Sun Tracker

I agree with del.

Forget about the cost of filing the application, even the cost of making the file will be huge enough. From your mail, it is clear that you THINK that it is your invention. You have not yet searched the existing patents. Patent Search and search of existing state of art itself will be a huge task. Ultimately, you may find that it is not your invension, but the technology is already in use, somewhere.

Even potting in epoxy is not a solution. I assure you, I can remove the epoxy and find out what is inside.

Best way is not to bother about copying and tap the market as big as possible, as early as possible, so that you recover whatver you have spent and get good profit before anybody copies your concept and comes in market as your competitor.

I actually have a patent for a commercial product, but I have to agree with Del. The process of getting a patent for such a simple device is still very expensive (not hundreds of dollars US, thousands thru to tens of thousands of dollars) and the protection it offers is very limited. You are almost guaranteed never to make the money back, and if the design is good people will just improve on it (defeating the patent). People can still steal the patent which would require YOU to take them to court (costing more money).

The short answer is do not bother in this case, the long answer can be found in the numerous threads on CR4 regarding patents.

Especially since I can give you links to a half-dozen sun trackers out there already.

I agree with Del. Produce it, dip it into epoxy and sell it as fast and as cheep as possible, that's the best protection.

Have you ever thought about the CD & DVD players' tracking mechanisms for example? They are very accurate and their tracking is photoactive also, just like your Sun tracker.

Laser guided weapons can be also regarded as photoactive trackers.

(Don't get confused with robots, CNC or other mechanism controllers, they're different!)