Editing Invention (section)

== Process ==
=== Practical means ===
[[File:Alessandro Volta.jpeg|thumb|200px|[[Alessandro Volta]] with the first [[electrical battery]]. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor.]]

Ideas for an invention may be developed on paper or on a computer, by writing or drawing, by [[trial and error]], by making models, by [[experiment]]ing, by testing and/or by making the invention in its whole form. [[Brainstorming]] also can spark new ideas for an invention. Collaborative creative processes are frequently used by engineers, designers, architects and scientists. Co-inventors are frequently named on patents.

In addition, many inventors keep [[inventor's notebook|records]] of their working process – [[inventor's notebook|notebooks]], photos, etc., including [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Evangelista Torricelli]], [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Albert Einstein]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grissom, Fred. |title=Inventor's Notebook, The. |date=2005 |publisher=Nolo |isbn=9781406318289 |oclc=1007922528}}</ref><ref>''Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Scientist, Inventor'' by Simona Cremante (2005)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jefferson's Papers at the Library of Congress |url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/ |publisher=Memory.loc.gov |access-date=2013-07-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=about Albert Einstein |url=http://www.alberteinstein.info/about/Information |access-date=Jun 1, 2020}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Continuation Patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices |url=http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/0200_201_08.htm |publisher=Uspto.gov |access-date=2013-07-17}}</ref>

History shows that turning the concept of an invention into a working device is not always swift or direct. Inventions may also become more useful after time passes and other changes occur. For example, the [[parachute]] became more useful once powered [[flight]] was a reality.<ref>White, Lynn: The Invention of the Parachute, ''Technology and Culture'', Vol. 9, Nremante (2005)</ref>

=== Conceptual means ===
[[Image:Edison and phonograph edit2.jpg|thumb|190px|[[Thomas Edison]] with [[phonograph]]. Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding [[List of Edison patents|1,093 U.S. patents in his name]].]]

Invention is often a [[creative process]]. An open and curious mind allows an inventor to see beyond what is known. Seeing a new possibility, connection or relationship can spark an invention. Inventive thinking frequently involves combining concepts or elements from different realms that would not normally be put together. Sometimes inventors disregard the boundaries between distinctly separate territories or fields.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} Several concepts may be considered when thinking about invention.

==== Play ====
[[File:Gutenberg-Presse im Gutenberg-Museum, Mainz, Deutschland (48988294536).jpg|thumb|200px|[[Johannes Gutenberg]]'s [[Gutenberg press|printing press]] was voted the most important invention of the second millennium.<ref name="Man of the Millennium">{{cite web |url=http://rhsweb.org/library/1000PeopleMillennium.htm |title=Gutenberg, Man of the Millennium |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303082307/http://rhsweb.org/library/1000PeopleMillennium.htm |archive-date=3 March 2012 |work=1,000+ People of the Millennium and Beyond |year=2000}}</ref>]]
Play may lead to invention. Childhood curiosity, experimentation, and imagination can develop one's play instinct. Inventors feel the need to play with things that interest them, and to explore, and this internal drive brings about novel creations.<ref name="inventionatplay1">{{Cite web |title=Lemelson Centers Invention at Play : Inventors Stories |url=http://www.inventionatplay.org/inventors_main.html |publisher=Inventionatplay.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020073009/http://inventionatplay.org/inventors_main.html |archive-date=2013-10-20 |access-date=2013-10-03}}</ref><ref>Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors (2004), pp. 14–15 by Evan I. Schwartz.</ref>

Sometimes inventions and ideas may seem to arise spontaneously while [[daydreaming]], especially when the mind is free from its usual concerns.<ref>Claxton, Guy. "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why intelligence increases when you think less". Fourth Estate, London, 1997.</ref> For example, both J. K. Rowling (the creator of [[Harry Potter]])<ref>Smith, Sean. "J. K. Rowling: A Biography." Michael O'Mara Books Limited, 2001.</ref> and Frank Hornby (the inventor of [[Meccano]])<ref>Jack, Ian. "Before the Oil Ran Out: Britain 1977–87". Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, 1987.</ref> first had their ideas while on [[train]] journeys.

In contrast, the successful aerospace engineer [[Max Munk]] advocated "aimful thinking".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Engines of our Ingenuity No. 1990: Max Munk |url=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1990.htm |access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref>

==== Re-envisioning ====

To invent is to see anew. Inventors often envision a new idea, seeing it in their [[mind's eye]]. New ideas can arise when the conscious mind turns away from the subject or problem when the inventor's focus is on something else, or while relaxing or sleeping. A novel idea may come in a flash—a [[Eureka effect|Eureka]]! moment. 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".<ref>Einstein: A Life by Denis Brian p.159 (1996)</ref> Inventions can also be accidental, such as in the case of [[polytetrafluoroethylene]] (Teflon).

==== Insight ====
Insight can also be a vital element of invention. Such inventive insights may begin with questions, doubt or a [[Intuition (knowledge)|hunch]]. It may begin by recognizing that something unusual or accidental may be useful or that it could open 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—an invention that won the Nobel Prize in 2000 and has led to innovative lighting, display screens, wallpaper and much more (see [[conductive polymer]], and [[organic light-emitting diode]] or [[OLED]]).<ref>Nobelprize.org, [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2000/public.html ''The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2000''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019144626/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2000/public.html |date=October 19, 2011 }}</ref>

==== Exploration ====
[[File:Photographing Sound in 1884. A rare photograph taken at Volta Laboratory by J. Harris Rogers, a friend of Bell and Tainter (Smithsonian photo 44312-E) i009.jpg|thumb|300px|A rare 1884 photo showing the experimental recording of voice patterns by a photographic process at the [[Volta Laboratory and Bureau|Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory]] in Washington, D.C. Many of their experimental designs panned out in failure.]]
[[File:Eric Magnus Tigerstedt.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Eric M. C. Tigerstedt]] (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of [[sound film|sound-on-film]] technology. Tigerstedt in 1915.]]
Invention is often an exploratory process with an uncertain or unknown outcome. There are failures as well as successes. Inspiration can start the process, but no matter how complete the initial idea, inventions typically must be developed.

==== Improvement ====
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 [[ecological]]ly friendly, or [[aesthetic]]ally different, lighter weight, more [[ergonomic]], structurally different, with new light or color properties, etc.

=== Implementation ===
[[Image:Arabic Numerals.svg|thumb|left|400px|[[Western Arabic numerals]] — an example of non-material inventions]]
[[Image:ZST Bratislava Petrzalka 3.jpg|thumb|Railways&nbsp;— probably the most important invention in [[land transport]] (railway station in [[Bratislava]], [[Slovakia]])]]
In [[economic theory]], inventions are one of the chief examples of "[[externality|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 are under-rewarded for their inventions, and systematic under-rewarding leads to under-investment in activities that lead to inventions. The [[patent]] system captures those [[externality|positive externalities]] for the inventor or other patent owner so that the economy as a whole invests an optimum amount of resources in the invention process.