Hermann Reiche’s Contribution to the World

Q: How does an elephant hide in a cherry tree?
A: It paints its toenails red. Duh.

Q: How does the elephant get up in the tree to begin with?
A: Go ask Hermann Reiche. Doi.

“In 1891, Hermann Reiche patented a platform “to enable an elephant to climb up a tree.”

I bet he made tens of dollars with this patent, tree branch butts mortised and lag-bolted into a tree stump. Wish I’d thought of it first. What a guy.

[Drawing and caption from Futility Closet. Related post here.]

3 Responses to “Hermann Reiche’s Contribution to the World”

Alpaca the Awesome Says:
Thursday, 20 September 2007 at 3:58 PM | Reply
Best.Patent.Ever.
Alex Says:
Friday, 21 September 2007 at 11:11 PM | Reply
Stupid stupid stupid! It’ll be chaos when elephants start falling out of trees on to people.
Bunk Says:
Saturday, 22 September 2007 at 2:10 AM | Reply
Alex— It’ll be cool. I have a patent on a vierendeel-truss umbrella that’ll be in hot demand… after a coupla people eat it when elephants drop in on them. Looking for investors. You in?