Planetpapi Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 It's interesting to see the history of "Electric single motor wheel for pedestrian" . I thought Inventist "invented" the solo wheel. I was wrong. Stunningly similar wheels were issued patents as back as 1977! See the links below. My question was, how did they manage "self balancing" back then? That technology was introduced by Segway...like in 2000 (AFAIK). https://www.google.com/patents/US4109741 https://www.google.com/patents/US20090266629 This last one is of course by Inventist. http://www.google.com/patents/US8807250 Your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuts Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 If I was to guess I would say that the earlier patent ran out of time. I believe patents run for 10 years. As for the later one I would also guess that the SoloWheel design has enough of a difference to allow for its own patent. Like comparing spectacles to sunglasses, both almost identical to their look but different in their use. As the Solowheel describes as using a gyroscope to maintain the invention to self-balance in one of its axles. While the 2009 patent describes that although motorized requires the user to maintain balance them self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planetpapi Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 I like your "spectacle to sunglasses" analogy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Clegg Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Both the previous patents you mention were referenced by the inventist patent. It is quite remarkable that the first one is from 1977! I can't imagine that they actually build such a thing back then did they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colestien Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 You would be surprised what we built "back then" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuo Meng Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Riding around the palace on my EU in 1650... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmethvin Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 On 4/28/2015 at 3:09 PM, Planetpapi said: My question was, how did they manage "self balancing" back then? That technology was introduced by Segway...like in 2000 (AFAIK). I don't know exactly how they'd do it, but I can imagine it could have been done with some sort of gyroscope combined with balance arms. Those could feed potentiometers that would give feedback to the drive system. It's amazing what people built with mechanical systems back before we had digital electronics. If you have a while, read about John Harrison and how he built the first chronometer accurate enough to be taken on sea voyages for navigation. His first clock was huge but he was soon able to reduce it to the size of a pocket watch. His invention won a price equivalent to 2.8 million pounds today! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos E Rodriguez Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 http://focusdesigns.com/about/ https://sites.google.com/site/onewheeledselfbalancing/ https://sites.google.com/site/onewheeledselfbalancing/Home/17-new-unicycle-project-2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 On 7/9/2016 at 8:46 AM, dmethvin said: His invention won a price equivalent to 2.8 million pounds today! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison He was never able to collect this sum from Parliament, as the accuracy of his clocks were attributed to luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Westland Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 On 4/29/2015 at 3:09 AM, Planetpapi said: My question was, how did they manage "self balancing" back then? That technology was introduced by Segway...like in 2000 (AFAIK). https://www.google.com/patents/US410974 Your thoughts? You can read his description in the patent, but note that even Carles Gabrial's patent references earlier patents ... Cited Patent Filing date Publication date Applicant Title US627596 * Jan 20, 1898 Jun 27, 1899 Louis Schutte Monocycle. US3224785 * Jul 22, 1963 Dec 21, 1965 Stevenson Gerald W Rider stabilized roller skate provided with brake means actuated by tilting of the brake US3306626 * Jul 9, 1965 Feb 28, 1967 Kawada Tadao Occupant-propelled plaything having a single wheel US3399742 * Jun 23, 1966 Sep 3, 1968 Franklin S. Malick Powered unicycle DE920950C * May 3, 1953 Dec 2, 1954 Hans Still Ag Triebwerk fuer Kraftkarren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardmech Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 According to the US patent system whoever files the greatest number of vague patents and has the most money to spend on lawyers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 10 hours ago, lizardmech said: According to the US patent system whoever files the greatest number of vague patents and has the most money to spend on lawyers. Spot on - they also, as appears to have happened with the EUC, seem to be quite happy to grant patents to multiple people even years apart for what is fundamentally the same invention. For example this one: https://www.google.com/patents/US8616313 filed in 2006 or this which appeared in 2009 http://newatlas.com/enicycle-electric-unicycle/12622/. Yet, apparently the EUC was only invented in 2010? Do you know that Nylon was apparently so called as it was invented simultaneously in New York and London - yeh right. If anyone visited the research labs when I worked for ICI we even turned all the reagent bottles around so nobody could surmise what we were working on. Despite that two years into working on a promising new line in insecticides all of a sudden a competitor patented the very compounds we had been working on. Since there are literally billions of possible organic compounds that was like them winning a lottery where you have to get all 6 numbers which can be anything from 1 to 1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Tolhurst Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 On a (kind of) related note, who originally invented the four chord song This always makes me chuckle when I see discussions/arguments about who invented what, patents and copyright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottVal Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 My understanding is Trevor Blackwell invented it. http://www.tlb.org/#eunicycle well before Chen in 2011. I saw this guys work and instructions long before I had ever heard of a production EUC or Chen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottVal Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Additionally, in the early 70s, I saw a gas powered unicycle, it looked like a 70s era minibike with a Briggs and Stratton engine, but it was a unicycle. I rode a unicycle back then and based on my ability to ride it seemed virtually impossible to control. I never saw another one and I'm sure the product failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Clegg Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 20 hours ago, ScottVal said: My understanding is Trevor Blackwell invented it. http://www.tlb.org/#eunicycle well before Chen in 2011. I saw this guys work and instructions long before I had ever heard of a production EUC or Chen. The patent that Chen was awarded was for the device that you stand on without a seat. Many of us know of Trevor Blackwel and the eunicycle and he may well be able to claim to have invented that. But that in the same thing as what we call a EUC today. Indeed Chen actually licensed software to build his invention from an existing company that made a seated electric unicycle and I believe this is cited in the patent so its well know that those things existing prior: http://focusdesigns.com/sbuv3/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 On 5/24/2017 at 5:57 PM, Jonathan Tolhurst said: On a (kind of) related note, who originally invented the four chord song This always makes me chuckle when I see discussions/arguments about who invented what, patents and copyright. I think this is the best thing i have ever seen on this forum and possibly on YouTube, period. Thanks @Jonathan Tolhurst for sharing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 The Ryno resides in a parallel world where Gotway, KS, IPS, and NineBot never existed. It has a few dead-end technologies in it that make us (EUC riders) scratch our heads. --Steering linkage. --Footpegs, later changed to footpads. --Seat and steering wheel. -Mirrors. --Weight. --Tailpipe. --10-12 mph top speed. I believe Ryno Motors went out of business just last year, because a $6,000 EUC is never going to sell when you can buy a true long-ranged electric for that amount. Where did the $1,300,000 of investor money go? Their website hasn't been updated since May 2018. Note that the first Ryno video came out 8 years ago, but during the video he mentioned he got divorced (as a noun or adverb pair that happened to him) and lost his house (or more accurately his house was taken from him as a spoil of war). If you look closely as how he rides his Ryno, then you'll notice he often doesn't sit on the wheel but rather stands on the footpads. Perhaps if he hadn't wasted time getting divorced then he could have made successful product by making an EUC similar to what we have now. Investors have always been wary of CEOs and presidents who have even a whiff of marital trouble, because it's cheaper to let the company fail and start a new one when the ex-wife makes an assets grab. While Gotway and Kingsong basically take a unicycle and make it into an electric uni, the Ninebot Z10 and the Ryno basically take the motorcycle concept and chop things off. In my opinion the Z10 type design will eventually become standard as you get the benefits of tubeless tires for not very much more weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottVal Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 On 3/19/2019 at 9:02 AM, Sam Clegg said: The patent that Chen was awarded was for the device that you stand on without a seat. Many of us know of Trevor Blackwel and the eunicycle and he may well be able to claim to have invented that. But that in the same thing as what we call a EUC today. Indeed Chen actually licensed software to build his invention from an existing company that made a seated electric unicycle and I believe this is cited in the patent so its well know that those things existing prior: http://focusdesigns.com/sbuv3/ With or without a seat, Blackwell invented the electric UNICYCLE, which has one wheel and made huge technological leap from two wheels to one wheel. Standing or sitting, and the footpads are not such a huge leap especially considering some of the new ones can be sat on and ridden like the Monster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenofnine Posted April 16, 2019 Share Posted April 16, 2019 On 3/19/2019 at 1:43 PM, LanghamP said: The Ryno resides in a parallel world where Gotway, KS, IPS, and NineBot never existed. It has a few dead-end technologies in it that make us (EUC riders) scratch our heads. --Steering linkage. --Footpegs, later changed to footpads. --Seat and steering wheel. -Mirrors. --Weight. --Tailpipe. --10-12 mph top speed. I believe Ryno Motors went out of business just last year, because a $6,000 EUC is never going to sell when you can buy a true long-ranged electric for that amount. Where did the $1,300,000 of investor money go? Their website hasn't been updated since May 2018. Note that the first Ryno video came out 8 years ago, but during the video he mentioned he got divorced (as a noun or adverb pair that happened to him) and lost his house (or more accurately his house was taken from him as a spoil of war). If you look closely as how he rides his Ryno, then you'll notice he often doesn't sit on the wheel but rather stands on the footpads. Perhaps if he hadn't wasted time getting divorced then he could have made successful product by making an EUC similar to what we have now. Investors have always been wary of CEOs and presidents who have even a whiff of marital trouble, because it's cheaper to let the company fail and start a new one when the ex-wife makes an assets grab. While Gotway and Kingsong basically take a unicycle and make it into an electric uni, the Ninebot Z10 and the Ryno basically take the motorcycle concept and chop things off. In my opinion the Z10 type design will eventually become standard as you get the benefits of tubeless tires for not very much more weight. The RYNO dude just ripped off Dragon Ball and Launch's S-Cargo (wow what a pun)....but I don't think Toriyama filed any patents in US Yes her name was Launch, it was originally Lunch in the Manga....and when she sneezes she turns into an evil version of herself with different colored hair lol Good Lunch = Blue Hair <- innocent and naive (can ride nimbus cloud) Bad Lunch = Blonde <- she pulls MAC 10s outta thin air and has a sailor's mouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planemo Posted April 16, 2019 Share Posted April 16, 2019 I thought Hsiangs latest vid was quite good re the EUC patent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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