Ask HN: How does an individual file a patent? How much would it cost?

If you haven't already done so then you might read "Patent It Yourself Your Step-by-Step Guide to Filing at the U.S. Patent Office" by David Pressman, published by Nolo. There is a vast amount of expertise in that book. There are also "How to Make Patent Drawings" and "Inventor's Cookbook" to go along with that, also from Nolo, but I have not read those.

https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/patent-process...

People file independently all the time. Patent lawyers also exist if you want help. Fees can be anywhere from under $100 for a provisional application, to a few thousand if you hire some help with the filing and drawings.

We did ours semi-independently, where we wrote the patent and then paid a patent attorney to look it over and file it. This cost about £5000 all the way to and including the PCT stage.