I plan on using what I learn here and the locksmith course I am taking with Foley to further enhance my security consulting practice which I use to do full time, which I now do on the side. My full time work now is Internet marketing and you can bet your sweet google this is marketable in at least a few ways. Natrually I can't give away all my ideas
I think you could make more money doing your own marketing rather then submitting designs to others. Just find a local machine shop in your area and discuss what they could do for you. Don't pick the largest shops, pick the smaller shops. If a punch can be made for each pick you can produce your own and sell them yourself.
The only problem I see with submitting designs to others is how do you know they will reject them, and then later use them with out giving you credit, or they could say nice idea, but we already have some thing like that in the works! Just doesn't seem like a good approach. If you have a really good idea, you need to execute it yourself first, and then may be offer the design to some one else.