Introduction
A provisional patent application (PPA) is a 12-month placeholder that establishes a priority date for your invention. It is not examined by the USPTO and never becomes a patent on its own — but it gives you "patent pending" status and a year to develop your non-provisional application, attract investors, or license the invention.
For scalar EM and non-conventional energy device inventors, the provisional patent has a specific strategic value: it creates a dated record of what you built and when, which matters both for IP protection and for the replication record. This guide covers the filing process, what to include, common mistakes, and the unique IP challenges of energy devices.
What a Provisional Covers
A provisional application must include a written description of your invention sufficient for "a person skilled in the art" to understand and replicate it. There is no formal claim requirement for a provisional — claims are required in the non-provisional application you file within 12 months.
What you must include: A title identifying the invention, a description (the "specification") detailed enough to enable replication, at least one drawing or diagram, and the cover sheet (USPTO Form SB/16) with inventor information.
What you do not need: Patent claims, abstract, or formal patent attorney involvement (though it helps).
Filing fee: $320 standard, $160 small entity, $80 micro entity.
The Unique IP Challenges of Energy Devices
Utility requirement: The USPTO requires that claimed inventions be "useful." For energy devices claiming overunity (output > input), examiners will request a working model or experimental data demonstrating the utility. Strategic implication: do not claim COP > 1 in your provisional if you do not have airtight data. Describe what the device does, how it is built, and what measurements you have taken. Leave the theoretical interpretation flexible. You can amend claims in the non-provisional.
Prior art density: Bearden, Bedini, Tesla, Sweet, and dozens of other researchers have filed patents or published extensively. The prior art landscape is complex. Some ScalarForge devices have direct prior art (the Bedini monopole has several patents). Others occupy genuine white space. Know your prior art before you claim novelty.
Disclosure timing: US patent law (post-AIA 2013) gives you a 1-year grace period after public disclosure before filing. But international patents (PCT, European, etc.) require absolute novelty — any public disclosure before filing kills foreign rights. If you have published your build, posted to forums, or sold anything, you may have already started the 1-year clock on US filing and eliminated international rights.
Writing the Specification
The specification is the most important document. It must be detailed enough that someone skilled in the art can build and operate your device without undue experimentation. For an energy device, this means: Complete bill of materials with functional specifications, circuit diagrams or mechanical drawings, assembly sequence, operating parameters (voltage, current, frequency, duty cycle), conditioning process if one exists, measurement protocol, and your actual measured data.
Best mode: You must disclose the best version of your invention you know of at filing time. Deliberately withholding the best mode is grounds for invalidation — and in the scalar EM community, many failed replications trace back to inventors who withheld the critical parameters in exactly this way.
Drawings
USPTO provisional drawings do not need to meet the formal requirements for non-provisional drawings. Clear, labeled diagrams are sufficient. For electrical devices: Full schematic with component values, physical layout diagram showing component placement, measurement setup diagram showing where meters are placed relative to the circuit.
Do not hand-draw if you can avoid it. Any free schematic tool (KiCad, EasyEDA, even draw.io) produces cleaner results. Label every component and every wire.
Filing
File online at Patent Center (patentcenter.uspto.gov). Create a USPTO account if you do not have one (free). File under "Provisional Applications."
After filing, you will receive an application number and a filing date confirmation. Save this. Your priority date is established as of this filing date, not when the USPTO processes the paperwork.
You now have exactly 12 months to file a non-provisional application claiming priority to this provisional. Set a calendar reminder for 11 months out — 12 months is the hard deadline, 11 months is when you need a patent attorney if you do not have one yet.
After Filing: The 12-Month Clock
Month 1–3: Refine the device. Build replication 2 and 3. Document measurement results. If you cannot replicate your own result, the patent is not ready.
Month 4–6: Engage a patent attorney if budget allows. The non-provisional application requires formal claim drafting — claims are a specialized skill. A good patent attorney for an electrical device costs $4,000–$10,000 for the non-provisional including filing fees.
Month 7–9: Draft claims. Your claims define the scope of your patent. Too narrow: competitors design around easily. Too broad: the examiner rejects them over prior art. This is where attorney expertise matters most.
Month 10–11: File non-provisional. Do not miss this deadline — provisional applications cannot be extended and there is no grace period.
Using AI to Draft Your Specification
The specification and claims are where most inventors struggle. ScalarForge's AI Patent Drafter generates a complete provisional specification from your device description — including background, summary, detailed description, and patent claims formatted for USPTO submission.
The AI Patent Drafter is available to Researcher and Inventor Pro members. It does not replace an attorney's review, but it produces a document that gives an attorney far less to do (which means lower attorney fees) and ensures you have hit all the required sections.