[h/t L. Dez D.]
Tag: U.S. Patent
Seth Wheeler’s Contribution To The World: Toilet Paper Serration
P. K. Kunze’s Contribution To The World – A Vise With Oscillatable Cheeks
According to the U.S. Patent, the machine was described as a Device For Obtaining Intimate Contact With Engaging, Or Clamping Bodies Of Any Shape, or DFOICWEOCBOAS for easy. It contained 30 nested rotating jaws.
Application filed March 21, 1912.
Serial No. 685,288.
The invention purposes to effect by means of rotatable and oscillatable cheeks, an intimate contact, engagement with or clamping of bodies of any shape, the contact being effected at as many points as possible, Whereby owing to the reactions or the automatic adjustment to the position of equilibrium of all the cheeks, if the latter are symmetrically arranged, the pressure is uniformly distributed over all points of contact, while if the arrangement is unsymmetrical there is a greater pressure to one side.
Inventor Paulin Karl Kunze was a “subject of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, residing at Vienna.”
The term fractal was coined by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1973 and is defined as “never-ending pattern.” Jump to 34:00 for a silly but cool demonstration of the completed restoration.
[Found at BustedNuckles & the U.S. Patent Office. Images of Mantle & Co. vise found here and here.]
Glass’ & Reed’s Contribution to the World – Mr. Machine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Mr. Machine is a once popular children’s mechanical toy originally manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company in 1960. Mr. Machine was a robot-like mechanical man wearing a top hat. The body had a giant windup key at the back. When the toy was wound up it would “walk”, swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front; and after every few steps emit a mechanical “Ah!”, as if it were speaking. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm).
The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical “innards” through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.
Mr. Machine was one of Ideal’s most popular toys. The company reissued it in 1978, but with some alterations: it could no longer be taken apart (owing to the tendency of very young children to put small pieces in their mouths which could be accidentally swallowed or present a choking hazard), and instead of ringing a bell and making the “Ah” sound, it now whistled “This Old Man”.
This later version of Mr. Machine was brought back once more in the 1980s. In 2004, the Poof-Slinky Company remanufactured the original 1960 version (using the actual Ideal molds whenever possible), which made the original sounds and could be disassembled, and with the intention of being marketed to nostalgic adults as a collectible.
[U.S. Patent image found here. Unfortunately it’s only a single page, but it refers to related patents. Description and more found here.]
Charles Brace Darrow’s Contribution To The World: Monopoly
Darrow’s “Monopoly” made him a millionaire, but it wasn’t completely original. It was an adaptation of “The Landlord’s Game” patented over three decades earlier by Elizabeth J. Magie:
Elizabeth Phllips (nee Magie) renewed her patent in 1924.
[Found here.]
Ross Eugene Long’s Contribution to The World
On 26 March 2002 awesome happened. Ross Eugene Long III of Oakland California was awarded U.S. Patent 6360393. He invented the stick.
Abstract: An apparatus for use as a toy by an animal, for example a dog, to either fetch carry or chew includes a main section with at least one protrusion extending therefrom that resembles a branch in appearance. The toy is formed of any of a number of materials including rubber, plastic, or wood including wood composites and is solid. It is either rigid or flexible. A flavoring (scent) is added, if desired. The toy is adapted to float by including a material therein that is lighter than water or it is adapted to glow in the dark, as desired, by the addition of a fluorescent material that is either included in the material from which the toy is made or the flourescent material is applied thereto as a coating. The toy may be segmented (i.e., notched) so as to break off into smaller segments, as is useful for smaller animals or, alternatively, to extend the life of the toy. Various textured surfaces including camouflage colorings are anticipated as are straight or curved main sections. The toy may be formed of any desired material, as described, so as to be edible by the animal.
Not only did Eugene Long III invent the stick, he attached 20 claims to it based upon different materials and options that might be used to manufacture it. Pure brilliance, that.
[Full text of Patent here. Story discovered here. Additional info on the history of the Patent here. More awesome Contributions to The World here.]
Tacky Raccoons 