The Steps Associated with Designing Plastic Prototypes in Utah

When you have a new product in mind, one of the first steps you can take to help improve your odds of having a patent granted is to develop a prototype. While this isn’t necessarily required by the U.S. Patent Office, it does at least show that you have clearly thought through your idea past the conceptual stage and into its practical usage and construction.

Here’s a quick overview of the steps you’ll need to take to get your prototype completed.

Sketch out your product concept

The first step in designing plastic prototypes in Utah is visualizing it on paper. You can either sketch out your project by hand, or you can use a digital drawing program, such as an AutoCAD or Google SketchUp to help you out. You’re probably going to have a lot of ideas in these early phases, and sketching them out will help you get a sense of what you do and don’t like, and what may or may not work.

If you keep a sketch notebook or a record of your various digital drafts, you can use that documentation when submitting your patent paperwork. It can also give you a means of defending the ownership of your intellectual property, because it is a record of the steps you took to arrive at the design you did.

Create a virtual prototype

Before you create a physical prototype, you should focus on developing a virtual one. Here again, you can use AutoCAD, which allows you to make 3-D renderings so you can rotate and animate your sketch from all angles. There are some software programs that even allow you to make your drawing quite photorealistic so you can clearly see what your design will look like. If you’re not great with these programs yourself, you can hire someone to work with you.

Create your physical prototype

Once you’ve got a clear visual prototype of what your product will look like, you can start developing a physical one. Here again, you may need to hire a professional prototype designer to work with you if you don’t have the skills to get it done yourself. The physical prototype gives you the opportunity to find any flaws in your design that will need to be corrected before you go for a patent. It may take several prototypes to work out all the kinks in your design. You’ll generally use less expensive materials in your earlier prototypes to save money, and later on you can use better materials and create a prototype that more closely resembles your project.

Select a manufacturer

Once you’ve developed a prototype, you can select the company that you want to work with on actually developing your product. Make sure it’s a company you feel good about working with, and one that can develop your product at a price that will allow you to be profitable.

For more information about the steps associated with designing a plastic prototype in Utah, contact the experts at D&D Plastics today.

Categorised in: Plastic Prototypes

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