneys (I have contacted a few in USA too) got provisional patents etc etc.
First to get to grips with the patenting process. I read all I could find on Patents and printed them all. Then I came across an interesting article that said there were over 6000 patents for just one commonly used product in every home - "The Coat Hanger" and I studied these in detail. The article said if "One could improve and come up with a better coat hanger then he has the right mindset to invent things.." This was at the back of my mind when I went shopping with Mithu a few days later. She walked into "Katies"- a ladies clothing shop. There were heaps of blouses on the racks and I realised the minute I touched one it fell off the hanger on to the floor and I was picking them up and placing them back on the racks and I said to the sales girl you must be getting tired of picking these up all day. She said fed up is putting it mildly it breaks my back she said. Wish someone would come up with a better coat hanger soon. That was it, I got started and believe it or not within two to three weeks I had a damn good design. The chap who did my prototype in Sydney Neil, suggested I contact a Lawyer in Queensland named Garry who had helped other innovators and he was good. I did and he told me as a First step I should apply (email got sent accidentally at this point)
Ramboaus <ramboaus@gmail.com>
11:12 AM (19 minutes ago)
to Raju
for a Provisional patent in Sydney and once done he told me if I wanted a patent just for Australia it would cost about three to five grand and a World Patent about 10K but that was not enough and I would have to create a patent in each country to protect your patent. so I listed a few countries and he said it could cost you US$ 75K to just patent your coat hanger and that I should can the idea as even with all these patents if the design was good someone somewhere can make it could be in china, vietnam philippines or even Bangladesh and I will have no control and it costs a tonne of money to take them to courts which will send you broke.
He said The Patenting Laws have been changed to suit the Major Corporations and MNCs who have half a dozen patent lawyers on their payroll just creating any number of phoney patents to keep competitors at bay.
I was not going to give up as a CPAP mask was going to help patients and save lives so I went ahead with my designs. I had my Good friend Herbert Brinkman an airconditioning specialist spending a few hours a week with overviewing my progress and doing some flow and pressure tests etc using a home made you tube manometer and blood pressure machine etc etc
Having completed my design the first step was to get a Provisional Patent and I went to the Patents office in Sydney. At the customer service was a Sri Lankan Tamil Lady who helped me with the necessary forms and procedures and costs etc. Then she asked me what the product was and I said a "Mask for Sleep Apnea" and she said good and went back to her seat.
Then she came out and said lets us go and have a coffee outside. It puzzled me. I thought she was hitting on me but I said Great idea. I ordered two lattes and a Banana cake each and we sat down and she says "I am not supposed to tell you this but my conscience says I have to". She asks do you know of Resmed I said "of course they are based just here in Bella vista in Sydney sydney and I am on their research patients list testing out their products before launch.." "Good she says, you know more about Resmed than I do". All I want you to know is that Resmed has a strong legal team of four brilliant lawyers who will do anything and everything to block you and pinch your idea. Right now as we speak Resmed has about 300 provisional patents in Sydney Office not of any real value but there to be used to shut down anyone else.Also the her Boss was a very good friend of The Resmed CEO and if I lodged an application for Provisional Patent the info might go straight to Resmed and you may not get a Provisional patent.
She quietly suggested that I go and get a provisional patent from a Country like Singapore where the Country will defend your patent if necessary against global theft. Don't waste your money and risk losing your idea she said as even before you lodge a complete design Resmed would have taken out a patent on the same idea and you will be block you officially. "A Good Samaritan and a God send. God Bless the lady. Plus my Lawyer wrote to me and said Ram It will cost you about US$ 350K to get Global Patents and then your product cannot be marketed unless you have an FDA approval. That was it. I decided it was not worth losing my house chasing a dream.
In 2016 I had to wind up my company NoDesCo and deregister the name from ASIC.
One of the Authors of Reflections by IITians I published is Chida Raghavan IITM B Tech 1974 Batch shared his bad experience with Patent Laws in USA. His smallish firm developed the water-jet cutting technique and patented the process which it used for production. Johnson and Johnsons Pinched the idea and developed it further and started using it is their production facilities and not long after Kimberly Clark was using the water jets to make kids Nappies. I know because I built an acoustic enclosure for their noisy nappy machine. So Chidas company took Jhonson and Jhonson to court. He told me they had more lawyer in Jhonsons than his total work force. His company spent millions they could not afford trying to defend their patent and it took many years before the courts ruled in their favour with a Ten million dollar payout and amount they had already spent on lawyers and his company went broke. So he told me Rambo stay away from this Patenting Process as it is geared to support US MNC's.
My Google Searches told me that there were a few big players making sleep apnea machines globally. Resmed, Respironics - a Philips subsidiary, Fisher & Paykel -NZ and Innomed and a few smaller ones trying to enter the field.
Innomed CEO was an IITB Alumnus Chandran and I communicated with him and wanted to know if he would take up my Sleep apnea mask design. Yes he wanted all details and design without any contract or agreement. I refused to divulge details.. Soon after Frank beckman based in Germany who did my 3d Drawings messaged me to tell me. Resmed was suing Respironics and Respironics was suing Innomed and this was a dirty game and not worth entering the conflict.
Innomed in 2012 had the best sleep apnea mask called Hybrid Mask. within a year Resmed and Respironics had pretty similar designs but with cosmetic differences and Innomed was forced out of the game virtually.
This is no different to Aplle Suing Samsung and Samsung counter suing Apple.
Zero Ethics Game
Types of Cpap Masks
Click on Link to see the number of Cpap masks in the market today . The market is inundated with CPAP masks.
I use the Resmed Autoset S-9 CPAP Machine with a Respironics Amora Full Face Mask
Sydney has about 50 sleep apnea specialists and in my opinion there is just one Sleep apnea specialist who knows everything about this therapy and that is Prof Sullivan all others are quacks raking in dollars.
A Repiratory specialist will ask you if you snore and feel tired and sleepy during the day and if the answer is "yes" you will be told you need to go for sleep studies and fix an appointment for the patient in the hospital they are linked to.
You are told to arrive by 4.00pm for the sleep studies, you check in and get an early dinner you are not used to and a zillion leads are attached to the face and chest etc after shaving off the body hair and by 8.00pm they switch the lights off and start the sleep study and the nurse and technician are monitoring everything from next door on a computer screen. I can see them through the glass window. Every now and then the nurse will come and check BP temperature and fix leads that are not secured properly etc etc. In other words the Patient is in a new hospital bed tucked into bed when he /she is not sleepy and measurements are recorded of a patient lying wide awake and breathing normally as he is awake but with the cpap machine.
Whatever information they collect is all flawed as the patient was "not sleeping and snoring and the airway did not collapse". and Just when you fall asleep around 3.00am or so the testing is over as they have enough data and prescribe a pressure that has zero relevance. A report goes to the specialist and you have to see him and cough up about $ 250 four times a year for doing buggerall.
My pressure was determined as 12 cms water gauge by the nurses and the doctor insisted that was the correct pressure yet my sleep apnea index was 5.7 apneas per hour as recorded by the machine and the doctors explanation was that I was a restless sleeper and must be tossing and rolling all night.
Then I met another good samaritan. A Greek Gentle man John at my local chemist and he was incharge of CPAP Machine sales. He was a sleep apnea patient himself and we both knew all about it and he tried to link me up with the Rep at Fisher and Paykey to see if I could take my invention forward. Did not get anywhere as he was just a salesman in Oz for a Kiwi Company..
Anyway I asked john to change the setting from Fixed 12cms pressure as recommended by my specialist and change it to "auto" and allow the machine to determine the reqd pressure. He was hesitant for legal reasons and I convinced him that the auto set can do me no harm as it was designed for that purpose.He obliged after I promised him that it will remail between us.
Believe it or not I started to have good nights sleeps and my sleep apnea index came down from 5.7 apneas per hour to 1.3 apneas per hour. But guess what the pressure I needed was 19cms 95% of the time and of course I was struggling with a low pressure of 12cms per hour that was not adequate to open my blocked airway.
So if you think all doctors know what they are doing it is no different to assuming that every motor mechanic knows all about cars.
You have the Good the Bad and the Ugly in every profession and if I am alive today despite all the quacks I owe it to my own intelligence and logic and constant questioning.
Most Hospital Emergencies are manned by Rookie Registrars who have just passed their last exams with very little experience and there is one senior doctor who is fully stretched and decides to stay with the worst cases in emergency at that point of time to save lives mostly head injuries from motor accidents, Drug Overdoses and heart attack and stroke patients.
