On July 7, 1914, Charles Lowell Howard received U.S. Patent No. 1,102,270 on a Pneumatically Operated Display Device:

According to Mr. Howard’s invention “provided a flag pole whereby “air under pressure
is admitted to a hollow body, such as a flag pole, and issues from orifices in said body
onto an object, such as a flag, so as to give said object such motion as is produced by
a natural current of air.” In simpler terms, the flag waves even where there is not a breeze.

This is the wonderful thing about inventors — they are working tirelessly to solve problems we didn’t even know we had.