The US patent office contains a trove of documentation of technological progress. Searching this data has never been easier. Here are 10 great American patents that made a great difference. In selecting these I stopped about 50 years ago for two reasons (1) historical perspective – it takes time to see the shifts happen and (2) to minimize the inevitable “where is the ___”.
Here, then, are ten really great patents that made a difference. In order of appearance and not importance.
No, the ‘Gin’ has nothing to do with drinking. It is a shortened form of ‘engine’ . This device, that separates the cotton from embedded seeds, was instrumental in the explosion of wealth of the United States.
At the heart of the industrial revolution is the ability to take electric power and convert it to mechanical energy. Developed based on the discoveries of Faraday in 1821 and Sturgeon in 1832, Thomas Davenport patented the first commercial electric motor. Unfortunately, because there was no practical electric distribution system in place, Davenport’s invention did not sell and he went bankrupt.
Modern life would be vastly different without refrigeration and air conditioning. The patent that started it all was issued to John Gorrie, a doctor in Florida looking to keep his patients cool. Unable to commercialize his ice making machine, he died four year later at age 54, a ruined man.
By the early 1870’s the telegraph was in widespread use. Many inventors worked on the problem of sending multiple signals over one wire, increasing the scalability of the systems in place. Alexander Bell took the path of sending multiple tones on a wire which evolved into the transmission of human voice. Teamed with Tom Watson he was issued patent 1764465 – the first telephone.
The ability to store information is so pervasive today that it is hard to remember that the whole concept of ‘a media storage device’ is only 130 years old. Mr. Edison didn’t call it that, but the path from his phonograph to you multi-gig thumb drive is fairly impressive. This meme was developed at the first industrial research facility – Menlo Park, New Jersey, USA. The patent was one of the few inventions of Edison that did not describe an improvement of ‘prior art’, but a new and unique way to record, save and reproduce sounds on demand.
Contrary to popular knowledge, Thomas Edison did not actually invent the light bulb. The patent is for ‘an improvement in Electrical Lamps, and in the method for manufacturing the same’. It was part of the genius of Edison that also created the Edison Electric Light Company (with the backing of some of the most famous financiers of the day) to market not only the light bulb itself, but also the electric power needed by all those bulbs.
In a certain way, this started the whole computer thing going. An operator would handle about 50-80 cards per minute (say 1 per second). Hollerith electric tabulating system, including tabulating machine, card reader, pantograph punching machine, and sorting machine, 1890, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Of all of the dreams of humanity throughout the ages, the thought of traveling though the air seemed the most fantastical. Truly a multitude of people spent countless years thinking, building, testing and ultimately failing in the efforts to create a heaver-than-air flying machine.
This is the Main American Standard against which all other inventions are based. To say something is “the best thing since sliced bread”, is high praise indeed. With this in mind, the first “Machine for slicing an entire loaf of bread at a single operation” must be the most important invention on this list.
The tenth item is currently pending – tell us what you think should be here.
Contributor: stevenh
i dont know where i would be without sliced bread
Is this a list of things invented in America, by Americans or just things that have, at one point, been patented in America?
Quite a good list though, you can’t really argue that any of these don’t belong on the list.
I read that a Swiss fellow discovered Velcro.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mvelcro.html
i just finished making a sandwich. sliced bread is very important indeed.
very interesting to look at the exponential growth of patents on the list. if i am reading it right, and i like to think that i am, there was 43 years and only a difference in the patent number of 60. but for the last two, a 23 year difference, there is a gap of over 850,000.
i wonder if the ginsu knife or the pocket fisherman is in there somewhere.
lola: thanks – you are right – I have removed velcro and am now taking suggestions for a replacement
The sewing machine by Elias Howe.
jfrater:
Telephone? Turnstile? Typewriter? Twizzlers?
From wikipedia:
Contrary to popular belief, he did not invent the sewing machine. Many other people, including Walter Hunt, had worked on the idea of such a machine before him. However, Howe refined these ideas into a functional machine and on September 10, 1846, he was awarded the first United States patent (#4750) for a sewing machine using a lockstitch design.
Air Conditioning.
I think patent is owned by Carrier Corp. Without Air Conditioning much of the Southern and West expansion in the USA would not have occurred (or at least occurred to the degree it did during the 70s, 80s, 90s). In fact, Air Conditioning is given as one reason for Florida’s rapid growth.
I would have to go with the transistor. This is the heart of all modern electronics. Not sure if the patents on it are too murky for this list or not but Bell Labs is credited with creating the first practical transistor.
This patent is pure genius, by a 5-year old no less:
Method of swinging on a swing
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6368227.html
“The user may even choose to produce a Tarzan-type yell while swinging in the manner described, which more accurately replicates swinging on vines in a dense jungle forest. Actual jungle forestry is not required.”
“I read that a Swiss fellow discovered Velcro.”
“I have removed velcro”
jfrater – Velcro is patented in the USA so – strictly speaking – it does qualify here (even though it seems to have a prior Swiss patent).
I think the title and description of this list are, therefore, a little confusing/imprecise.
I don’t really have anything to add! Very interesting list I love learning things at 6:30am
Number Ten should either be the Propiel Pocket Fisherman or “We’ll be back to pick you up later” Mr. Microphone.
knowledge is power
Hmm…interesting list. I’m not sure what number 10 should be, seeing as how I’m a bit sketchy on the whole “patent” thing. I guess I would say the telephone? Or the internet? Does that even have a patent? What about the atomic bomb? Hehe…I kid.
how about the iPod? ……….lol
microwave oven
Printing Press !!! 15th or 16th century I believe
10th item hot water shower
Oh wait this is American… I’m Canadian I have no idea.
global warming
Defibrillator!
my vote for number ten the Harley-Davidson V-twin motorcycle
Erin, I think the printing press was invented in Germany.
By Gutenberg I think. I payed attention in school that day.
(Very unusual for me)Maybe that’s why I remember.
What about the modern tamper resistant twist off bottle cap. Which just so happened to be invented by my wife’s grandfather
I will second post #24
Dear ListVersers,
To clarify the criteria I used:
1) The patent must have been approved by the USPO (United States Patent Office)
2) The approval was more than 50 years ago.
3) The patent had to have ‘made a difference’
/Stevenh
ps I agree that the transistor meets all of these tests. I did not include it because by itself, a transistor is not that much fun. All the items chosen are ‘stand alone’ products.
oops type
it is USPTO not USPO
Wikipedia seems to suggest that the first transistor patent was filed in Canada by Austrian-Hungarian physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld on October 22, 1925 – that would exclude it from this list
OK everybody how about this one. The Zipper!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper
Also, Sir Alexander Grahame Bell Patented the Telephone in Canada, and registered it with the Halifax, NS branch of OPIC/CIPO (http://patents.ic.gc.ca/cipo/cpd/welcome.html)
He is From Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada
When do we get around to invading Canada? Is that soon?
I was thinking the AC motor – but you already have the DC motor on there. What about AC current itself? Surely there is a patent for transmission of AC power over long distances… This is the invention that made electrical power useful and practical.
the fire truck
For your consideration:
Typewriter
Steamboat
Reaping machine
Colt Revolver
steam engine (used for trains and early cars)
television
radio
copperdragon:
Three strikes and you’re out, I’m afraid….
The steam engine (in modern times) was the invention of James Watt… a Scot. (The ancient Greeks also invented it, but never put it to practical use).
Television was not really the invention of any one man so much as it was a series of parallel projects independent of one another, that arrived at more or less the same destination. For TV, however, we mainly have a Russian and a Brit to thank, in a sense. (Loosely).
Radio is the invention of an Italian… Marconi.
Try again…
Great list, I honestly don’t know what to put at #10 though.
I’m not sure if it’s patented, but the Americans have certainly reinvented and boosted unashamed megalomania.
The post-it
When i was a kid i asked my grandmother (90 at the time ) what she thought was the greatest invention in her lifetime, You Know what she said ,the mop !!!
Marco: And the Europeans improved upon the original design.
Seriously…what’s wrong with saying that you’re better than everyone else if its true?
suprised no one said the condom or birth control.
the traffic light
electric vibrator??? lol
er, maybe that wasnt american.
pop-top cans
plastic wrap
Microwave ovens or cell phones.
Marco-I agre completely, we Americans can put Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Alexander the Great, and any number of Pharoahs to shame in the megalomania department, right? I mean, we’re so bad, we even had to come up with Megalomaniacs Anonymous to deal with. I know it’s true, I saw it on tv. Brain (of Pinky & the Brain fame) goes there. As for American patents, probably the Colt Revolver of Winchester Repeater would be my vote, also, possibly, the Gatlin Gun (which I think was American). Also, although there is no patent for it, Tex-Mex food is our best contribution to the world. MMMMMMM, tacos.
wasnt the assembly line patented?
The 10th should be….. STARBUCKS!!!! I know it’s not patented (SUE ME!) but I didn’t know what else to put.
Re #47 Otay:
Please refer to US Patent number 2005/0228218
“Double Anchor Strapless Dildo”
Relation to Prior art “…none known to be strapless for female-to-female use…”
From the abstract as published by the United States Patent Office “…having a vaginal anchor and a rectal anchor for reliably rigid and gratifyingly insertion into a first female to support a penal-like dildo for being gratifyingly inserted into the vagina of a second female in a manner taught by this invention…”
I suppose this may, in fact, qualify as a “Really Great American Patent”
I suppose it’s a good thing that I can’t attach a graphic of the patent
How about the A/C generator or the Tesla Coil, both by Nikola Tesla. I’d say to add his lightning machine if it was real, that would be pretty cool.
BTW:
I’m not making this up…
See summary [section 0005], page 3.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=aE6WAAAAEBAJ&dq=2005/0228218
@stevenh, #54:”…to support a penal-like…”
Is someone being punished with this thing??
Bad News:
Check the link, scroll to page 3, read section 0005.
Oh, did we just come up with a new list – “10 Best ***** in Patents”?
The cotton gin didn’t just cause explosive wealth, it also caused explosive slave trading, as people ‘needed’ more slaves to pick more cotton.
Actually Dustfinger…The Cotton Gin required less salves because it was much more efficient than having slaves pick cotton by hand