Patently Outlandish
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Amusement Apparatus (2001) |
Body Preservation & Display (1903) |
Gentleman's Cigarette Holder (1924) |
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Short Range Parachute (1879) |
 Horse Taillight (1937) |
 Eyeglass Wiper (1959) |
 Water Walkers (1858) |
 Alarm Bed I (1882) |
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"If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door." --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1871)
Inventors, as you'll see from this small catalogue of patented devices, have played with improving more than domestic pest control. The exuberant spirit of American patent applicants has pushed them to new, if sometime silly, heights (as with the short range parachute), safer travel at night (horse taillight), and reliable awakenings (alarm bed). Yes, as cheerfully whimsical as they may seem, all of these devices are recipients of a U.S. patent. They are among those compiled in Kenneth Lasson's Mousetraps and Muffling Cups: One Hundred Brilliant and Bizarre U. S. Patents (1986). The illustrations reproduced are from the original sketches submitted with the patent applications.