Veteran, Enterprise native receives two patents

Veteran Kenneth Britt recently received two patents for his designs for a personal toilet seat shield.

Patents, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website, can last for up to 20 years from the date the application is filed for an invention. It serves as "the grant of property right to the inventor."

"The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, 'the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling' the invention in the United States or 'importing' the invention into the United States," the USPTO website states. "What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention."

Based on figures from the USPTO website, 328,572 patent applications were filed in 2015. That same year, only 168,541 patents were granted.

Britt, an Enterprise native, said he has "tinkered" with inventions since he served in the Army.

"When I think about things, I would try to make it," he said. "This was the first time I ever decided I would try to get a patent. I've always done provisional things, you know, but I didn't really go further with it. This just stayed on my mind. It wouldn't go away."

The idea for the oval- and diamond-shaped toilet seat shields came after he moved to Fort Rucker, he said.

"I've always done different things," he said. "Right after I moved to Fort Rucker, I got this idea. Then, I just got out in the backyard where I live, and I made it."

"I get ideas all the time," he said. "Usually, when you're traveling and you stop to use the restroom and you've got your (grandchildren) with you, you don't want them to go in and sit on that (seat). It would be so nasty, so that's how I got that idea."

Britt said one of the first steps he took to get a patent for his inventions was to complete a provisional application, which only guarantees protection of the invention for a year.

According to the USPTO website, a "provisional application is a quick and inexpensive way for inventors to establish a U.S. filing date for their invention, which can be claimed in a later-filed nonprovisional application. A provisional application is automatically abandoned 12 months after its filing date and is not examined."

He then applied for a nonprovisional application, which can result in a patent being granted to an inventor.

"A nonprovisional application is examined by a patent examiner and may be issued as a patent if all the requirements for patentability are met," the USPTO website states.

He said it took "a couple of years" for him to receive the patent because of the government organization's search process.

"It's not a short process," he said, stating a search must be conducted to make sure that the invention is unique before issuing a patent. "There's no other design like (this one)."

"I didn't know if I was going to get it or not," Britt said. "I did everything they asked me."

Despite the paperwork for the application and the wait, Britt said he was happy to have received patents for his projects.

"It just means that, to me, I accomplished something," he said.