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 [...]

The Flexible Flyer was invented over 100 years ago by a farm equipment manufacturer. Looking to provide year round employment for his workers, Samuel Leeds Allen began trying to invent a sled in the 1880’s. Coasting, as sledding was then known, was very popular and Allen was hoping to capitalize on this.
Allen’s first attempts at [...]

On January 6, 1925, George Washington Carver was granted patent #1,522,176 for a cosmetic and processing of producing the same. This cosmetic was a cream made from peanuts. In the patent, Carver describes this as a “vanishing cream of any desired or usual tint.”
Carver has been credited with discovering over three hundred different uses for [...]

The large armies of the 18th century required a reliable source of quality food.  Limited food availability was among the reasons the extensive military campaigns were limited to the summer and fall months.  A desire to extend military campaigns and feed his army well lead Napoleon to offer a cash prize of 12,000 francs to [...]

On October 7, 1952 Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland received US Patent 2,612,994 for “Classifying Apparatus and Method.”
In 1948, Bernard Silver, then a graduate student at Drexel University, overheard a conversation that would eventually lead to the development of the bar code. The president of a local food chain was looking for a system [...]

The Patent Office had its second fire on September 24, 1877. This fire happened in the new “fire-proof” building whose construction had begun in 1836. The building was fireproof but the contents were anything but.
On that chilly morning in September employees in the west wing of the building had a fire started for warmth. Sparks [...]

Sometimes an inventor will make a best selling product completely be accident. The Post It Note is an example of that. In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver invented a repositionable adhesive that was strong enough to stick to surfaces but did not leave any residue. Silver had not set out to produce such a glue. He [...]

Philo Taylor Farnsworth was an American inventor born August 19, 1906. He was best known for inventing the first fully electronic television system, including the first working electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), and for being the first to demonstrate fully electronic television to the public.
Farnsworth’s aptitude with electricity was evident at an early [...]

Abraham Lincoln received patent #6469 on May 22, 1849 for a device to lift boats over shoals. His device was never manufactured but he did become the only president to hold a patent.
Lincoln had considerable experience as a boatman. Once while taking a boatload of merchandise down the Mississippi River, his boat slid into a [...]

The first patent was issued on July 31, 1790 but the Patent #1 was not issued until July 13, 1836. Prior to July 4, 1836, patents [...]