Updates
SNOQUALMIE STOVE WORKS, LLC
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Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Snoqualmie Stoves Up Date
We've been very hesitant to divulge information on our stove. Some of you will remember that just prior to the 2007 HPBA show in Reno,
we applied for a patent on our "Combustion Capsule." (utility patent) At the same time, we applied for a patent on the "Exterior Design"
(design patent) of our stove. However, on the advice of counsel, we did not use our especially designed pellet hopper at the Reno show,
because we had not applied for the patent on its design features.
According to our patent attorney, the invention must not have been made known to others before the day on which the patent
application is filed. Any information concerning the invention, which has been described in earlier patents, journals or other
literature (applies world-wide), will prevent the granting of a patent. The same applies if the invention has been shown at an
exhibition or during a lecture, described in a newspaper, or offered for sale.
Because the hopper is an integral part of the stove, we have not been able to show you in detail, the complete stove.
The good news on that subject is that we are finally within days of filing the patent application for our "Pellet Hopper". My intention is to
time the filing of our hopper patent application to coincide with the start of safety certification testing. Our target date is Sept 1, 2008.
Because we are filing a PCT patent application, which covers 110 countries worldwide, the patent application process has been, and is
very time consuming.
The other day, a friend of mine asked about a commercial on television where the Dyson Vacuum Cleaner inventor claimed that he tried
4,000 different variations of his vacuum before he got it right. That made me feel a lot better; I thought I was the only one who failed so
many times before I got it right.
Now that it is right, I can finally file the patent application and we can move on to safety testing.
We started an in-house testing program to better assure our success during testing at Omni Testing Laboratories, in Portland, Oregon.
Our first test was for performance at high altitude. This not a required test for certification, but after receiving an email from a prospective
customer in Denver, Colorado, who asked how our stove burns at 6,000 feet, I had to wonder just what effect altitude would have on the
stove's performance. Logically, there would be no problem burning at 6000 feet but I wanted to be sure, so we loaded up our truck and
on a sunny Sunday afternoon, we drove to the Alpental Ski Area at the 3000 foot level of Snoqualmie Pass. It seemed appropriate to
begin our testing program at Alpental, as Alpental is the official name we've given for the production stove, formerly named the SNQ-1.
The Alpental burned beautifully at 3000 feet and I expect it will do as well at 6000 feet, or higher. In some installations at 6000 feet or
more, a 4" rather than a 3" exhaust pipe may be needed, but other than that, there should be no problems in Denver. I have included a
photo of the location of our burn test.
Geoffrey Johnson
Snoqualmie Stoves R&D
