Patent Patent facts
While investigating facts about Patent Patent, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Volvo opened up the patent for three-point seatbelt cause "it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from"
A teenager, Peter Roberts invented a quick-release ratchet. He sold his patent to Sears for $10,000 who said that the invention was not worth very much and then went on to make $44 million selling the ratchet. He sued them for fraud and was awarded $1 million.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Patent Patent I managed to collect.
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Coca-Cola never patented their "secret formula" because otherwise they would be required to disclose it to the public.
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Even though Benjamin Franklin is credited with many popular inventions, he never patented or copyrighted any of them. He believed that they should be given freely and that claiming ownership would only cause trouble and “sour one’s Temper and disturb one’s Quiet.”
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Instead of getting a patent on the aluminum can, Bill Coors of Coors Brewing Company decided to sell the instructions and engineering package to anyone interested for $300k because he believed that aluminums cans and recycling should be the industry standard for beverages.
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Harvard's first black faculty member was a dentist. Dr. George Franklin Grant joined the Dept of mechanical dentistry in 1871. Also an inventor, he patented the wooden golf tee. Previously, golfers carried around buckets of sand, placing their balls on little piles as they went.
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Nellie Bly, a 19th century female journalist who went around the world in 72 days, pretended to be insane in order to expose the deplorable conditions in mental asylums, patented two designs for steel cans and ran a million-dollar iron manufacturing business, all before the age of 40.
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There was a 20 year patent on mini games during loading screens that recently expired last year. This is why all loading screens aren't interactive and usually only contain flavour or lore text.
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WD-40 has never been patented as patenting would force them to disclose their recipe.
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Chevron and General Motors bought the patents for NiMH car batteries and used them to block electric vehicle development in the 90s and 00s
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No-one knows who actually invented the fire hydrant, as its patent was destroyed in a fire at the U.S Patent Office in 1836.
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WD-40 has never been patented as patenting would force them to disclose their recipe.
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Dr. Patricia Bath restored sight to millions of people suffering from cataracts thanks to her invention of the the Laserphaco Probe. Among her multiple firsts - first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology and first African-American female doctor to receive a medical patent.
In 1987 Jamie Lee Curtis invented and patented a diaper modification, a moisture proof pocket containing wipes for easy access. She refused to allow it to be marketed until companies started selling biodegradable diapers, the patent expired in 2007 and is now in the public domain. - source
The patent for toilet paper (1891) features an illustration that would imply the correct way the roll should be placed would be so the paper hangs over, and not under. - source
Abraham Lincoln, prior to becoming President, was an avid boater and traveled on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers where his boat often got stuck on sandbars. In 1849 Lincoln invented a method for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals, making him the first and only U.S. President to receive a patent.
The process of dry cleaning was invented in 1821 by an African American business owner named Thomas Jennings. He was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent. He had to use the proceeds from his invention to buy his wife and children out of slavery. - source
Inventor Yoshiro Nakamatsu, who has filed over 3300 patents, dives underwater till he is "0.5 seconds before death", to come up with ideas. He believes that the deprivation of Oxygen helps his thinking process.
In 1945, a school dropout and self-taught electrical engineer named Percy Spencer was working at Ratheon. He stepped in front of a magnetron, a device that powers radars. He noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Later that year, he filed a patent for the first microwave oven.
The inventor of the fidget spinner surrendered the patent in 2005 because she could not afford the $400 fee to renew the patent
Despite owning the patent, Volvo made the three-point seat belt design free for other manufacturers to use in order to increase its adoption and save lives
Ben Franklin never patented any of his designs and inventions. He believed “that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously”
In 1965 a patent was filed for a 'birthing apparatus' which would spin pregnant women around at as much as 7 G until their baby was flung out from the centrifugal force.
Patent patent infographics
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Total Patent Applications By a Country 2017
