Jan. 11 - ELDON "Bowl-A-Matic' Bowling Game

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

ELDON 'Bowl-A-Matic' Bowling Game Patent
Patent Date: January 11, 1966
Invented By: Eric Pullen
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This patent is one of our top selling patents.  It seems that this bowling game is an auction favorite and brings back fond memories to many who seek out the real game.  This patent shows all the mechanics of the game and many have purchased the patent in hopes of making repairs and to give as a gift to those who collect toys.  The game itself is about 4 feet long. 

Eldon Industries, Inc. was a toy company located in Hawthorne, California ... the hometown of Mattel Toy Company.  In its heyday owned locations in Canada, England, Japan, and the Netherlands.  

Eldon's slogan was "Just for the fun of it." which could be heard in TV and radio advertisements, as well as in print ads. 

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

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Jan. 10 - Snowman Accessory Kit Patent

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

Snowman Accessory Kit Patent
Patent Date: January 10, 1995
Invented By: Robert Kenyon
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What?  Why?  Why would someone go through the process of getting a patent for a such a silly item.  This patent is for the accessory's to add to a built snowman.  No more carrots.  No more corn cob pipes (which my husband sells at www.aristocob.com).  No more searching through the house for buttons or using an old scarf.  Just get this little 'snowman accessory kit' and you'll have it all.  Oh my goodness ... really?

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan. 9 - Hubley Cast Iron Car Toy

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

HUBLEY Illuminated Wheeled Cast Iron Toy Patent
Patent Date: January 9, 1934
Invented By: Jacob Brubaker
Assigned to: The Hubley Mfg. Co.
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This patent relates to toys, and more importantly, to the metal toy of the wheeled type illuminated by the electric lamp supplied with current from a battery dry-cell.  

The Hubley Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and produced wonderful toys throughout its history.  early Hubley production consisted of numerous cast iron toys including various horse drawn vehicles, guns, household appliances, and more.  With the automotive age, cars, trucks, and other transportation became their focus.

The Hubley cast iron toys are collectible items even today and priced well over $100 for most of them.

 Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan 8 - Star Wars Vehicle Action Figure Patent

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

Lucas Film 'Star Wars' Space Action Figure Y Wing Star Fighter Patent
Invented By: Joseph Johnson
Patent Date: January 8, 1985
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Well, I'm sorry to say, but I don't know much about all of the Star Wars action figures.  What I do know is that many of you know a lot about the Star Wars action figures and love to collect them.  Joseph Johnson patented at least two vehicle patents on this date.  Lucas Films patented many other designs for the Star War action figures and must have known how popular their  toys would be.  

Here's the other Star Wars action figure patent for this day.

Lucas Film 'Star Wars' Space Vehicle Action Figure Patent

Invented By: Joseph Johnson

Patent Date: January 8, 1985

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To view the other Star War action figure patents, ... CLICK HERE

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan 7 - Chastity Belt

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

Male Chastity Belt Patent
Invented By: Ellen E. Perkins
Patent Date: January 7, 1908
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My, My, My, ... a woman invented this ... who would have thought? Believe it or not, this is one of our top selling patents. We have had girlfriends buy this for their boyfriends, friends buy it as a joke for other friends, and even parents who have bought this as a warning to their kids dating partners. 

As the inventor states, "I have invented certain new and useful improvements in sexual armor."  Really? This sure doesn't look useful or improved!!

She also states, "self-abuse is one of the most common causes of insanity, imbecility, feeble mindedness in youth." And having to wear this thing isn't?  

We actually have many chastity belt patents ... CLICK HERE to view them all!

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
Click Here to View More Details Of This Patent Art Print 

Jan 6 - Costmetics

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

**Patent Contains Text Only**

Cosmetics Patent
Invented By: George Washing Carver
Patent Date: January 6, 1925
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George Washington Carver was an American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor.  His influence is still being felt today. Rising from slavery to become one of the world's most respected and honored men, he devoted his life to understanding nature and the many uses for the simplest of plant life. He is best known for developing crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovering hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut.

George Washington Carver reputedly discovered three hundred uses for peanuts (including peanut butter) and hundreds more for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes. He extracted blue, purple, and red pigments from the clay soil of Alabama. He researched the manufacture of synthetic marble from green wood shavings, rope from cornstalk fibers, and veneers from the palmetto root. During WWI, he worked to replace the textile dyes that were being imported from Europe. He ended up producing and replacing over 500 different shades.

Among the listed items that he suggested to southern farmers to help them economically were adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes (a biofuel), ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder, wood stain, and cosmetics. 

Although he did hold only three patents, Carver never patented most of the many discoveries he made while at Tuskegee, saying "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?"

   

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan 5 - The Landlord Game (Pre-Monopoly)

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

The Landlord Game / Pre-Monopoly Game Patent

Invented By: Lizzie Magie
Patent Date: January 5, 1904
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This patent 'The Landlord's Game' is a board game patented in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie.  Magie based the game on the economic principles of Georgism, a system proposed by Henry George.  The object of the game was to demonstrate how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants.  Though many similar home-made games were played at the beginning of the 20th century and some predate.

Although The Landlord's Game was patented, it was not taken up by a manufacturer until 1910, when it was published in the U.S. by the Economic Game Company of New York.

Magie moved back to Illinois, her birthplace, where she was married in 1910, moved with her husband to the Washington D.C area, and eventually patented a new version of The Landlord's Game in 1924 (under her married name, Elizabeth Magie Phillips). This version, unlike the illustration depicted in her first patent, included named streets, some named after locations in Chicago.

The Landlord Game / Pre-Monopoly Game Revised Patent

Invented By: Lizzie Magie
Patent Date: September 23, 1924
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Magie held the patent for The Landlord's Game until 1935, when she sold it to Parker Brothers for $500. The company had recently started distributing Charles Darrow's Monopoly and was buying up the patents of various commercial forms of the game in order to claim undisputed rights to selling it. As part of the purchase agreement, which Magie insisted upon, Parker Brothers manufactured and marketed three of her games, one of which was an un-altered version of The Landlord's Game which sold several hundred copies until it was discontinued.

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan 4 - Trilby's Couch - Thurston's Levitation Trick

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

Trilby's Couch / Thurston's Levitation Magic Trick Patent
Invented By: Howard Thurston
Patent Date: January 4, 1927
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This trick has been around for a long time.  It is better known as Thurston's levitation because he popularized it in the U.S and is the patent holder. 

Take a couple of chairs, a board, an assistant and you've got it. A board is placed across the chair tops with some fabric covering them.  An assistant lies on the board and is then 'hypnotized' (hence the name Trilby's Couch) and instructed to rise.  The magician removes the chairs, one at a time and eventually the board will float up then down to its original position.

It has also been improved upon quite a bit since it was first presented. Nowadays it can be performed out of doors, with stage crew etc. being unable to penetrate the secret; as well, some performers (such as Doug Hemming) don't use a board on chairs: they start off with the assistant simply standing there, "mesmerized", and gradually levitate him/her off the ground to the horizontal position and whirl him/her about.

 Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan 3 - Howdy Doody Patent

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

Howdy Doody Design Patent
Patent Date: January 3, 1950
Invented By: Robert Allen
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This patent is the Howdy Doody Design patent known from 'The Howdy Doody Show'.  It was one of the first and easily the most popular children's television show in the 1950's and a reflection of the wonder, technical fascination, and business realities associated with early television.  While Howdy and his friends entertained American children, they also sold television sets to American parents and demonstrated the potential of the new medium to advertisers.

The most famous moment in the history of 'The Howdy Doody Show' came during the closing seconds of the final show when Clarabell, who did not speak but communicated through pantomime and honking his horns, surprised the audience by saying, "Good-bye, kids."

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!
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Jan 2 - Air Conditioner

Patent Art Print Of The Day

Air conditioner - Apparatus For Treating Air Patent

Patent Date: January 2, 1906

Invented By: Willis Haviland Carrier

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American engineer and inventor Willis Haviland Carrier developed the formulas and equipment that made air conditioning equipment possible.  The world's first spray type air conditioning equipment was Carrier's 'Apparatus For Treating Air', which he correctly predicted would be used to enhance comfort as well as improve industrial processes and products.  In 1911 Carrier disclosed his formula to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is still used as the basis for all air conditioning calculations today.  He also developed the first safe, low pressure centrifugal refrigeration machine using non-toxic, non-flammable refrigerant marked the beginning of the era of comfort cooling.

By controlling humidity as well as temperature, he invented air conditioning as we know it today!

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!

Click Here To View Details Of This Patent Print! 

Jan 1 - Car Wash - Sherman Industries

Patent Art Print Of The Day!

Sherman Industries Car Wash Patent
Patent Date: January 1, 1991
Invented By: Sherman Larson
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This patent was granted to our son-in-law's grandfather ... so we thought it was only fitting to start the year out with information about Sherman Larson and Sherman Industries and the inventions of the automatic car washing system.

In the late 60's and early 70's, Hanna Car Wash and Sherman Supersonic had both been experimenting with the exterior-only wash concept as a viable alternative to the high labor, full-service car wash. With the exterior concept there were no employees vacuuming or detailing at the exit end, and not only was the operator able to eliminate many employee’s, but also increase the volume of cars that could be washed on any given day. This concept was then presented to the oil companies as a method to increase their gasoline sales.

By giving away a free carwash with a minimum eight-gallon purchase, the oil companies launched the first major exterior wash concept on a national scale. 

Hanna and Sherman, along with the oil companies became the major pioneers of a totally new approach to washing vehicles. In early 1969, this revolutionary marketing approach was launched nationwide, and the rest is history.  

If it were not for wrap-around brushes, the exterior concept would never have succeeded. The story of the invention goes something like this: Both Dan Hanna and Sherman Larson invented and applied for a patent on the wrap around brush at the same time, but neither knew who had applied first. In order to make sure that they both could use the concept, they cross-licensed each other.

Thanks for looking ~JandŸ

Patent Place USA

Home to thousands of Patent Art Prints, just like this one!

Click Here To View Details Of This Patent Print! 

The Wright Flyer Patent

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two Americans who are generally credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903.

The brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing flight possible.

Orville Wright (1871 - 1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867 - 1912) requested a patent application for a "flying machine" nine months before their successful flight in December 1903. Their US patent claims the invention of a system of aerodynamic control that manipulates a flying machine's surfaces.

Patent Place USA has this patent, along with all of the other Wright Brothers patents.

Father Of Invention

When the United States Patent Office celebrated its one hundredth birthday, a bust of Thomas Jefferson was dedicated recognizing him as one of the fathers of that institution. Probably no more eminent or more reluctant person held the post as examiner of American patents. As Secretary of State, Jefferson also inherited the Patent Office, a governmental function which he was originally opposed to philosophically. But, he probably did more to encourage the flourishing of American invention through his direction of the patent office than any other American in history. The patent system he created remains the basis for the patent system of today. Much of the present structure, rules, and guidelines, were established by him.

Jefferson's views on patents should not surprise those who are aware of his views about democracy and equality. He opposed patents strongly because he considered it an unfair monopoly. He would later become more in their favor when he discovered the power they had to encourage invention. For Jefferson the purpose of the patent office was to promulgate invention, not protect them. These two reasons are why he formulated a policy for patents that encouraged invention but maintained restrictions on what could be patented. Thus he was able to be true to his beliefs and perform the duties foisted upon him by the Patent Act of 1790.

The number of applications during the two years of Jefferson's term was 114 and he probably examined each one. About half of those who petitioned for patents received them because of Jefferson's strict rules. Only sixty-seven patents were granted during his tenure, among them to Eli Whitney for the cotton gin.

Jefferson's hand and influence giving protection to the inventor but access to the user, as well as the utility of the invention are still benchmarks of the United States Patent Office. He truly, should be recognized as a "Father of Invention." 

Did you know?

Here are some fun facts about some patents that we sell in our store at Patent Place USA.

• That Harry Houdini patented a DIVING SUIT ... and a DOLL?
• That SLINKY was patented by a Naval engineer who was trying to develop something for a battleship?
  
• John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, patented the famous LINCOLN LOGS?
  
• That someone actually patented the COMB-OVER? 
  
• That one of our most popular patent art print is one for a MALE CHASTITY BELT from 1908?
  
• That Pez patented a PEZ CANDY DISPENSING GUN?  Just what every child needs to learn ... how to point a gun in their mouths ... Crazy!
  
• That the only US President to hold a US patent is ABRAHAM LINCOLN?
  
• That the DRIVE-IN-THEATER was actually patented?
  
• The WRIGHT BROTHERS, from our home town of Dayton, Ohio, has several patents for the their airplanes?
  
• After WWII, PRESTON TUCKER designed, built and promoted an innovative car with features, power, and aerodynamic design never before seen and at a very good price.  His company folded after building 51 cars.

 Much more about these and other great patents in the near future!

Are all patent art prints the same?

What is a Patent Art Print?  Are they all the same?

Well, that depends on who you ask and where you look.  In most cases a patent art print will fall into one of the following grades:

Grade A (Premium Grade):
This will be a print of a patent document that has been digitally enhanced from the original US Patent Office images. The illustration pages and the text pages should be printed on parchment paper. Excellent for display, framing and for use in research, this type of print will be void of the specks, tears and smudges from years of handling in the US Patent office, as found on the lesser grades. You can also expect that the images have been centered, straightened and the illustrations may have even have been magnified or rotated for better viewing.

Grade B:
This will be a print of a patent document as it comes from the US Patent Office, with illustration pages on parchment paper, and text pages on generic white paper. This grade of print is best reserved for use in research, as this type of print will feature the specks, tears and smudges from years of handling in the US Patent office. You can also expect black edges, which are typical of photocopies and document scans which are made with scanner’s cover open.

Grade C:
This will be a print of a patent document as it comes from the US Patent Office, on generic white paper. This tends to be the way inexpensive prints are being sold. This might be fine for research, but this type of print will feature the specks, tears and smudges from years of handling in the US Patent office. You can also expect black edges, which are typical of photocopies and document scans which are made with scanner’s cover open.

Grade D (The non-print option):
This is will be some variation of an electronic file, either sent in the mail as a CD, or via email as a PDF file. This will always be a copy of the patent document as it came from the US Patent Office. Nothing more.  These images will feature the specks, tears and smudges from years of handling in the US Patent office and you can also expect black edges, which are typical of photocopies and document scans which are made with scanner’s cover open.

At Patent Place we pride ourselves in selling only the best patent art prints.  Below are some examples of what they look like before our extensive process and how they look after.

Patent Place Start

So, why did we start Patent Place USA?

It all started back in 1997 when our son broke his leg for the second time. My husband was fascinated by the little tool that the doctor had just used to remove the 50 staples from our son's incision. As the doctor made a motion to toss the little tool in the trash my husband sprang to his feet and demanded the little device, like it was the last french fry in the bottom of the McDonald's bag!

Back at home we were hardly through the door and he was on the Internet researching the origins of the funky little staple remover. Several days later he was proudly presenting our not-too-impressed son with a copy of the patent for the little gadget. "Great dad" he said, as he rolled his eyes towards me, but I could see that my husband had really enjoyed the thrill of the hunt for that silly patent. As our children grew up and moved out of our once noisy home, I realized that I needed something to fill the void before the 'empty nest' syndrome got the best of me. Fast forward to today and you see what that one little obsession has turned into? Now I've caught the bug too and admit that it's a thrill to find an elusive patent print, to clean it up and to see the final product looking as good as the day it was submitted!

We invite you to visit us at Patent Place USA, add us to your 'favorites' for future gift-giving, and help us help you find that wonderful patent art print that should be gracing the wall of your home or office by dropping us a note. We will be happy to do all the research to find it, and will add to our listings for your purchase ... all for free.