Well, not literally. That's not patentable. But it's been far too long since my last post, and today is my birthday, so I thought it would be a good day for a themed post.
Happy birthday, to me.
So I of course performed a birthday cake-focused patent search. Let's take a look at a few of what I feel are the most interesting, most fun, or most notable inventions.
First up, US 11,808,276: Systems, method, and apparatus for blowing out birthday candles. This deserves the top spot not because it is very inventive, unusual, or even very useful. No, it earns that honor because someone managed to write a patent that convinced the USPTO to issue a new patent in 2023 for what is essentially a portable fan. I suspect this was born of someone's horror that the birthday girl gets to blow her germs all over a cake. Now, with this little fan, you can manually power, via spring (no battery or other electric mechanism seems to be included), a slightly cleaner blast of air. Hopefully no one inhaled and exhaled that particular bit of atmosphere.
Next is US 2,786,345, the Candle holder for birthday cakes, which are very fancy looking. I grew up in a family and era when most people just jabbed candles directly into a cake. Very occasionally, someone would use cheap plastic candle holders. But these are fit for an occasion, each capable of supporting multiple candles. If anyone would like to give me a belated gift, and also has a knack for finding potentially non-existent novelty items, this is perfect.
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| These are nice. |
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| Neat! |
This is me, meaning I'll always include a plant whenever possible. US PP16,158 comes in fourth, with xHeucherella plant named 'Birthday Cake'. Now, it's unfortunate, but the only color photo I could find was truly awful, so we can't get a good idea of its appearance. Nonetheless, from descriptions, it sounds delicious (!) with chocolate colored ruffled leaves and creamy white flowers like candles.
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| This is a terrible photo and I'm sorry |