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Halloween 2024

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Halloween has spooky overtones, even in the USPTO. Take for instance U.S. Patent No. 727371 from 1903 on a Jack-O-Lantern Helmet:

Political correctness aside, who is going out with a candle on their head? U.S. Patent No. 838938 from 1907 on a Toy Lantern, also has trick-or-treaters carrying around a lit candle:

Hopefully, the Pyrotechnic Novelty of U.S. Patent No. 1,099,548, from 1914 is safer than it sounds:

Finally, in 1935 Irving Rollins brought some safety to Halloween with a Halloween lantern with a battery operated lamp (U.S. Patent No. 2,006,251):

December 24, 2024

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On December 24, 1912, U.S. Patent No. 1,048,056 issued to Irving Fisher on an Index or File:

Irving Fisher was an American economist, statistician, inventor, eugenicist and progressive social campaigner. Fisher was one of the first popularly known economists, but his reputation during his lifetime was irreparably harmed by his public statement, just nine days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, that the stock market had reached “a permanently high plateau”

December 10, 2024

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On December 19, 1968, U.S. Patent No. 3,415,512 issued on Apparatus Causing Artificial Snowfall:

The principal object of the invention is “to provide apparatus that assures a continuous movement of snow particles, repeatedly blowing them upwardly to a point where they are dispersed and will fall downwardly and thence return to a predetermined point without manual or mechanical assistance, for an indefinite period of time.”

Somewhat surprisingly, there is some prior art: U.S. Patent No. 3,147,175 issued September 1. 1964:

Inventors continued to refine the technology into the 1970’s, see U.S. Patent No. 4,028,830:

However, it was not until 1975 when someone thought to enclose the whole system, as shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,905,140.

U.S. Patent No. 4076234 continued the development of this important decorating technology:

Interest in turning the living room into a snowglobe continued into the ’90’s, as evidenced by U.S. Patent No. 4,962,922

and U.S. Patent No. 5,098,084:

December 1, 2024

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On December 1, 1936, U.S. Patent 2,062,755 issued to Frank F. Lyons and Ernest Brundin on a System of Water Culture:

Water culture, or hydroponics, involves growing plants without soil by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in an artificial environment. The earliest published work on growing plants without soil was Sylva Sylvarum (A Natural History) by Francis Bacon, published in 1627 a year after the author’s death. Hydroponics remained a popular topic of research ever since.

In 1929, William Frederick Gericke of the University of California at Berkeley began promoting that the principles of hydroponics crop production. Dr. Gericke had warmed the nutrient solution of his tanks with soil-heating cables, believing that warming the nutrient temperature would increase growth. This was impractically expensive, but Brundin co-inventor of the ‘755 patent, proposed heating the solution with a steam boiler, and mechanically pumping the warmed solution to the growing beds, as disclosed in the ‘755 patent.

Brundin continued to make improvements to hydroponics, and obtained at least one more patent U.S. Patent No. 2,249,197:

November 25, 2024

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On November 25, 1903, Clyde J. Coleman, received U.S. Patent No. 745,157 on a Means for Operating Motor Vehicles (an electric starter for an automobile engine starter):

Before the electric starter the engine had to be hand-cranked, However hand cranking frequently resulted in broken thumbs, and occassionally a broken wrist, dislocated shoulder, or worse. Furthermore increasing engine size was making hand cranking increasingly physically demanding.

A few years later, Charles F. Kettering and Henry M. Leland, of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), obtained U.S. Patent No. 1,150,523 on an improved design:

November 21, 2024, Update

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Yesterday’s post was about Isaac Van Bunschoten’s U.S. Patent No 11979 on a lamp that burns rosin oil. In today’s world of ubiquitous electricity we take lighting for granted, but not that long ago, safe, reliable lighting was hard to come by. Lamps were fueled by various oils which many of which were dangerously unreliable. The headstone below is a testament to that danger:

Isaac Van Bunschoten’s invention, as short-lived as it was, is all the more notable for providing safe and sufficient light, until the next inventor advanced the technology. Whether ground-breaking or incremental all inventors contribute to the progress of science and the useful arts.

November 21, 2024

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On November 21, 1854, Isaac Van Bunschoten received U.S. Patent No 11979 on a lamp that burns rosin oil:

He received a second patent, U.S. Patent No. 13378, sixteen months later:

Van Bunschoten Invented a modified Argand burner. While inventive and economical, the invention was shortly replaced by lamps that burned coal oil and kerosene. Van Bunschoten’s contribution is a reminder that inventors are integral to the process of technology, and the fact that their inventions are replaced by yet newer inventions does not diminish the importance of their contribution to the progress of science and the useful arts.

November 17, 2024

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On November 17, 1970, U.S. Patent No. 3541541 issued to Douglas Engelbart on an X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System (computer mouse):

Engelbart he first recorded his thoughts about something he initially called a “bug” in his personal notebook on November 14, 1963. He wrote that the “bug” would be “easier” and “more natural” to use. The earliest known written use of the term “mouse” in reference to a computer X-Y pointing device is in a July 1965 publication, “Computer-Aided Display Control”. The name is widely believed to be form the resemblance of the shape and size of the device resembling that of a mouse, with the cord resembling its tail. Of course, today’s wireless mice eliminate some of the resemblance.

November 16, 2024

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On November 16, 1841, U.S. Patent No. 2359 issued to Napoleon Guerin on an Improvement in Buoyant Dresses or Life-Preservers:

The patent explains that the invention consists of a jacket, waistcoat, or Coat composed of any kind of tissue in which is introduced a quantity of from eighteen to twenty quarts of rasped or grated cork. This was not the first U.S. patent on a life preserver, but it was the first patent on a life preserver made of cork, see U.S. Patent No. 679, 1595, and 1596.