On August 6, 1991, Gerard O’Connell received U.S. Patent No. D 318,935 on an Insect Habitat:

A few years later, O’Connell received U.S. Patent No. D335,003 on an Insect Habitat on April 20, 1993:

O’Connell’s patents are but two in a long line of patents on devices to keep and display insects. One of the earliest being U.S. Patent No. 948,805 on an Insectarium, issued February 8, 1910.

Another example being patent is U.S. Patent No, 3,687,110 on an Insect Activity Observation Center, issued August 29, 1972:

On August 5, 1958, Edward Hack received U.S. Patent Nos. D183309 on his whirl bottle, and D183310 on his pineapple bottle:

These bottles were briefly used to sell flavoring for milk, chocolate in the whirl bottle, pineapple in the pineapple, and strawberry in a third, strawberry shaped bottle

An article in the 1957 issue of The Chemist and Druggist magazine explained:

On August 4, 1868, U.S. Patent No. D3151 issued to Dayton Morgan, of Chillicothe, Ohio, on a bust of Frederick Douglass:

This was not the only tribute to Douglass found in the patent collection, he was also featured on a collectible spoon in U.S. Patent No. D24,228.

On August 2, 1791, Samuel Briggs and his son, Samuel Briggs, Jr. became the first father-son duo to receive a joint U.S. patent (No. X00013) on a nail making machine. (Most of the patents prior to 1836 were lost in the December 1836 fire, so little is known about the Briggs’ patent, and not even an image survives).

Other inventors had been working on improving the manufacture of nails. In 1775 Jeremiah Wilkinson, a Cumberland, Rhode Island, inventor, developed a nail cutting process utilizing a flat sheet of cold iron. in 1786, Ezekiel Reed invented and patented a nail making machine that was the forerunner of modem nail-making machines. Nail manufacture continued to be improved incrementally until the cut nail process was perfected.

On August 1, 1972, James B. Swett received U.S. Patent No. 3,680,828 on a Mold for Congealable Comestibles:

James Swett was a prolific inventor, designing a large number of consumer products, including this mold:

But the more remarkable thing about this patent is the patent lawyers’ turn of phrase “congealable comestible.” Who doesn’t remember the TV commercials exhorting “There’s always room for congealable comestibles”?

On July 28, 1942, U.S. Patent No. 2,291,158 issued to Axel Harald Holstensson and Svante Philip Arvidius on a Talking Machine for Playing a Plurality of Records in Succession:

Today, some might be confused by the phrase “Talking Machine” machine in the title, but that was a common name for the phonograph invented by Edison in 1877. Early on its principal use was for dictation, and not for recording and replaying music, although that obviously changed over the years.

On November 4, 1954, (twelve years into the 17-year patent term) Holstensson sued V-M Corporation, a manufacturer of record players, for infringement of the ‘158 patent. V-M denied infringement and charged that the patent was invalid. The District Judge held the patent was valid and infringed by V-M. The proceedings were still on-going when the patent expired on July 28, 1959, so the relieft sought was limited to the damages allegedly suffered prior to the patent’s expiration. VM appealed, and more than nine years after suit was filed, and more than four years after the patent expired, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Holstensson patent “is without validity as a combination patent and is likewise void for overclaiming.” Holstensson v. V-M Corporation, 325 F.2d 109 (6th Cir. 1963). At least in this case the wheels of justice appeared to turn slower than a record player.

On July 27, 1999, Tabor W Browder received U.S. Patent No. 5,926874 on an Automatic Bed Maker:

Tabor was not the only inventor to pursue this universal problem. In On April 10, 1984, Peter J. Yascarella received U.S. Patent No. 4,441,222 on an Automatic Bed Maker:

More recently, Marc-Ajdre Lemieux received U.S. Patent No. 11,564512 on a Self-Making Bedding System , Method and Kit Thereof:

A month later, Jason Hilton and Tina Hilton received U.S. Patent No. 11,571,074 on Bedding Device for Handling The Bedding of a Bed:

On July 26m 1904, Degar Oyrbell Hooley received U.S. Patent No. 765975 on an Apparatus for the Preparation of Tar Macadam.

Tarmacadam or tarmac is a road surfacing material made by combining tar and macadam (crushed stone and sand). It is more durable and dust-free than compacted stone macadam invented by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam. Today “tarmacadam” and “tarmac” are also used for a variety of other materials, including tar-grouted macadam, bituminous surface treatments and modern asphalt concrete.

July 25 is National Carousel Day aka National Merry-Go-Round Day. The designation was created by the National Carousel Association (N.C.A.) as a way to mark the issuance of the first U.S. patent for a carousel — U.S. Patent No. 117,336 issued ti Willhelm Schneider of Davenport, Iowa:

Schneider’s carousel was a two-stories, with a staircase between them. As the title of the patent (Improvement in Carrousels) suggests, this was not the first carousel in the U.S. — that honor appears to go to Franz Wiesenoffer who built a carousel in the 1840’s in Hessville, Ohio. However, carousels were build and being operated at various fairs and gatherings in Central Europe since the early 18th Century..

On July 24, 1866, George W. McGill, received U.S. Patent No. 56587 on an office staple — literally — Improvements in Metallic Paper Fasters.

McGill’s device employed separate steps of making a hole in the paper and forming the “staple” inserted into the hole. Eleven years later, Henry R. Heyl received U.S. Patent No. 195,603 on Devices for Inserting Metallic Staples, which was the first Stapler that inserted and formed the staple in a single step.

On February 18, 1879, George McGill was back with U.S. Patent No. 212,316 for the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press, the first commercially successful stapler: