On July 18, 1939, John Tjaarda received U.S. Patent No. D115826 on a Combination Kitchen Unit:

Johan Tjaarda was born in the Netherlands on February 4, 1897. He studied aircraft design in the United Kingdom, and then became a pilot in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Tjaarda emigrated to the United States in 1923, changed his name to John, and he started building custom car bodies. He worked for coachbuilder Locke and Company as a design engineer, then for the Art and Color Division of General Motors with well-known designer Harley Earl. He joined the Briggs Manufacturing Company in 1932 where he continued to work on cars, eventually becoming their chief designer. where he became chief designer over time.

In 1935 Tjaarda designed a “Kitchen of Tomorrow” — a futuristic metal kitchen that featured a circular kitchen island. He also designed the kitchen unit that is the subject of today’s patent of the day. Briggs metal kitchen units and kitchen cabinets were popular for many years.

As a result of a patent dispute, Tjaarda abruptly left Briggs in 1941, and years of legal battles followed. In 1942 he set up his own design studio: John Tjaarda and Associates where he continued as an automotive and industrial designer, trying to design, finance and manufacture his own automobile, the Cortez. In 1961, he joined rocket manufacturer Aerojet General as a technical advisor, but died a year later on March 20, 1962.

On July 17, 1951, H. Joseph Gerber received U.S. Patent No. 2,561,020 on an Instrument for Measuring, Interpolating and the Like:

This device was dubbed the most important engineering tool next to the slide rule. Its inventor’s story is remarkable. Gerber was born April 17, 1924 in Vienna, Austria, and early on showed his technical aptitude building his own radio when he was eight. Following Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938 he was imprisoned in a Nazi labor camp, but eventually released. In 1940 he and his mother fled to the United States, eventually settling near Hartford, Connecticut.

In Hartford, Gerber completed high school in just two years while simultaneously learning English and working to support the family. He matriculated to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on a scholarship, and graduated two and one-half years later with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. During his junior year he invented the Gerber Variable Scale, inspired by the elastic waistband of the pajamas his father gave him before he and his mother emigrated.

With a $3,000 investment, Gerber patented his Variable Scale and founded the Gerber Scientific Instrument Company in Hartford, Connecticut, to produce and market the device. He went on to obtain more than 650 patents in his lifetime. His life was the subject of the 1950 Broadway play Young Man in a Hurry, written by Morton Wishengrad and starring Cornel Wilde. In 1953, Gerber was one of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Ten Most Outstanding Young Men in America.”

Of his immigrant experience, Gerber once observed that he “learned that in USA it was true you could accomplish things if you were willing to work because then people, recognizing not only your abilities but your earnestness, will give you of themselves beyond belief to help you.”

He died August 8, 1996. His son David chronicled his life in The Inventor’s Dilemma: The Remarkable Life of H. Joseph Gerber. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12350-0.

On July 16, 1963, Paul Winchell received U.S. Patent No. 3,097,366 on an Artificial Heart, which he developed with the assistance of Henry Heimlich (inventor of the Heimlich maneuver). A similar artificial heart was developed at The University of Utah School of Medicine, but Winchell’s patent was cited as prior art. Winchell eventually donated his heart patent to the university. It is unclear whether Winchell’s design had any impact on Robert Jarvik design of the Jarvik-7. Heimlich admitted having seen the patent, but denied that any element of Winchell’s design was used. However, the basic principles used in Winchell’s heart and Jarvik’s heart are exactly the same.

Paul was a well know actor and ventriloquist, best-known for his television appearances wih ventriloquist dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff, including on Winchell’s own show, Winchell Mahoney Time. He was lesser known as inventor, despite earning more than 30 patents, including 3,042,086 on a DEVICE FOR FILLING BLOOD CONTANERS; 3,063,235 on a WARNING INDICATOR FOR INTERRUPTED POWER SUPPLY FOR FREEZERS; 3,063,563 on a TANDEM SIFTER FOR FLOUR AND OTHER PRODUCTS; 3,071,113 on a RETRACTABLE FOUNTAIN PEN; 3,077,177 WARNING INDICATORS FOR INTERIRUPTED POWER SUPPLY OF FREEZERS; 3,079,160 in GUIDEWAY SELECTOR FOR MULTI-TRACK RECORDS; 3,110,501 on a LAMINATED DISC PAD PHONOGRAPH RECORDS; 3,110,424 on a POURING EXPEDITER FOR SUGAR, SALT, AND THE LIKE; 3,112,387 on a FROZEN BLOOD PLASMA DEFROSTER; 3,120,192 on a HAND PUMP FOR TRAINSFERINPG LIQUIDS; 3,128,477 on a NON-BULGING GARTER FASTENER; 3,133,140 on a LENS COVER; 3809463 on a ANIMATION CELLS AND TECHNIQUE;

Timely for your summer road trips, is U.S. Patent No. D183209 by Herbert Fast on a Combined Rosary and Steering Wheel:

This steering wheel even includes a Saint Christophers medal in the center! If this doesn’t keep you safe, you should probably stay home.

A few months later, another inventor, Charles W. Marker, solved the after-market problem with U.S. Patent No. D184365 on a Steering Wheel Cover:

Heading into a hot summer weekend, today’s patent of the day, issued July 11, 1989, to Ted A. Manning on a Spray System for Sun Tanning might come in handy. Ted combined a spray system with a chaise lounger:

Ted’s invention was an improvement of that of Earl Kitover received U.S. Patent No. 3,625,434 on a Device for Sunbathing having Water-Spray-Cooling Means. Earl sprayed water to cool the sun-bather, rather than sun tanning solutions but provided reflectors to promote tanning.

Most inventors hope to leave an indelible mark, some figuratively but a few, like Edson P. Clark do so literally. Edson received U.S. Patent No. 56,180 on July 10, 1866:

This was actually an improvement to the indelible pencil in U.S. Patent No. 24,195 from May 31, 1859:

Edson’s pencil was a commercial success, and examples survive today.

On July 9, 1968, U.S. Patent No. 3,392,261 issued to Frederick R. Schollhammer on a Portable Beam Generator (a laser gun):

Frederick was born on March 8, 1925, in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1943 he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Air Force, and was commissioned a second Lieutenant and served as a pilot in the European theater of Operations until the end of the war, was discharged as a First Lieutenant. After the war he enrolled in Trinity College earning bachelor and master’s degrees in physics. He was employed by United Technology and Hamilton Standard laboratories in developing patents and the commercial use of electron beam technology for medical and aeronautical applications. He also received U.S. Patent Nos. 3132239 and 3483352 also related to the use of energy beams for welding.

His name and his patent come up in discussions of laser guns, but his inventions related to the use of laser beams for welding, not as a weapon.

Oon July 8, 1913, U.S. Patent No. 1,066,809 issued to Alfred C Gilbert on Toy Construction Blocks:

The invention was what adults of a certain age would recognize as an erector set.

Alfred Gilbert, a magician, founded the Mysto Manufacturing Company in 1909 in Westville, Connecticut, and marketed its “Mysto Magic” magician’s sets from the 1910s until the 1950s. In 1911 Gilbert invented the erector set, allegedly inspired by railroad girders used by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Gilbert and his wife Mary made cardboard prototypes to get the sizes and shapes just right, and introduced the Mysto Erector Structural Steel Builder that same year at the New York City Toy Fair. In 1916, he changed the name of the company to A. C. Gilbert Company.

Over the years A. C. Gilbert Company also sold radio receivers, chemistry sets, and toy trains. In what sounds like a Saturday Night Live Skit, in the 1950’s the Company also sold the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory with a Geiger counter, and radioactive samples. The Government halted product in 1951, and five decades later Radar Magazine named it one of the “10 most dangerous toys of all time,” although the IEEE Spectrum later stated that the risks may have been overstated

On July 7, 1914, Robert H. Goddard received U.S. Patent No. 1,102,653 on a Rocket Apparatus (the first multistage rocket):

Robert Hutchings Goddard was born October 5, 1882, recognized for his pioneering work in the field of rocketry. His early work dramatically improved the efficiency of solid-fueled rockets, and he moved on to build the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926. Two of his 214 patents covered a multi-stage rocket (U.S. Patent No. 1,102,653), and a liquid-fuel rocket (U.S. patent 1,103,503) — important milestones toward spaceflight.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center was named in his honor, and he is a member of the International Aerospace Hall of Fame, the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and the International Space Hall of Fame.

On July 7, 1953, the Wayfarer sunglass design was patent by Raymond F. E. Stegman, then working for Bausch & Lomb, the parent company of the popular glasses brand, Ray-Ban.

The style quickly grew in popularity throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, favored by by music and film icons such as Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and James Dean., especially after James Dean wore a pair in 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause. The design’s popularity has waxed and waned over the years. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold Ray-Ban to Luxottica Group S.p.A. of Italy for $640 million. Wayfarers have been updated, but the basic shape remains.