invent

1 come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or priciple) after a mental effort; "excogitate a way to measure the speed of light" [syn: contrive, devise, excogitate, formulate, forge]

2 make up something artificial or untrue [syn: fabricate, manufacture, cook up, make up]

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Verb

1. To design a new process or mechanism.

   After weeks of hard work, I invented a new way to alphabetize matchbooks.

2. To create something fictional for a particular purpose.

   I knew I had to invent an excuse, and quickly.

   We need a name to put in this form, so let's just invent one.

Related terms

• invented
• inventive
• invention
• inventor
• reinvent

Synonyms

• discover

Translations

• Chinese: 發明
• Czech: vynalézt
• French: inventer
• German: erfinden, ausdenken
• Irish: cum
• Malayalam: കണ്ടുപിടിയ്ക്കുക (kantupitiykkuka)
• Russian: изобрести, изобретать
• Serbian: изумети (1), измислити (1,2)
• Slovene: izumiti, iznajti
• Spanish: inventar

An invention is a new form, composition of matter, device, or process. Some inventions are based on pre-existing forms, compositions, processes or ideas. Other inventions are radical breakthroughs which may extend the boundaries of human knowledge or experience.

Invention that gets out into the world is innovation, and as such it may be a major breakthrough, it may have a minor or incremental impact or it's effect can be in between these two extremes.

There is also a “cultural invention” which is an innovative set of useful behaviors adopted by people who then pass them on.

An invention that is novel and not obvious to those who are skilled in the same field may be able to obtain the legal protection of a patent.

The process of invention

Invention is a highly creative process.

“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel Prize 1937

An open curious mind enables one to see beyond what is known. Inventors think outside of the box. "Hell, there are no rules here — we're trying to accomplish something." Thomas A. Edison Seeing a new possibility, a new connection or relationship can spark invention.

Inventive thinking frequently involves combining elements from different realms that would not normally be put together. Inventors skip over the boundaries between distinctly separate territories or fields. Ways of thinking, materials, processes or tools from one realm are used as nobody had ever imagined in a different realm. This is how Cubism, one of the most revolutionary innovations in art was invented. Taking ideas from primitive culture, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque reinvented art in the civilized world.

Play can lead to invention. “All sorts of things can happen when you’re open to new ideas and playing around with things.” Kevlar inventor, Stephanie Kwolek. Childhood curiosity, experimentation and imagination can develop into a play instinct that is an inner need according to Carl Jung. Inventors feel the need to play with things that interest them, to explore, and this internal drive brings about novel creations.

Einstein also said, “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance.” and “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Inventors often envision a new idea, seeing it in their mind. New ideas often come when the conscious mind turns away from the subject or problem, when you are focusing on something else, relaxing, at rest or sleeping. A novel idea may come in a flash - Eureka! For example, after years of working to figure out the general theory of relativity, the solution came to Einstein suddenly in a dream “like a giant die making an indelible impress, a huge map of the universe outlined itself in one clear vision.”

Inventing also takes insight. It may begin with questions, doubt or a hunch. It may begin by recognizing that something unusual or accidental may be useful or that it opens a new avenue for exploration. For example, the odd metallic color of plastic made by accidentally adding a thousand times too much catalyst led scientists to explore its metal-like properties, inventing electrically conductive plastic and light emitting plastic - invention that won the Nobel Prize in 2000 (see conductive polymer, and organic light-emitting diode or PLED).

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” Picasso No matter how complete the initial idea is as a spark, a hunch or a vision, inventions typically have to be worked. Inventing is often an exploratory process, full of risk, with failures as well as successes, and it's outcome is not known or not fully known. “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” Einstein Inventors believe in their ideas and they do not give up in the face of one or many failures. Their perseverance, confidence and passion is famous. “If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.” Thomas A. Edison, who also declared, “I never did a day's work in my life, it was all fun.”

Inventors want to satisfy a need, they try to solve a problem or make something better, asking what if or, wouldn't it be great if. "Discontent is the first necessity of progress." Edison Inventors may for example, try to improve something by making it more effective, healthier, faster, more efficient, easier to use, serve more purposes, longer lasting, cheaper, more ecologically friendly, or aesthetically different, e.g., lighter weight, more ergonomic, structurally different, with new light or color properties, etc. Or an entirely new invention may be created like the Internet, email, the telephone or electric light. "Necessity, who is the mother of invention." Plato Yet invention is also the mother of necessity. Nobody needed a phonograph before Edision invented it, the need for it developed afterwards. Likewise, few ever imagined the telephone or the airplane prior to their invention, but many people cannot live without these inventions now.

The idea for an invention may be developed on paper or on a computer, by writing or drawing, by trial and error, by making models, by experimenting, by testing and/or by making the invention in its whole form. As the dialogue between Picasso and Braque brought about Cubism, collaboration has spawned many inventions. Brainstorming can spark new ideas. Collaborative creative processes are frequently used by designers, architects and scientists. Co-inventors are frequently named on patents. Now it is easier than ever for people in different locations to collaborate. Many inventors keep records of their working process - notebooks, photos, etc., including Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. In the process of developing an invention, the initial idea may change. The invention may become simpler, more practical, it may expand, or it may even morph into something totally different. Working on one invention can lead to others too. There is only one country in the world that will grant patent rights for an invention that continues part of an invention in a previously filed patent, the United States.

The creation of an invention and its use can be effected by practical considerations. Some inventions are not created in the order that enables them to be most useful. For example, the parachute was invented before powered flight. There are inventions that are too expensive to produce and inventions that require scientific advancements that have not yet occurred. These barriers can erode or disappear as the economic situation changes or as science develops. But history shows that turning an invention that is only an idea into reality can take any amount of time, even centuries as demonstrated by inventions originally conceived by Leonardo da Vinci which are now in physical form and commonplace in our lives. Interestingly, some invention that exists as only an idea and has never been made in reality can obtain patent protection.

An invention can serve many purposes, these purposes might differ significantly and they may change over time. An invention or a further developed version of it may serve purposes never envisioned by its original inventor(s) or even by others living at the time of it's original invention. As an example, consider all the kinds of plastic developed, their innumerable uses, and the tremendous growth this material invention is still undergoing today.

Artistic invention

Invention has a long and important history in the arts. Inventive thinking has always played a vital role in the creative process. While some inventions in the arts are patentable, others are not because they cannot fulfill the strict requirements governments have established for granting them, (see patent).

In art, design and architecture

“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.” Michelangelo

Art is continuously reinvented. Many artists, designers, and architects think like inventors. As they create, they may for example: explore beyond that which is known or obvious, push against barriers, change or discard conventions, and/or break into new territory. Some artists are inventors and among their inventions are important contributions to visual art as well as other fields.

Some visual artists like Picasso become inventors in the process of creating art. Inventions by other artists are separate from their art, such as the scientific inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. Some inventions in visual art employ prior developments in science or technology. For example, Picasso and Julio Gonzalez used welding to invent a new kind of sculpture, the form of which could be more open to light and air, and more recently, computer software has enabled an explosion of invention in visual art, including the invention of computer art, and invention in photography, film, architecture and design. Like the invention of welded sculpture, other inventions in art are new art forms, for example, the collage and the construction invented by Picasso, the Readymade invented by Marcel Duchamp, the mobile invented by Alexander Calder, the combine invented by Robert Rauschenberg, and the shaped painting invented by Frank Stella. A number of art movements were inventions often created collaboratively, such as Cubism invented by Picasso and Braque. Substantial inventions in art, design and architecture were made possible by inventions and improvements in the tools of the trade. The invention of Impressionist painting, for example, was possible because the prior invention of collapsible, resealable metal paint tubes facilitated spontaneous painting outdoors. Inventions originally created in the form of artwork can also develop other uses, as Alexander Calder's mobile is commonly used over babies' cribs today. Funds generated from patents on inventions in art, design and architecture can support the realization of the invention or other creative work. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi's 1879 patent on the Statue of Liberty helped fund the statue currently in New York harbor because it covered small replicas..

Among other artists, designers and architects who are or were inventors are: Filippo Brunelleschi, Le Corbusier, Naum Gabo, Louis Comfort Tiffany, John La Farge, Buckminster Fuller, Jackson Pollock, Man Ray, Yves Klein, Henry N. Cobb, I. M. Pei, Kenneth Snelson, Helen Frankenthaler, Chuck (Charles) Hoberman and Ingo Maurer. Some of their inventions have been patented. Others might have fulfilled the requirements of a patent, like the Cubist image. There are also inventions in visual art that do not fit into the requirements of a patent. Examples are inventions that cannot be differentiated from that which has already existed clearly enough for approval by government patent offices, such as Duchamp's Readymade and other conceptual works. Invention whose inventor or inventors are not known cannot be patented, such as the invention of abstract art or abstract painting, oil painting, Process Art, Installation art and Light Art. Also, when it cannot or has not been determined whether something was a first in human history or not, there may not be a patentable invention even though it may be considered an invention in the realm of art. For example, Picasso is credited with inventing collage though this probably was done earlier in a culture outside of the western world.

Inventions in the visual arts that may be patentable might be new materials or mediums, they might be new kinds of images, they might be new processes, they might be novel designs, or they may be a combination of these. Inventions by Filippo Brunelleschi, Louis Comfort Tiffany, John La Farge, Chuck (Charles) Hoberman and others received patents. The color, International Klein Blue invented by Yves Klein was patented in 1960 and used two years later in his sculpture. Inventions by Kenneth Snelson which are crucial to his sculptures are patented. R. Buckminster Fuller's famous geodesic dome is covered in one of his 28 US patents (see them all at http://bfi.org/node/75). Ingo Maurer known for his lighting design has a series of patents on inventions in these works. Many inventions created collaboratively by designers at IDEO Inc. have been patented. Countless other examples can easily be found by searching patents at the websites of the Patent Offices of various countries, such as http://www.USPTO.gov. Inventions in design can be protected in a special kind of patent called a "design patent." The first design patent was granted in 1842 to George Bruce for a new font. See a database of patents in the arts at http://www.patenting-art.com/database/dbase1-e.htm. See images and text from some patents in the arts at http://www.patenting-art.com/images/images-e.htm.

In music

Music has been expanded by invention over the course of thousands of years.

In literature

In the performing arts

The value of invention in acting was noted by Paul Newman when discussing his reasons for retiring, "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me." Work by Martha Graham and many other artists is known for invention.

In other arts

Invention is important in other arts.

Getting inventions out into the world

Inventions get out into the world in different ways. Some of them are sold, licensed or given away as products or services. Simply exhibiting visual art, playing music or having a performance gets many artistic inventions out into the world. Believing in the success of an invention can involve risk, so it can be difficult to obtain support and funding. Grants, inventor associations, clubs and business incubators can provide the mentoring, skills and resources some inventors need. Success at getting an invention out into the world often requires passion for it and good entrepreneural skills.

"Make a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

In economic theory, inventions are one of the chief examples of "positive externalities," a beneficial side-effect that falls on those outside a transaction or activity. One of the central concepts of economics is that externalities should be internalized - unless some of the benefits of this positive externality can be captured by the parties, the parties will be under-rewarded for their inventions, and systematic under-rewarding will lead to under investment in activities that lead to inventions. The patent system captures those positive externalities for the inventor or other patent owner, so that the economy as a whole will invest a more-closely-optimum amount of resources in the process of invention.

Invention and innovation

Innovation is "something new or different introduced." www.Dictionary.com

In the social sciences, an innovation is anything new to a culture, whether it has been adopted or not. The theory for adoption (or non-adoption) of an innovation called diffusion of innovations considers the likelihood that an innovation will ever be adopted and the taxonomy of persons likely to adopt it or spur its adoption. This theory was first put forth by Everett Rogers. Gabriel Tarde also dealt with the adoption of innovations in his Laws of Imitation.

Quotes

• "Every herd of wild cattle has its leaders, its influential heads." Gabriel Tarde

• “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

• “Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?” Leonardo da Vinci

• “Everything you can imagine is real.” Pablo Picasso

• "Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged." Thomas A. Edison

• "I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success." Nikola Tesla, inventor

• “Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.” Richard Feynman

• “For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid — not only what you think is right about it... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.” Richard Feynman

• “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” Richard Feynman

• “We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning.” Richard Feynman

• “When most people think that everything is working normally, an inventor will home in on the absurdity, the utter foolishness of the way everyone seems to accept the world as it is. Others won’t even see what’s wrong-until the inventor stumbles across it. By isolating a problem in a new way, by redefining it, by focusing it does to something more specific than meets the average eye, the inventor constructs a new possibility where none was though to have existed.” Evan I. Schwartz

• “Wherever smart people work, doors are unlocked.” Steve Wozniak

External links

• Smithsonian Institution, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation http://www.invention.smithsonian.org/home/
• List of PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) Notable Inventions (on the WIPO web site)
• http://www.patenting-art.com

See also

• Bayh-Dole Act
• Chindōgu
• Creativity
• Creativity techniques
• Cultural invention
• Design patent (US patent law)
• Diffusion of innovations
• EU Directive on the patentability of biotechnological inventions
• EU Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (proposed, then rejected)
• Discovery
• Edisonian approach
• Invention (musical composition)
• Invention promotion firm
• Inventive step and non-obviousness (patentability requirements)
• Inventor
• Inventor's Day
• Islamic inventions
• Kranzberg's laws of technology
• Lemelson-MIT Prize
• List of Chinese inventions
• List of United States inventions
• List of inventions named after people
• List of inventors
• Mad scientist
• Mind's eye
• National Inventors Hall of Fame
• Patent
• Technology
• Thinking outside the box
• Timeline of invention, for a detailed list of inventions, listed by date of invention
• TRIZ approach

Bibliography

• Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, Harper & Row, 1989. ISBN 0-06-015612-0
• De Bono, Edward, "Eureka! An Illustrated History of Inventions from the Wheel to the Computer", Thames & Hudson, 1974.
• Gowlett, John. Ascent to Civilization, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992. ISBN 0-07-544312-0
• Platt, Richard, "Eureka!: Great Inventions and How They Happened", 2003.
• Patenting Art and Entertainment by Gregory Aharonian and Richard Stim (2004)

References

beget, break ground, break the ice, breed, bring forth, bring into being, call into being, coin, conceit, conceive, conceptualize, concoct, contrive, cook up, counterfeit, create, design, determine, develop, devise, discover, dream up, engender, envision, evolve, experience imaginatively, fabricate, fake, fancy, fantasize, fictionalize, find, find out, forge, formulate, frame, fudge, generate, get, give being to, give rise to, hatch, hatch up, head, head up, hit, hit upon, hoke up, hunt down, ideate, imagine, improvise, inaugurate, initiate, innovate, introduce, introduce new blood, lead, lead off, lead the way, locate, make do with, make innovations, make up, manufacture, mature, mint, mold, neologize, neoterize, originate, pioneer, plan, precede, procreate, produce, rediscover, renew, renovate, revolutionize, run down, run to earth, shape, spawn, stand first, strike, strike out, suppose, take the initiative, take the lead, take the plunge, think out, think up, trace, trace down, track down, trump up, turn out, vamp up