On August 16, 1898, Edwin Prescott received U.S. Patent No. 609,164 on a roller coaster with a loop-the-loop:

There are earlier patents on roller coasters without the loop-the-loop, including John G. Taylor’s 1872 U.S. Patent No. 128,674 on Improvement in Inclined Railways:

and LaMarcus A. Thompson’s 1885 U.S. Patent No. 310,966 on a Roller Coasting Structure:

Subsequently, in 1919, John A . Miller’s U.S. Patent No. 1,319,888 on a Pleasure Railway Structure introduced the idea of wheels below the track as well, to maintain the cars on the track:

By 1929, H. G. Traver’s U.S. Patent No. 1,713,793 on an Amusement Ride looks more like the modern roller coasters we are used to:

On August 15, 1835, C. H. Farnham received a patent on a Washing Machine, this patent issued just before the USPTO started numbering patents, so this patent was part of the infamous X-series of patents, and was retroactively numbered X8993.

There was an earlier patent, X-series patent granted March 3, 1797, to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire for “an improvement in washing clothes.”

On this day back in 1973, U.S. Patent No. 3,751,727 issued on a Space Suit. This suit was “designed for astronauts in the Apollo Space Program.”

This patent represents the successful solution of just a few of the thousands of technical problems that had to be solved to meet President Kennedy’s May 25, 1961, challenge that this nation “commit itself to achieving the goal, before his decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” Thousands of American s solved thousands of technical problems, only a few of which have been documented in the patent collection.

Alexander Graham Bell received U.S. Patent No. 174,465 on the telephone on March 7, 1876.

Surprisingly, it took the industry more than 13 years to come up with the pay telephone. On August 13, 1889, William Gray received U.S. Patent No. 408709 on a “Coined Controlled Apparatus for Telephones.” (These days telecommunication companies are much more adept at monetizing their technology).

The first pay phone was installed on the corner of Main Street and Central Row, in Hartford, Connecticut, Gray’s hometown, later that year.

On August 12, 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise (aka Orbiter Vehicle OV-101) made its first free flight, launched from a Boeing 747 carrier. The Enterprise glided on its own, and landed on a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert. This was a prototype built only for testing, and never equipped for space flight. The Enterprise was named for the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) from the TV series Star Trek.

The design of the space shuttle was based upon U.S. Patent No. 3,866,863 on a Space Vehicle

and U.S. Patent No.3,702,688 on a Space Shuttle Vehicle and System:

Our reality rarely matches our imagination, but the space shuttle Enterprise and carried forward the spirit of its namesake, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and its mission to boldly go where no one had gone before.

On this date in 1942, Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr (Hedy Kiesler Markey) and composer George Antheil received U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 on a Secret Communication System that employed a “frequency hopping, spread-spectrum communication system” that would make radio-guided torpedoes harder to detect and jam.

The pair donated their patent to the US Navy and never made and money from their invention, whose fundamental concept is the basis for wireless phones, Global Positioning Systems, and WiFi.

Although Hedy had little formal training, a keen mind and serendipitous encounter with George Antweil who had worked on synchronizing two player pianos, let to an ingenious solution to secure communication.

She was awarded the Pioneer Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1997, and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame along with her co-inventor George Antheil in 2014.

On August 10, 1982, George W. Lucas, Jr. Ralph McQuarrie, Joseph E. Johnston, and Stuart Freeborn, received U.S. Patent No. D265754 on a toy Figure (Yoda!):

On August 9, 1898, U,S, Patent No. 608,845 issued to Rudolf Diesel on an Internal Combustion Engine (the “Diesel Engine”):

Diesel engines are more efficient than, and thus an important replacement for, steam engines or gasoline engines. Unfortunately, Diesel was not able to enjoy the success of his invention. He disappeared on the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel disappeared from the SS Dresden as it sailed from Antwerp to London.

On August 7, 1990, Donald Bonasia received U.S. Patent No. D309695 on the Chop Stick Fork.

A little more than a year later on October 15, 1991, Frank J. Brincat received U.S. Patent No. 5,056,173 on a Combination Fork and Chopsticks.

Brincat’s utensil seems to be a significant improvement over Bonasia’s utensil. Combination eating utensils have been an active field of endeavor.

U.S. Patent No. 147,119, from February 3, 1874, on combined Knives, Forks, and Spoons, is perhaps the earliest example:

U.S. Patent No. D190198 from April 25, 1961, shows a more recent adaptation:

U.S. Patent No. 4,771,541 from September 20, 1988, discloses a combination fork and knife:

U.S. Patent No. 4,984,367 from January 15, 1991, discloses a combination utensil:

U.S. Patent No. D388,664, issued January 6, 1998, is the first patent literally on a “Spork”:

Other “Spork” patents include: D633344, D657625, D722836, D723341, D736039, D771,444, D778,120, D822,443, D858,214, D876907, D909,821, D910386, D979,350, and D1026571.