On January 27, 1970, U.S. Patent No. 3,492,131 issued to James M. Schlatter on Peptide Sweetening Agents (aspartame):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved aspartame for use in certain foods in 1981, soft drinks in 1983, and as a general-purpose sweetener for foods and beverages in 1996. The European Union approved aspartame in 1994 as a food additive. It is currently approved for use in more than 100 countries.

Aspartame, like other artificial sweeteners, was discovered by accident when the researcher licked his fingers to separate some papers and noticed the sweet taste and investigated. Apparently to be successful in the artificial sweetener business, you have to be a little casual with personal hygiene, and a bit lax in laboratory safety procedures.

On January 25, 1799, Eliakim Spooner, received U.S. Patent Nos. X232 on a MACHINE FOR PLANTING CORN, BEANS, ETC, and X231 on a MACHINE FOR CUTTING CORN, BEANS, ETC. X232 was the first U.S. patent on a planter.

The records of these patents, issued before the Patent Office assigned them numbers, were destroyed in a patent office fire, so little is known beyond the titles. A little more is know about Eliakim: he was born April 7, 1740, in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a farmer. He served in the Revolutionary War as a private, Captain John Wheeler’s company, in Colonel Ephraim Doolittle’s regiment, and marched from Petersham on the Lexington alarm, serving 2 1/2 days. He married Bathsheba Warner on 28 July 1764, in Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and they had two sons Eliakim Spooner, Jr., who died young, and Alfred Spooner. Eliakim Spooner, Sr. died January 3, 1820, in Woodstock, Windsor, Vermont.

On January 24, 1950, U.S. Patent No. 2,495,429, issued on a Method of Treating Foodstuffs — the microwave oven:

As the story goes, one cay Spencer was standing in front of an active radar set when he noticed that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. Although others had noticed this effect before, Spencer was the first to look into it, eventually creating a microwave oven.

The first microwave ovens that hit the market in 1947 were large commercial oven. It was twenty years before residential versions appeared. The first microwave ovens were marketed by Amana, a division of Spencer’s employer, Raytheon, under the name “Radar Range,” a nod to their radar-based origins.

On January 8, 1935, U.S. Patent No. 1,987,441 issued to Professor Arthur Cobb Hardy on a spectrophotometer.

Professor Hardy’s spectrophotometer transformed how science and industry measured color. At a time when color evaluation was still largely subjective and manual, Hardy’s invention introduced an automated way to scan light across the visible spectrum and continuously record results.

Earlier spectrophotometers required operators to take individual readings at selected wavelengths—slow, error-prone work that limited practical use. Hardy’s patented design replaced this with a mechanically scanned system that produced a continuous spectral curve, making measurements faster, more accurate, and repeatable. For the first time, color could be expressed as reliable numerical data rather than human judgment.

The impact of Hardy’s spectrophotometer extended far beyond the laboratory. Industries such as textiles, printing, paints, photography, and lighting adopted the instrument to ensure color consistency across production runs. Equally important, the data it produced aligned with emerging international color standards, helping to establish a shared scientific and commercial language for color.

By turning perception into measurement, his spectrophotometer laid the groundwork for modern color science and directly influenced the electronic spectrophotometers used today.

On January 6, 1857, Samuel Wetherillll, received U.S. Patent No. 16,362 on a Method of Obaining Metallic Zinc From the 0res of Zinc:

Wetherill has been described as an “obscure, but important, American inventor.” Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University, Wetherill was a skilled chemist working for the New Jersey Zinc Company when he invented a novel process for extracting zinc oxide from ores. Previous processes for making zinc oxide use metallic zing, and Wetherill’s process saved the step of first making metallic zinc.

Rather than continuing to refine his process at New Jersey Zinc Company, Wetherill tried to sell his patented furnace to the company. Because he used their supplies and laboratory to develop his technique, the company refused, and Wetherill resigned to pursue his invention on his own, forming the Pennsylvania Lehigh and Zinc Company. At some point Wetherill began experimenting with the production of metallic zinc, with an eye toward going into business for himself, which resulted in his forced separation from the company.

This time Wetherill struck out on his own, forming the Wetherill Zinc Company, and continuing his work on producing metallic zinc. He successfully developed a furnace that produced quality metallic zinc, but the process was not commercially viable and later abandoned.

The outbreak of the Civil War caused great demand for zinc, and the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc company where Wetherill once worked thrived. Years later it was purchased by a group of investors, including two of Wetherill’s sons.

On January 5, 1904, U.S. Patent No. 748,626 issued to Lizzie J. Magie on a Game Board:

Lizzie’s game is eerily similar to C.B. Darrow’s Monopoly game, patented 31 years later (U.S. Patent No. 2,026,082):

One has to wonder what justified Darrow’s monopoly on Monopoly after Lizzie’s patent? A bunch of street names from Atlantic City, New Jersey?

On January 5, 1886, U.S. Patent No. 333,564, issued to William Stanley, Jr. on a System of Electric Lighting.

William Stanley Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 28, 1858. The ‘564 was one of 129 patents, mostly related to electrical lighting, he received during his career. Among other things he invented the first practical AC transformer and the first complete system of high voltage AC transmission including generators, transformers and high-voltage transmission lines.

In 1913, he also patented an all-steel vacuum bottle, and formed the Stanley Bottle Company. Yes, that Stanley Bottle Company. The original simple reusable water bottles that were a success among blue-collar workers and outdoorsmen, it was not until 2016, long after William passed, that the company launched it’s Quench line of tumblers that became so popular.

In another footnote of history, William’s son, Harold Stanley, went on to found the modern day financial firm of Morgan Stanley with J. P. Morgan’s grandson, Henry Sturgis Morgan.

On January 4, 1921, U.S. Patent No. D56,894 issued to Augustus H. Sell on an article of manufacture — a campaign button design for the Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge:

Augustus filed on July 16,1920, weeks after the June 12, 1920, nomination of Harding and Coolidge at the Republican Convention in Chicago, Illinois, and the patent issued on January 4, 2021, two months after their November 2, 1920, election (but two months before their March 4, 1921, inauguration). However, due to to Harding’s premature death in 1923, the Augustus’ design was useless for the 1924 election.

It is unclear whether Augustus; design was ever used. Campaign buttons from the era were much simpler in design: