Ideas i had and 2-3 years later some company patented it
Don't get me wrong, i'm a happy owner of two patents that paid themselfs, but sometimes this sucks. Yeah, i'm pathetic.Air Assisted Paintgun Trigger
I had this idea around 2000. I played with the electro-pneumatic version until 2004, when a guy i know convinced me to built a prototype. He showed it around to some major American Paintball Companies, and someone got the idea. Two month later someone patented it of course. About the same time we patented it in germany. (Wew, at least one patent owned by me)
Speed Feed
I posted my Idea on the Automag Forums around 2003. Some people built it and liked it. Someone had the same idea later, the so called "Speed Feed" is selling like cake. And is now patented, of course.
IR Barrel
Well... Three month after i put my experiment online an American Company named Predator Games patented a barrel like the one i built. Oddly enough, it seems they never sold a single one.Plugin Mini-PC kiosk module for some Plasma screens models with automatic content distribution system
I built the Hardware+Sofware for the company i worked for, and they showed them to the big Company that produced the Plasma screens who was very interested. I tried to convince our boss multiple times to patent it, but he sent a prototype to the big company. We got the prototype back some days later, and i found signs someone at the german headquaters had opened the enclosure. Two month later the big company patented it.To be continued. Probably.