It's a given

The invention of a product like the gait belt is a given. The purpose is clear: to better assist a person with a physical disability to walk, transfer to a seat, or to be lifted. They come standard at your local hospital, rehab facilities, and nursing facilities right next to the wheelchairs. It’s a given because the need has always been there, and the technology has existed since a thriving Roman Empire. So, why was such an obvious design patented only 10 years ago?

It’s naïve to think that no person has used a belt, straps, or rope to help someone else sit in a chair until 2013.

No, gait belts didn’t exist because no one bothered to make a specific, simple tool for the job until 10 years ago. No one bothered to research the makeshift methods, improve, and then standardize helping people to get around. Many millions of people who creatively helped someone to bed could have sold their idea. I’m sure it even crossed their minds.

There’s a lesson here that the makeshift solutions set a good precedent for a good design. The better lesson is that a good idea is a dime, you have to be bothered to sell it for a mint.