On July 20, 1999, Dennis Olsen received U.S. Patent No. 5,924,732, on an In-Line Skate Sail:

Others with a similar disregard for personal safety invented personal sail-powered systems, for example, Budge’s U.S. Patent No. 3,982,766 on a Wind-Propelled Skateboard:

and Lornenz, U.S. Patent No. 4,130,292, Apparatus for Propelling a Skate Board with Wind Currents:

But Olsen’s idea was to keep the sail above the user’s head.

On July 19, 1892, U.S. Patent No. 479,207, issued to G.Q. Seaman on a Time Alarm Bed:

The bed is constructed to “eject the occupant of the bed, so that the said occupant will not only be awakened, but must necessarily arise.”

This is probably the logical escalation of Samuel S. Applegatte’s Device for Waking Persons form Sleep, (U.S. Patent No. 256265), which merely employed 60 bells suspended over the bed to wake the occupant:

On July 18, 1967, U.S. Patent No. D208,096, issued to Robert K. Ostrander, Jr., on a Toy Vehicle Station, and assigned to Fisher-Price Toys, Inc.:

Robert was born July 4, 1932, and he died December 30, 2017. Mr. Ostrander earned a Bachelor of Industrial Science Degree from Pratt Institute, and served in the U.S. Army for three years. In 1963, he was hired by Herm Fisher as a designer, he worked on the Little People, the Toy Vehicle Station above, the Jumbo Jet, and the Farm Set, among many other products.

He was the hired as Vice President of Research and Design at Playskool, where her worked until 975, when we he happily returned to Fisher-Price, as Director of Research and Design until 1983.

On July 17, 1888, Jack W. James received U.S. Patent No., 386,403 on an Apparatus for Preventing Collisions of Railway Trains:

The invention is a telescoping extension from the front of the train, which when it contacts actuates the brakes and reverses the engine:

A few years later, H.L. Simmons solved the problem a different way — providing a ramp so that one train can pass harmlessly over the other one:

On July15, 1913, Adam S. Landis received U.S. Patent No. D44343

The subject of Adam’s sign is a rebus — a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters.; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by a letter X.

So can you solve Landis’ rebus? The title of the patent is clue if you are stumped.

On July 14, 1868, U.S. Patent No. 79965 issued to Alvin J. Fellows on a Tape Measure:

The first spring-loaded tape measure was invented nearly fifty years earlier in England, but it was too expensive to be a practical workman’s tool. In 1864, just four years before Fellows secured his patent, another Connecticut man William Bangs Jr. became the first American to obtain a patent for a spring-loaded tape measure:

Fellows improved Bangs’ design in two significant ways: First, Fellows adding a locking mechanism to hold the tape in place until released. Second, Fellows enclosed the entire tape measure in a compact metal case.

On July 13, 1937, U.S. Patent No. 2,086,607, issued to Emmet J. Culligan on a Water Softening Device:

Emmett was the original “Hey Culligan Man” the company was founded in 1936 by Emmett Culligan with financing from his brother and sister. The started in a blacksmith shop in Northbrook, Illinois. By 1938 a first Culligan franchised dealership opened in Wheaton, Illinois, and a second in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 1945, Emmett dissolved the partnership with his brothers and a new company was incorporated, with Emmett serving as president until 1950.

Today, Culligan International is a global water treatment company with a network of dealers and direct operations in 90 countries and more than 1,000 dealers, and more than 14,000 employees. All apparently inspired by a water filter made from a perforated coffee can filled with greensand that also softened the water.

On July 12, 1859, William Goodale received U.S. Patent No. 24734 on a machine for cutting blanks to make paper bags:

These blanks could be folded into paper bags had a flat bottom. The first paper bag making machine was patented by Franci Wolle on October 26, 1852, as U.S. Patent No. 9355, these bags had a tapered end, like an envelope:

It took another inventor, Margarete E. Knight, to put the pieces together and develop a machine that manufactures flat-bottomed paper bags, for which she received U.S. Patent No. 116842, on July 11, 1871:

The historical information buried in the U.S. patent collection is always surprising. U.S. Patent No. D41551 issued July 11, 1911, on a badge, button, or similar article:

The assignee of this design for a button explains the letters NATL – the National Anti-Tipping League. The National Anti-Tipping League was a domestic nonprofit corporation to oppose the practice of tipping, which had become a point of cultural and political debate in the early 20th century.

Tipping in the U.S. began after the Civil War, when wealthy Americans returning from Europe adopted the aristocratic European custom of rewarding servants with small coins. This was seen by many Americans as a sign of class distinctions and anti-democratic behavior. By the 1890’s opposition had grown into a Great Anti-Tipping Crusade. Anti-tipping groups declared tipping “un-American” and “a cancer” claiming it created artificial class systems, undermined fair wages, and allowed employers to pay below-living wages while shifting responsibility to customers.  Some states even banned tipping in certain industries.

The ‘551 patent issued at the height of the anti-tipping movement. But, as we are acutely aware in 2026, tipping persisted and became embedded in American culture. The National Anti-Tipping League was a small part of a larger, ultimately successful movement. 115 years later, the debate on tipping in the U.S. is reemerging as tipping is being forced upon us nearly everywhere.