Find and & Engineering Components

http://www.globalspec.com/
This website allows specification based search and contains components of all engineering branches and their description. You would have to create an ID and password to create an account which is easy.

http://www.mcmaster.com/
This website is mainly for buying mechanical engineering components. It's quite exhaustive, gives pictures, description and also price. If you are looking for anything in mechanical engineering, this is the place.

http://www.mouser.in
http://in.mouser.com
Another specification based search website backed by Warren Buffet, for all engineering components especially electronics. They have a warehouse in Bangalore which means that you can get components shipped from US in a week.

Invent in Step 1-2-3

We are given to understand by our education system/culture that only one in a million can invent. This is wrong. We are all born violent inventors. Praveen's three step method for invention is as below.

Step 1: Live as usual and problems would hunt for you
Step 2: When you face a problem, check if it has been solved or not. If already solved, copy/buy the solution.
Step 3: If not solved, get hooked and solve it. Finished.

Learn Yourself

National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning
www.nptel.in
This is run by government of India and has video lectures of professors from IITs/IISc on all engineering courses/subjects. It's free to download and you can buy low cost lecture DVDs from the contact information on the website. I've used it a lot.

List of OpenCourseWare programs on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCourseWare
https://www.coursera.org/
www.edx.org
www.howstuffworks.com
www.about.com

Google search tips:
Google, 'Topic, wikipedia', 'topic, tutorial', 'topic, how it works'
Googling, 'topic, filetyope:doc' would give you all the relevant contents published in .doc format. In the same way googling 'topic, filetype:ppt' and 'topic, filetype:pdf' would give you the relevant results in ppt and pdf formats.

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en

The Do It Yourself (DIY) websites allow you to fabricate a machine (eg: wind turbine/electric bicycle) by giving you step by step instructions, sometimes through video instructions.
http://en.howtopedia.org/
http://www.instructables.com/
http://www.doityourself.com/

Engineering formula and calculator websites:
Inventing is a 24/7 occupation and thus all the engineering equations must be available at the finger tip to fast forward the design iteration process. The below websites would allow you to make quick calculations by plugging in the numbers. Some of them also display all engineering equations of all branches.

http://www.calculatoredge.com/index.htm
www.efunda.com
www.engineeringtoolbox.com
http://www.engineersedge.com
http://www.matweb.com  (gives description of all materials)
Google ‘topic calculator’, example: ‘Heat transfer through pipe calculator’, to find the calculator that you are looking for.

Get Trained on 'You Can Invent'

Name of Workshop - You Can Invent

A) You Can Invent - 1 hour
This talk is inended to transform all the listeners to inventors using lots of date and logic.

B) Online Tools for Prototyping and Marketing Your Invention - 1 hour
This provides lots of ideas to save a lot of time and money while developing your invention. All the marketing methods mentioned are free. 

C) Technology Commercialization – From Invention to Venture - 2 hours. This provides a detailed walk through experience for an innovator through the entire process of technology commercialization. Invention entrepreneurship is the toughest form of entrepreneurship with a success rate of 2 in 1000, that's why it's important to know the entire process before you take the first step.  

D) Patenting Process in India.
Detailed explanation of patenting process in India. Subtopics:
1) Applying for a patent
2) What is patentable
3) What is not patentable
4) Different kinds of patents
5) Patenting costs in India and other countries
6) International patents
7) Patent statistics
8) Other useful information
9) Sample patent

E) Story Telling and Analysis -
Story telling and analysis - Invention of the pedal powered centrifugal pump - 2 hours
Story telling and analysis - Invention of Pedal Powered Water Lifting Machine - 2 hours
Story telling and analysis - Invention of Rectangular Beam Light - 2 hours
Story telling and analysis - Invention of Gravity Bridges - 2 hours

F) Live Invention Exercise - 2 hour, Real and live problems in day to day life and industry are mentioned and students are given an experience of the problems. Students are asked to solve them by providing them with hints till the best invention is reached. This is a fast motion walkthrough experience of a solution design evolving into a market launchable invention.

1. A problem of keeping the tea hot
2. A problem in dam safety
3. A problem in scraping coconut
4. A problem ship safety
5. A problem in tooth paste manufacturing

G) Engineering Components Room - 3 hours: Engineering components room at Coimbatore/Thrissur contains hundreds of engineering components from different branches of engineering. Students can see and experiment their functionalities.

Win Prizes, Raise Funds and Market Your Invention

http://campus.knowafest.com/collegefests.htm
Gives a list of all technology conferences conduction in engineering colleges in India. You can search based on dates/city/state/IIT/NIT etc. Most of them have prizes for most innovative projects. You can also get a lot of free publicity by exhibiting in those engineering project exhibitions.

http://www.i4c.co.in/
This is sponsored by Confederation of India Industry, AICTE and DST.

www.makerfaire.com
www.makerfest.com
http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/  (first prize $45,000), sponsored by James Dyson - Inventor of Vacuum Cleaner
Lemelson - MIT Prize, $500,000, www.lemelson.mit.edu/awards/lemelson-mit-prize
Launch, UC-Berkeley  Start up competition , $60,000, www.launch.berkeley.edu
www.xprize.org , $1000,000 - $10,000,000

Business Plan format for inventions: To raise funds from Angels/Venture Capitalists, you would have to write a business plan summary preferably in 2 pages and not exceeding 3 pages. You would have to write a paragraph or two under the following topics. Angels are rich investors who invest on new technologies. Venture Capitalists are institutional investors who take a little bit of risk while investing, although they normally shy away from investing in inventions.

1) Business opportunity, 2) Technology Description and development status, 3) Relevant market size, 4)The customer,  5) Amount of financing needed, 6) Commercialization/Marketing strategy, 7) Profile of the inventor/team. Make sure that you provide a picture/video of your invention in your business plan summary and provide.  An example can be seen below.

List of Angels in India
www.indianangelnetwork.com

List of Venture Capitalists in India
www.startbizindia.in/venture_capital_firms.php#15
www.techaloo.com/list-of-venture-capital-in-india/

Patenting and Other Advice for Inventors

Website of the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks
www.ipindia.nic.in

India Patent Search
www.ipindiaonline.gov.in/patentsearch/search/index.aspx

US Patent office
www.uspto.gov/

Patent Search from US Patent Office
www.uspto.gov/sitesearch.jsp

Google Patent Search
www.google.com/patents

Amazing Inventors

Amazing Indian origin Inventors

Jagadish Chandra Bose - inventor of Radio
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose

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Amar Gopal Bose (1929-2013), inventor of high quality speakers and Electromagnetic shock absorber, held 24+ patents. Inducted to US Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008. Best Professor at MIT for several years. Founder of Bose Corporation.

Wikipedia link on Amar Bose
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_Bose

Video biography on NDTV
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4KHHcCo3lw

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Dr Rangaswamy Srinivasan, inventor of Lasik Eye Surgery, Laser Skin treatment & Laser micro-machining. Holds 21 patents. Awarded National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama in 2012. Inducted into the US 'Inventor Hall' of Fame in 2002

Wikipedia link on Rangaswamy Srinivasan
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangaswamy_Srinivasan

Video interview with Rangaswamy Srinivasan
www.www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJueLVTqnUs

Interview with Rangaswamy Srinivasan on Firstpost.com
www.firstpost.com/world/indian-american-lasik-pioneer-wins-top-inventor-award-from-obama-569040.html

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Dr. C Kumar N Patel - Inventor of Carbon Dioxide laser, holds 36 patents, received National Medal of Science from Bill Clinton in 1996.

Wikipedia link on Kumar N Patel
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Kumar_N._Patel

Video interview of Dr. C Kumar N Patel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v43P-SY0eU

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Narinder Singh Kapany - inventor of Optical Fibre, owns 100+ patents
Wikipedia link on Narinder Singh Kapany

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narinder_Singh_Kapan

How India missed another Nobel Prize, Rediff article
www.news.rediff.com/report/2009/oct/08/how-india-missed-another-nobel-prize.htm

Interview with Narinder Singh Kapany
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0KMesVVwwY

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Dr Jayant Baliga, Inventor of Insulted Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), saved the world $15 trillion, Hold 130 patents. Professor at North Carolina State University.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._Jayant_Baliga

Faculty profile at North Carolina State University
www.ece.ncsu.edu/people/bjbaliga

Article about Dr Jayant Baliga on IBN Live
ibnlive.in.com/news/jayant-baligas-invention-is-a-power-saver/234168-55.html

5 minute video biography of Dr Jayant Baliga
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hks2RuIA2do

Dr Jayant recieving National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvZwf6bEHtY

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Co-inventor of USB (Pen Drive)

Ajay Bhatt - Co-inventor of USB (Pen drive), owns 31 patents, Chief Client Platform Architect at Intel Corp
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajay_Bhatt

Intel commercial on Ajay bhatt
www.www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-8GVi2Fdi4

Ajay Bhatt facebook page
www.facebook.com/usbcoinventor

Ajay Bhatt video self introduction
http://vimeo.com/84010923

20 minute audio interview of Ajay Bhatt
http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/3871918.htm

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Dr Arun Netravali, Co-inventor of Digitial Video & HDTV. Holds 70 patents. Won Padma Bhushan from Government of India and National Medal of Technology from President George W Bush.

Wikipedia article on Dr Arun Netravali
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arun_Netravali

Biography of Dr Arun Netravali
www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/dr-arun-netravali.html

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Dr Anita Goel, inventor of Gene-RADAR (putting a medical lab in your laptop). Hold 30 patents. Won MIT Technology innovator award and X Prize 2013. She is below 40.

Youtube video on how Gene-RADAR works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFFkrckusEw

Dr Anita Goel's powerful 3 minutes presentation on what Gene-RADAR is.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFPo4pjT40k

Forbes article on Dr Anita Goel, Gene-Radar
www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2014/10/09/little-things-do-make-a-big-difference-globalizing-personal-health

Wikipedia link on Anita Goel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Goel

Biography of Dr Anita Goel on her company website
http://www.nanobiosym.com/our-team.html

TEDx Amsterdam interview of Anita Goel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CXTlv6QZUM

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Gurtej Sandhu - Many inventions in memory chip manufacturing, holds 1100+ patents, Director - Micron Technology

Dr. Gurtej S. Sandhu’s achievements have helped enable continuation of Moore’s law scaling of integrated circuit (IC) chips and resulted in high-performance and low-cost memory products. His inventions helped provide low cost non-volatile NAND FLASH memory, which enabled a host of new devices (such as smart phones) currently used around the world.  His work on scaling of DRAM memory chips helped grow computing power of servers for cloud computing.   Several of his inventions in general semiconductors technology are widely used in IC chip manufacturing around the world.

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurtej_Sandhu

18 Indian Minds Who Are Doing Cutting Edge Work

http://forbesindia.com/article/innovation-special/18-indian-minds-who-are-doing-cutting-edge-work/32312/1#ixzz3JcLYCTU5

Wikipedia link on leading Indian Americans in Science and Technology
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_Americans#Science_and_technology

National Inventors Hall of Fame, US
www.invent.org/

List of National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Inventors_Hall_of_Fame_inductees

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Support us

Without spending money
1) Sharing www.youcaninvent.org on your facebook page and all other groups/pages that promotes innovation.
2) By adding all your friends to 'World of Inventions' close group in facebook and promoting the group on your facebook page and all other groups/pages that promote innovation.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/262520067125559/

By spending money
1) To make a donation email us or call us with your contact information at vettiyat@yahoo.com with subject line 'Donation for You Can Invent'.
2) You can enrol in the 'You Can Invent' workshop charged at Rs500/hour per head for engineering students.
3) By inviting the founder of this movement, Mr Praveen Vettiyattil for talk on 'You Can Invent'/other topics at your institution. I will also help set up an inventor's club and an engineering components room at your college/school.