Cheaper than a heimer tester

Is it possible to build one of these? I don't need tenths accuracy, just 0.001". Seems like that would be tricky with the probe.
Robert
 
If that's a knock off they went all the way as far as copying. Down to printing "Made in Germany" on the dial face. Unfortunately it does happen. One case I'm aware of is Golden Goose drill chucks. Back in the late 70's and early 80's a company out of Taiwan made a variety of keyed drill chucks. They weren't quite as good as the vintage Jacobs chucks, but sold at a fraction of the price.

As things heated up between the mainland and the Taiwanese government factories on the mainland started copying these chucks. They looked almost identical, but the materials and workmanship were far inferior. People purchasing the chucks were believing they were purchasing them from the original manufacturer. They started failing in large numbers and being returned to the original manufacturer. The company tried to explain that they were not originals, but rather poor copies. In the end they stopped making keyed chucks to keep their reputation intact. Copies of the original Golden Goose keyed drill chucks are still being made on the mainland. They are far from the original quality, but they're about the only game in that area these days. They've driven the competition out of the market and are offering a lower quality product at prices now at or above what the originals sold for.
 
A patent was issued to Fritz Haimer in 1994 and expired in 2012. The idea behind patents is that the inventor discloses to the public the details of his invention for their use in exchange for an exclusive right to manufacture for a limited time. To that end, someone making a copy of a patented product with the idea of making it cheaper or better is not "scummy". edit: Once the patent has expired.

If an inventor wishes to hold on to an innovative idea forever, he/she should retain it as a trade secret. Rather hard to do in this case but we did it with a manufacturing process for a product we made. We felt that no one could deduce our methods by any examination of the product.
 
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A patent was issued to Fritz Haimer in 1994 and expired in 2012. The idea behind patents is that the inven5tor discloses to the public the details of his invention for their use in exchange for an exclusive right to manufacture for a limited time. To that end, someone making a copy of a patented product with the idea of making it cheaper or better is not "scummy".

If an inventor wishes to hold on to an innovative idea forever, he/she should retain it as a trade secret. Rather hard to do in this case but we did it with a manufacturing process for a product we made. We felt that no one could deduce our methods by any examination of the product.


Agreed. The company I worked for originally patented all of it's processing and packaging machinery. Over time competitors made just enough of the machines to accomplish the same processes, but avoid infringing on the patents. In about 1980 they stopped patenting the entire machines. They did however patent some critical components. The remainder of the machines were held as trade secrets.

No vendors, contractors, sales people or any other outside personnel were allowed to see the machinery or the prints without signing a non disclosure statement. All employees were also required to sign a non disclosure statement. We did have one incident where a disgruntled employee copied prints of one of the more sophisticated machines and tried to sell them to a competitor. It didn't turn out well for him. He was fired, lost all his pension and retirement benefits, was fined, and faced the possibility of jail time should he make another attempt at selling company secrets.
 
 
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