December 6 is the anniversary of the completion of the Washington Monument. On December 6, 1884, in workers place a nine-inch, 100 ounce, aluminum pyramid inscribed “Laus Deo” (“praise be to God”), on top of the white marble obelisk, completing the monument to the country’s founding father and first president, George Washington.

Why aluminum? Because at the time aluminum was considered a precious metal, with a price comparable to silver ($1 per ounce vs, $1.18 per ounce for silver). The process of extracting aluminum was difficult and expensive. An acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln, William Frishmuth, who patented an improvement to the process on August 7, 1883 (U.S. Patent No. 282622) was commissioned to provide the aluminum and cast the pyramid. The completed pyramid was even displayed at Tiffany’s prior to its installation (see above).

Unfortunately for Frishmuth, On April 2, 1889, Charles Martin Hall patented (U.S. Patent No. 400,666) a much easier and less expensive method for the production of aluminum, which brought the metal into wide commercial use. Hall’s patent interfered with that of Paul Heroult who independently developed the same process at almost the same time. Hall was able to prove priority, and received the patent instead of Heroult.

In 1888 Hall and others founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Company now known as the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). By 1914 the cost of aluminum had dropped to 18 cents a pound, and eventually become the stuff of screen doors and soda cans, rather than monuments.

Another inventor Karl Joseph Bayer, an Austrian chemist, developed another process for obtaining aluminum from bauxite about the same time. Hall’s and Bayer’s methods are still used today to produce virtually all of the world’s aluminum.

In a sad post script and reminder that the march of technology can be disruptive, Frishmuth, having lost his monopoly on the production of aluminum, killed himself in his Philadelphia apartment in 1893.

Every year growing up a favorite aunt would send us a paper Advent calendar to help us count down the days until Christmas (and her holiday visit). When I eventually had a family of my own, we purchased a wooden box with 25 little doors, and had fun filling it with little toys and candies for our children to open each day.

As much fun as we have had with Advent calendars, I really shouldn’t have been surprised at the wide variety of forms that these calendars take in the U.S. patent collection, but I was and perhaps you will be too.

Cranberry is a stable of thanksgiving, and not surprisingly there are quite a few patents on processing and serving cranberries.

However one patent application that went nowhere was Patrick Kelleher’s application on CRAMONNAISE a pre-packaged combination of CRAnberries and MayONNAISE. Patrick abandoned his application after the Examiner found prior art recipes for his dubious creation.

Not surprisingly, more successful cranberry technology has come from Ocean Spray. In 1960, Ocean Spray received U.S. Patent No. 3142577 on a Process for Preparing Jellied Cranberry Sauce, followed in 1962 by U.S. Patent No. 3,023,108 for a Process for Preparing Cranberry Sauce, and in 1965, by U.S. Patent No. 3,360,379 on a Process for Preparing Whole Cranberry Sauce.

Of course its no use making cranberry sauce without a way to serve it. U.S. Patent No. D853200 covers a Cranberry Sauce Serving Container:

It’s the Fourth of July, 2022, and time to celebrate the holiday, as this blog always does, with patents.

We begin with the appropriately named Fourth of July Echinacea, the subject of PP26075, issued November 10, 2015:

Edward Driscol, Jr. was issued U.S. Patent No. 250507 on December 6, 1881, for a Toy Whip that used caps to make a cracking sound.

according to Mr. Driscol:

Inventor Louis Schuetz of Newark, New Jersey, was also concerned with entertaining the children on the Fourth of July, and received U.S.Patent No. 370,356 for his Toy on September 20, 1887.

Miniature cannons and fire crackers — what a blast.

Another inventor perhaps focus more on Fourth of July fun, rather than safety, was Edwin H Cady, of Gardner, Massachusetts. He received U.S. Patent No. 423215 on March 11, 1890, for a Toy Detonator:

Lastly, inventor William G. Spiegel, of New York, N.Y, invented a Time-Lock for Savings-Banks, which received U.S. Patent No. 474870 on May 17, 1892.

The bank was specifically designed to help children save for the Fourth of July — likely to fund the purchase of fireworks and perhaps Mr. Schuetz’ and Mr. Cady’s inventions:

Juneteenth is actually June 19th, but this most recent Federal Holiday, is celebrated this year on June 20th. Although the federal holiday is new, first recognized in 2021, it had been recognized ever since the June 19, 1865, event it commemorates.

Juneteenth has only be mentioned in two patents: U.S Patent No. 8,136,962, and 11,281,738. However, on the trademark side, things have been more active — particularly recently. There are 36 pending applications and issued registrations on marks including the term JUNETEENTH, 33 of which were filed in the last three years. Trademark filings remain a good indicator of what’s on peoples’ minds — and right now its Juneteenth.

There aren’t very many patents that mention Father’s Day, so the patent of the day is actually a patent application (US20160026974), which display an appropriate sentiment. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there, and thanks!

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14, the anniversary of the 1777 adoption of the first “American” flag by the Continental Congress. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; on August 3, 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress, although Flag Day is not an official federal holiday.

There are plenty of patents with patriotic themes, including flag displays, but only a handful expressly mention “flag day.” One of these is U.S. Patent No. 4,872,794 on a Flagstaff with Protective Housing, which provides a protective cover for a flag when it is not on display:

Happy Flag Day. Go celebrate its 245th birthday.

June 6, 2022, is the 78th anniversary of the D-Day landing at Normandy. Among the thousands of people who contributed to is success was inventor Andrew Higgins. Higgins was a boat builder and his low draft boat hull design — patented in 1939 (U.S. Patent No. 2,144,111) was well suited for landing on shallow beaches without damaging the propeller.

Higgins later design — for a landing craft with a deployable ramp (U.S. Patent No. 2,341,866) was adopted by the U.S. Navy. Higgins filed this patent application on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and in issued four months before the D-Day landing It has been estimated that at one point during WWII, 90% of the Navy’s fleet were boats designed by Higgins.

On D-Day, more than 4,000 Allied soldiers lost their lives, and many more were wound or went missing, However, many more owe their lives — and the success of the landing — to Louisiana boat builder and inventor, Andrew Higgins.