Take the 2-minute tour ×  I want to make a one handed shovel for
my college project. I have thought of substantial modifications
from what has been described here. The idea has already been
described in patent US646472.  Will I be infringing any rights?
share|improve this question add comment  3 Answers  The broad
idea of a "one-handed shovel" is not preempted by the patent.
The patent only protects what is described in the claims.  Also,
it appears you mis-typed the patent number,as that patent has
nothing to do with a one-handed shovel, and would have expired
about 100 years ago.  In general, though, just because a use is
"non-commercial" is not a great defense to infringement.
share|improve this answer add comment  Spoons are one-handed
shovels. And off-patent. Whether you would be infringing ANY in-
force patents with something more complicated, like 6464272, is
a complicated question that might take many hours to answer, and
then the answer would never be definitive. That's life. But
unless you sell a m