{"id":5202,"date":"2026-04-21T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/?p=5202"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:50:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:50:03","slug":"april-21-2026-patent-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/?p=5202","title":{"rendered":"April 21, 2026, Patent of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On April 21, 1857, U.S. Patent No. 17082 issued to Alexander Douglas on a Bustle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"558\" height=\"877\" src=\"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image.png 558w, https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-191x300.png 191w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 558px) 100vw, 558px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While necessity may be the mother of invention, the &#8216;082 patent is proof that necessity is not always, the mother of invention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The earliest U.S. patent reference to a bustle was U.S. Patent No. 4897, issued December 17, 1846, predating Douglas&#8217; invention by nearly 11 years.  Douglas&#8217; patent was the start of a frenzy as inventors hustled to the Patent Office invention with their bustles, and 15 more bustle patents issued in the next two years: U.S. Patent Nos. 17,602, 20,263, 20,681, 20,801, 20,865, 21479, 21,806, 22,124, 22,133, 22,197, 22,242, 22,426, 22,532, 22,875 and 23,681.  While inventors&#8217; interest in bustles died down before the end of the 19th century, it has never completely gone away, with U.S. Patent No. 12582183 issuing on March 24, 2026, on a Bustle Device to Be Received Under Garments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 21, 1857, U.S. Patent No. 17082 issued to Alexander Douglas on a Bustle: While necessity may be the mother of invention, the &#8216;082 patent is proof that necessity is not always, the mother of invention. The earliest U.S. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/?p=5202\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patent-of-the-day"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5204,"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202\/revisions\/5204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patents.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}