On January 4, 1938, Luther Burbank received U.S. Patent No. 267 on a Rose:

Burbank’s work helped to prompt the passage of the 1930 Plant Patent Act four years after his death. The Act made it possible to patent new varieties of plants. In his testimony before Congress in support of the Act, Thomas Edison testified “This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks.” Plant Patents No. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 41, 65, 66, 235, 266, 267, 269, 290, 291, and 1041 all issued to Burband posthumously.

On January 3, 1888, U.S. Patent No. 375962 issued to Marvin C. Stone on an Artificial Straw:

This straw was said (by Marvin) to be an improvement over the artificial straw patented (No. 9633) in England on July 8, 1887. Marvin explained:

Marvin’s straw was a paper strip formed by wrapping it around a spindle and dippling it in paraffin to make it water-proof. A few years later, Marvin got a patent (U.S. Patent No. 5277736 issued October 16,1994) on a Method of Coating Paper Tubes, and two patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 585057 and 585058, issued June 22, 1897), on alternate configurations of artificial straws.

Ironically, artificial straws were created to replace natural straws, such as rye grass straws, and now we are looking for more natural alternatives to the artificial straws.

On January 2, 2001, U.S. Patent No. 6,168,531 issued to William Adamson and Donald Updyke, Jr. on a “Soup Bowl Attraction”:

As explained by the patent, the invention is a giant bowl with fog generators to make it appear like a steaming bowl of soup:

The Examiner was apparently not familiar with classic 1960’s television, because this “attraction” is strikingly similar to the soup bowl in which Beaver Cleaver got stuck in “In the Soup” (Season 4, Episode 32, of Leave it to Beaver (1961)):

The ‘531 patent was assigned to Sony Corporation and Hyper Entertainment Inc. One wonders what Sony had in mind for this technology.

Just a few days ago we posted about patents on chewing gum, so it is appropriate to note that on January 1, 1889, U.S. Patent No. 395515 issued on a Chewing Gum Locket:

On May 10, 1898, U.S. Patent No. 603949 issued to Charles Harding on a Receptacle for Chewing Gum:

On October 8, 1912, U.S. Patent No. 1,040,420 issued to Willaim Roop on a Receptacle for Chewing Gum:

It is interesting that gum storing was actually a thing in the late 19th century, as evidenced by this gum-storing locket from 1898, and not just the subject of “paper” patents:

There was interest in saving used chewing gum well into the 20th century. U.s. Patent No. 2,484,892 issued to Reva Keston on October 18, 1949, on a Chewed Gum Receptacle:

While the interest is saving chewed gum finally waned, on October 17, 1995, U.S. Patent No. 5,458,277 issued to Sandra Wyzykowski on a Personal Carrier for Partially Consumed Confections (lollipops):