"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
They say they have a patent pending for that... wonder if it's true.
What are the patent regulations, does the patented invention actually
have to work, or can any crazy thing be patented?

In theory, a patented invention must be "useful", "novel", and
"non-obvious". Most would say that "useful" requires that it actually
work, at least to some extent. It used to be the case, long ago, that
you had to actually build at least a working model and be able to
demonstrate that the device worked.

They say one of the simplest patents ever granted was for the number 1.65.
It was granted to Phillip H. Smith as the optimum diameter ratio for a
coaxial transmission line.

Not often I get to use that bit of trivia.

dtk