On December 31, 1833, Obed Hussey received U.S. Patent No. X7928

This was Hussey’s most notable invention was a reaping machine, but he also invented a steam plow, a machine for grinding out hooks and eyes, a mill for grinding corn and cobs, a husking machine, a machine for crushing sugar cane, a machine for making artificial ice, a candle-making machine, and other devices.

Although Hussey reaper was ultimately surpassed in the marketplace by the reaping machines of Cyrus McCormick, patented less than a year later on June 21, 1834 (U.S. Patent No. X8277):

Hussey was the first person to make, patent, and sell such a machine in the United States. His machine was first in that it was first to be patented and had been worked in at least eight states before McCormick’s machine ever left Virginia. Hussey’s cutting mechanism became the standard in harvesting machinery.

On December 30, 1781, U.S. Patent No. X36 issued to William Pollard of Philadelphia on spinning cotton by water power:

In his June 29, 1790, Petition to the Patent Board, Pollard explained that he purchased fa model of Sir Richard Arkwright’s “machine for Roving and Spinning of Cotton” that had been brought to the United States at great risk and potentially heavy penalty. Pollard built a small scale from the model but it didn’t work. Pollard altered his model, perfecting his own machine, and invited the board’s inspection, so that they can see the “visible and material” differences between them, his own being able to work from twenty to twenty thousand spindles if adequate force is supplied.

His petition was successful, as noted above, and shortly after the issuance of his patent, Pollard wrote to Thomas Jefferson on June 26,1792:

Sir:

Having brought the Machine for spinning Cotton to perfection, which your board was pleased to grant me a Patent for; and having erected a small Mill which will shew in some measure to what extent it may be carried, and its usefullness in such a Country as ours, I shall be very hapy if you, Sir, Mr. Randolph and General Knox will honor me with a visit, I think it will please you because it promises to be very usefull, if you can spare any hour this Week and be pleased to let me know I will write to or call on the other Gentlemen, any other Gentlemen I shall be glad to see; I think it probable that our worthy President wou’d be pleased to see it if you, Sir, wou’d be pleased to mention it to him, I am very respectfully Sir your most obedt. Servant

Wm. Pollard

Pollard’s mill was not a commercial success, so much so that it may have held back the cotton industry in Philadelphia for many years.

On December 28, 1869, U.S. Patent No. 98304 issued to William F. Semple on Improved Chewing Gum.

Semple’s Chewing Gum contained rubber that not only formed an agreeable chewing gum, but also served as a dentifrice. It was never commercialized. The first commercially successful Chewing Gum was patented by Thomas Adams on February 14, 1871 (U.S. Patent No. 111798):

Chickly (chickle) a natural vegetable gum collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the genus Manilkara, including M. zapota, M. chicle, M. staminodella, and M. bidentata. This was the basis of the first commercially successful chewing gum.

Thomas Adams (May 4, 1818 – February 7, 1905) was a 19th-century American scientist and inventor considered to be a founder of the chewing gum industry. Adams worked as a secretary to former Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna, who chewed a natural gum called chicle. Adams first tried to formulate the gum into a rubber for making tires, and when that didn’t work, he turned the chicle into a chewing gum called New York Chewing Gum. His first product was a licorice flavored gum called Black Jack.

On December 23, 1856, Ralph Collier received U.S. Patent No. 16267 on an Egg Beater:

Less than three years later, on April 19, 1859, the Monroe brothers received U.S. Patent No. 23694 on a more recognizable (to modern users) egg beater:

On December 15, 1992, U.S. Patent No. D331654 issued to Marika Kesdekoglu on a Chocolate Candy in the Shape of Father Christmas,

Father Christmas is mentioned is just a few other U.S. Patents, including U.S. Patent No. 6,510,963 on a Novelty Dispenser:

U.S. Patent No. 6,461,219, on an Animated Display, which discloses a “wobbly snowman and wobbly Father Christmas”:

U.S. Patent No. D996,277 on a Father Christmas Holiday Light:

Father Christmas is mentioned in a total of 17 US patents, while Santa Claus is mentioned in at least 979 patents,

On December 14, 1852, Cullen Whipple received U.S. Patent No. 9477 on Mechanism for Pointing and Threading Screw-Blanks in the Same Machine:

Cullen Whipple was born September 4, 1801, in in Petersham, Worcester, Massachusetts. In October 1840 he was one of ten incorporators who formed The New England Screw Co. a capital of $20,000. Whipple, who had been in the employ of the Providence Screw Co., was a prolific inventor and made several important inventions related to screw making, including U.S. Patent No. 2754, issued August 18, 1842, on a Machine for Cutting the Threads of Wood-Screws (Reissued March 5, 1850, as RE165, and again on June 13, 1856, as RE371); U.S. Patent No. 3029, issued April 6, 1843, on a Machines for Turning or Shaving the Heads of Blanks for Wood Screws; U.S. Patent No. 3038, issued April 10, 1843, on a Machine for Remiving the Burrs from the Under Sides of the Heads of Wood-Screws; U.S. Patent No. 6148, dated December 7, 1952, on Improved Machinery for Making Wood-Screw (Reissued April 12, 1859 as RE687); U.S. Patent No. 9110, issued on July 6, 1852, on Screw-Threading Machinery; U.S. Patent 9191, issued August 10, 1852, on Machinery for Threading Wood-Screws; U.S. Patent No. 9460 dated December 7, 1852, (Reissued April 12, 1859, as RE686 and RE686), U.S. Patent No. 9669, issued April 12, 1853, on Improvement in Machinery for Shaving the Heads of Screw-Blanks; U.S. Patent No. 14,041, issued January 1, 1856, on an Improvement in Screw Machinery; U.S. Patent No. 15052, issued June 3, 1856 on Making Screws.

Whipple’s inventiveness was not confined to screw making, and he had a several patents in other fields.

On December 13. 1816, the first patent (Patent Number 2705A) for a floating dry dock was issued to John Adamson, of Boston, MA.

There are three principal types of drydocks: marine railways, graving docks (permanent in-ground drydocks), and floating drydocks (a floating structure that is partially submerged to allow a ship to enter then raised to allow the ship to be serviced on a dry surface). Adamsons was a floating dtrydockt

On March 2, 1831, Congress extended this patent an additional 14 years from December 12, 1830.

On December 12, 1899, George F. Grant, a dentist, received a U.S. Patent No. 638,920, on a golf tee:

The golf tee comprises a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg supporting the ball. Dr. Grant was a better inventor than a marketer, he never reaped the benefits of his invention.

A few weeks earlier, on November 21, 1899, received U.S. Patent No. D31878 on a Golf Tee, and while it would certainly hold a golf ball for striking with a club, it was nothing like modern golf tees:

A few months later, William Herrick received U.S. Patent No. 648956 on a Golf Tee more like Atherton Sewall’s:

It wasn’t until December 16, 1924, almost exactly 25 years after Grant’s patent, that another patent issued on the type of golf tee that wad imbedded in the ground:

U.S. Patent No. 1,522,544, issued January 13, 1925, shows a tee that would be recognizable by modern golfers:

U.S. Patent No. 1,542,505, issued five months later on June 16, 1925, shows a tee very close to the modern product:

Finally, William Lowell, a dentist like Grant, and an avid golfer, received U.S. Patent No. 1,670,627 for a “Golfing Tee” made of wood:

The gutta percha tip was dropped, and the shaft refined, but his “Reddy Tee” marked the era if the modern golf tee.