If you have a new idea and want to protect it with a patent the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requires that you submit an application. A United States Patent Application is a complex legal document. It is best practice to hire a specially licensed attorney (Patent Attorney) or a Patent Agent (also specially licensed) to help with drafting and filing your application. However, if you can't hire help then you can put together an application on your own - with a lot of time and hard work.
In fact, the USPTO provides FREE assistance to inventors who want to go it alone. Though patent attorneys and agents must be an engineer or scientist, that is not the case for an inventor. Any inventor can apply for a patent on an invention using the USPTO's online filing system.
The USPTO offers a toll free number for inventors to call with basic questions and the USPTO website offers a myriad of videos and papers explaining the patent process. Too, there is a special project that offers do it yourself inventors a step by step guide for making it through the process.
A link to the United States Patent and Trademark Office's assistance program is available by emailing us at dan@zlawpro.com. Put USPTO Pro-se in the subject line. It is also available by navigating to this web address: https://tinyurl.com/ycfnw539.
Good luck!