Can you imagine life without tape? How would we wrap presents, fix ripped papers and make duct tape dresses? Richard Drew invented the first masking tape in 1925.

Richard Drew was an engineer working at 3M when he perfected the masking tape. At the time, 3M was a sandpaper manufacturer. Drew was delivering trial batches of sandpaper to a local auto shop when he learned how difficult it was to do the two-tone paint jobs that were very popular in cars during the 1920s. Painting a perfect border between the two colors was nearly impossible. When removing the butcher paper on the cars, some of the painted that was just applied would peel off. Touching up the damaged painted increased the time and cost of the paint job.

Drew worked for two years in the lab at 3M to invent the first masking tape which was a two-inch wide tan paper strip backed with light adhesive. It was originally made from cabinetmaker’s glue and treated crepe paper. The first run only had adhesive on the sides and not the middle. Continue reading…

Question from Bob S.:
What patent has the longest title? Shortest title?

Patent #6,186,793 has the longest title with 42 words and 250 characters. The title is: Process to convert cost and location of a number of actual contingent events within a region into a three dimensional surface over a map that provides for every location within the region its own estimate of expected cost for future contingent events.
The shortest title belongs to Patent #2,053,882 with 1 word and 2 characters: Ax.

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Patent disputes do not just occur over drugs or electronics. In fact, even the pencil, a simple product used by millions everyday, was at one time part of a court battle.

The first patent for attaching an eraser to a pencil was issued in 1858 to a man from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hyman Lipman received patent number 19,783 on March 30, 1858 for a Combination of Lead-Pencil and Eraser. Lipman sold his patent to Joseph Reckendorfer in 1862 for one hundred thousand dollars. On November 4, 1862, Reckendorfer received patent 36,854 for an improvement in pencils. Continue reading…

Question from John L.:
I know you talked about the longest patent application ever filed. What about the shortest?

With about 480,000 applications filed each year with the USPTO, it is difficult to nail down what is the shortest application. The shortest application I have ever seen is also one of the most interesting. Application 20040005535 filed on January 8, 2004 for a Process of reincarnation has only 13 words in its abstract, one claim and no drawing. You can view this application at the in the USPTO database.

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In 1930, the Plant Patent Act spurred by the work of Luther Burbank provided for the possibility of patent protection for asexually reproduced plants. In1949, Plant Patent #1 was issued to Henry Bosenberg of New Brunswick, NJ, for a climbing rose. The United States Patent and Trademark Office grants a plant patent for any new or distinct variety of plant that is asexually reproduced except for a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. Asexual reproduction means that the plant must be able to reproduce by a method other than seeds such as budding, grafting or the rooting of the cuttings. The child plant therefore has the exact characteristics of the parent plant. Continue reading…

Question from James M.:
How many patent applications are filed with United States Patent and Trademark Office each year? Of these applications, how many patents are granted?

In 2009, 482,871 patent applications were filed with United States Patent and Trademark Office. A total of 485,312 patent applications were filed with the USPTO in the year 2008.

In 2009, 191,927 patents were granted. 185,224 patents were granted in 2008.
To see a complete history of patents granted since 1963, visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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August is National Inventors Month. The United Inventors Association of the USA, the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventor’s Digest Magazine started this celebration in 1998. The purpose of this month is to celebrate creativity and innovation. Some of the most imaginative patents granted have not been for products that most would consider practical but they all celebrate the spirit of invention. From the Electrified Table Cloth to Inflatable Rug, these are some of the most interesting and possibly useless patents granted.

Patent #3,984,595 was issued October 5, 1976 for an Inflatable Rug.

A rug which is convertible to an air mattress includes a rug member adhesively laminated on top of a flexible-walled backing member composed of a pair of stacked sheets sealably joined around their margins. Continue reading…

Question from Sarah J.:
Have any US Presidents been granted patents?

Abraham Lincoln is the only US President to ever receive a patent. Lincoln received patent #6469 on May 22, 1849 for a device to lift boats over shoals.

Read more about Abraham Lincoln’s patent here.

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Patent Medicine is a term used to refer to concoctions popular in the 18th and 19th century which were advertised to cure almost every disease. Patent Medicine is actually an incorrect name though. Most of these products were trademarked but never patented. The process of patenting a product requires full disclosure of a medicine’s ingredients. Most manufacturers did not want to reveal the toxic or questionable ingredients of their so-called cures.

Patent Medicines were mostly very similar in their preparation containing various vegetable extracts, generous amounts of alcohol and often narcotic such as morphine, opium, or cocaine. These drug compounds could be deadly and were often more hazardous then helpful. At the time, there were no regulations in regards to the ingredients of these medicines. Claims made by manufactures of Patent Medicines included the ability to cure everything from caner to tuberculosis to paralysis. Continue reading…

Question from Allan B.:
I was doing a research project and I’m wondering where is a good place to research actual patents for medical inventions?
Is that information free or do you have to pay for a service to see the documents? Also, do you know how far back they keep the patents for viewing?

Information about patents is available for free from the US Patent and Trademark Office – http://patft.uspto.gov/ or you can search for patent information at google patents – http://www.google.com/patents

The Patent and Trademark Office Database has the full text of patents which have been issued since 1976. The database includes the number, issue date and US classification for patents granted between 1790 and 1975. A file of the actual printed patent is also available for most patents granted after 1790.

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