Less Famous Inventions of Famous Inventors

There are a few inventors and their inventions that most people recognize. But usually these famous individuals claim many innovations, some of which have been largely ignored or even forgotten by the general population.

For example, probably the most famous inventor in America, Thomas Edison, is known for his electric lights, recording devices, electric transportation, and developing solutions to create a community-wide electric grid. He had more patents than any other person for decades, listed as an inventor (some joint) on 1,093 in the US alone.

One of those less frequently cited was for an electric vote recorder. Edison's "Electrographic Vote Recorder and Register" was issued patent no. 90,646 in June, 1869, years before his most illuminating (ha-ha) invention.

Edison's Electric Elections

Of course, Edison was known for being a fairly unpleasant person, and unfairly competing with contemporaries.

One such contemporary he maligned is another of America's greatest inventors, Alexander Graham Bell. You most likely know him as the inventor of the telephone. Bell invented and patented the device that would one day morph into today's ubiquitous, hand-held computer-inclusive smart phone in 1876.

Less influential and well-remembered is the "Aerial Vehicle", patent no. 757,012, of April 1904. It isn't sufficient to carry a person, and functions more as a kite, but clearly the interest of inventors had pivoted from communications and power to new transportation by the 20th century.

Fly with Bell!

Among the great electric inventors of the 19th century is Nikola Tesla. His was the mind behind equipping power grids with alternating electric current via Westinghouse Power (look up the "war of currents" sometime). His power and electrical inventions are the most well-known.

But, did you know he invented and patented a fountain? Indeed, Tesla was granted patent no. 1,113,716 for a fountain that could utilize more water in bigger, grander displays. 

Striking fountains from Tesla's labs

George Washington Carver was the most prominent agricultural scientist and innovator in his day. Urging Southern farmers struggling with soil depleted by cotton to use crop rotation systems that included nitrogen-replenishing legumes was just  one of his social contributions. He's usually associated with peanuts, with good reason. 

No, he wasn't actually the inventor of peanut butter (a frequently-made yet inaccurate claim), but he did publish a bulletin on how to grow peanuts and 105 uses for it, and is credited with eventually pioneering at least 300 uses.

What you likely don't know he invented was a cosmetic product, granted patent no. 1,522,176. This "vanishing cream", like a concealer, was based on... peanut oil. So it's still peanut-adjacent.

If you visited my summertime "Playful Patents" display, you probably saw something about one Lonnie G. Johnson. He's most famous for inventing a squirt gun popularized as the Super Soaker. 

But Johnson was actually a scientific genius outside his spare time making cool toys1, and worked for NASA for years. Evidence for this particular set of skills lies in his less-famous patent no. 4,476,693, Thermal Energy Accumulation. The purpose was to provide heated running water, such as in a kitchen sink, via more efficient processes than the standard commercially available systems.

A diagram of the thermal device

Taking a step back in time, one Isaac M. Singer is credited with inventing the mechanical sewing machine, and was subsequently issued many patents for it, the first in 1851. Singer is still among the most popular brands of sewing machines today.

Taking a step further back in time, Mr. Singer also invented a "Machine for Carving Wood or Metal", granted patent no. 6,310 in April 1849. He was issued a second patent for improvements to wood carving machines in 1855, but otherwise only received US patents for sewing machines and their related equipment. 

Singer facilitated many kinds of crafts

"The Real McCoy" is a phrase bandied about, with little knowledge of its origins. It comes from the frequent request for using his patented automatic lubricator products, which were superior to other cheap imitators.

Evidently McCoy also took a brief break from revolutionizing lubricants for heavy machinery and railroads to invent ironing tables. He was granted patent no. 150,876 in May, 1874 for one iteration, but no one really talks about this one when they bring up his legacy. 

Somehow not as famous as the automated lubricators

I'd like to have included some female inventors, but most of the well-known women were only issued patents for inventions equally familiar (which may be as much as 0 familiarity). Or, they were similar to Hedy Lamarr, who was famous as an actress, despite some of her incredible innovations and being a co-inventor of patent no. 2,292,387 "Secret Communication System" (listed with her married name).

If you know of any female inventors who had some less famous inventions, mention them in a comment.

Free, online 2022 Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship program February 17 and 24

 

Coming next week: Free, online 2022 Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship program February 17 and 24

Are you a current or aspiring inventor or entrepreneur? Would you like to learn from successful innovators and subject matter experts about keys to success and how to use your creativity to reach your full potential? If so, be sure to attend the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) free, online 2022 Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship program on February 17 and 24. Don’t miss these great opportunities to be inspired and informed.

Register and learn more about the February 17 event, “Defining tomorrow,”  where you’ll learn firsthand from successful innovators about networking, strategy, and securing funding for a business. Special guests include:

• Janet Emerson Bashen, CEO, Bashen Corporation
• Morgan DeBaun, Founder and CEO, Blavity Inc.
• Lanny Smoot, Disney Research Fellow, Imagineer. Mr. Smoot is also featured in this month's Journeys of Innovation: As if by magic.
• Stacy Spikes, Founder and CEO, Urbanworld Film Festival & PreShow, Co-founder, MoviePass

Register and learn more about the February 24 event, “Invest in ideas,” where you’ll learn how your creative spark can help build generational wealth. Special guests include:

• Ebonique Boyd, Co-founder of Budget Collector, art-tech entrepreneur, and nonprofit leader
• Stacy Brown-Philpot, Founding member of SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund, former CEO of TaskRabbit, investor, advisor
• Tani Chambers, Founder & CEO of RAVN
• James Howard, Executive Director, Black Inventors Hall of Fame

This program is presented by the USPTO’s Office of Innovation Outreach. For more information, please contact BlackInnovation@uspto.gov.

The USPTO offers many informative presentations, panels, and chats throughout the year. For more information, visit www.uspto.gov.

Inventing Modern Medicine, Black History Month Series: Charles Drew

Medical science of the early 20th century revolutionized the healing arts, but the unprecedented violence of the world wars still strained doctors’ and nurses’ ability to save lives. Charles R. Drew’s work in blood plasma preservation not only saved lives during World War II, but set precedents for blood collection, processing, and storage still used today. 

 

Drew began his research in blood transfusions as an undergraduate and continued through his postgraduate work at Columbia University and subsequent medical training. In 1940, shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Drew administered Blood for Britain, a storage and preservation program for blood plasma distribution in the United Kingdom. This project was the prototype for bloodmobiles and the modern blood collection process. 

 

In 1941, Drew was appointed the director of the first American Red Cross blood bank. However, Drew resigned from his post one year later in protest against the segregationist process of storing blood donated by African-Americans separately from blood donated by whites. 

 

Drew held U.S. Patent No. 2,389,355. Learn more about Charles Drew: http://bit.ly/3qvmn1w #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

 

 U.S. Patent No. 2,389,355

Title: Surgical Needle

Patented: November 20, 1945

Wine & IP

On Thursday, February 25 at 3 p.m. ET, join us for the first installment of our “Wine & IP” series to explore the intersection of #wine and #IntellectualProperty. USPTO’s Valencia Martin Wallace will join Julia Coney of

Black Wine Professionals

and the

Association of African American Vintners

to discuss efforts to create a fair and equitable future for all innovators and entrepreneurs.

Learn more and register for this free, virtual event: http://bit.ly/3dExGRf #WineIP

National Engineers Week -- Marshall Jones

“If you are truly following your passion, it’ll be easy to never give up.” 

 

On #NationalEngineersWeek, we are highlighting the work of mechanical engineer Marshall Jones. Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2017, Jones is a pioneer in the field of industrial lasers. His inventions include several novel methods to weld together dissimilar metals such as copper and aluminum, and he holds over 50 U.S. patents. Learn more about his work as an engineer in this short video: https://bit.ly/3dbaB8v

 

In challenging times, what inspires you to persevere? #FeaturedInductee #MotivationMonday

Inventing Modern Transportation, Black History Month Series--Frederick McKinley Jones

In modern America, the efficient movement of goods is vitally important to our ability to thrive. Frederick McKinley Jones’ invention of a portable air-cooling unit for trucks allowed produce to be shipped safely across the country, fostering healthier eating habits for Americans. Jones received several patents and co-founded the U.S. Thermo Control Company, which grew into the Thermo King Corporation. He was the first African American to be awarded the National Medal of Technology, which was posthumously presented to his widow in 1991. 

 

Jones’ mechanical skills in the fields of automobile and sound mechanics were mostly self-taught. A veteran of World War I, Jones also recognized the life-saving potential of his invention. The U.S. military used his portable cooling units to preserve food, blood, and medicine during World War II. His technology is still used on trucks, railroad cars, ships, and planes. #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

Learn more about Frederick McKinley Jones: http://bit.ly/2OA5vCL

 

 

U.S. Patent no. 2,303,857

Title: Air Conditioner for Vehicles

Patented: December 1, 1942

Inventing Modern Agriculture, Black History Month Series--Ned

For Ned, the inventor of an effective and innovative cotton scraper, the path from invention to patent led to foundational questions of legality and citizenship in early America. An enslaved blacksmith on a plantation in Pike County, Mississippi, Ned created a novel machine that could “scrape both sides of the cotton ridge at the same time, and plough out the middles or spaces between the ridges.” In 1857, Ned’s enslaver sought a patent in Ned’s name, seeing commercial opportunity in both the invention itself and the precedent of claiming ownership over the inventions of enslaved innovators. 

 

The Patent Commissioner required a sworn affidavit from Ned declaring that he was both the inventor and a citizen of the United States. Yet, in Dred Scott v. Sandford, decided earlier that year, the Supreme Court had determined that the rights of citizenship did not extend to Americans of African descent, whether enslaved or free. A non-citizen by law, Ned was ineligible for a patent, according to the U.S. Attorney General. This precedent limited innovation opportunities for Black Americans until the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870. 

 

Ned’s motivations, process, and hopes for his invention are unknown. But descriptions of the cotton scraper itself reveal his ingenuity and artisan skills. Ned’s story is representative of both the contribution of enslaved people to the creation of modern America and the potential for progress lost to the inhumane institution of slavery.

#BlackHistoryMonth 

#InventingModernAmerica

Inventing Modern Transportation, Black History Month Series: Garrett Morgan

Imagine making a left turn on a busy city street without the benefit of a traffic signal, an experience that may induce feelings of anxiety, frustration, and even fear. For Garrett Morgan, the growing need for traffic control in the early 20th century inspired his most well-known invention. With automobiles, horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, and pedestrians all sharing the same roads, traffic accidents were a growing and deadly problem, and traffic signals lacked standardization. Morgan developed a traffic control device with a third “warning” position, and received patent number 1,475,024 in 1923. He subsequently sold the rights for his patent to General Electric.

Born in Kentucky at the end of the Reconstruction era, Morgan had little formal education but an innate curiosity about how things worked. In addition to the traffic signal, he experimented with inventions in several different fields, including hair care products and a precursor to the gas mask. Morgan was also a community leader and an advocate for racial equality in his adopted city of Cleveland, an active member of the NAACP, and the founder of the “Cleveland Call,” a weekly newspaper. #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

Learn more about Garrett Morgan: http://bit.ly/2MOvqfg

 

U.S. Patent no. 1,090,936

Title: Breathing Device

Patented: March 24, 1914

 

U.S. Patent no. 1,475,024

Title: Traffic Signal

Patented: November 20, 1923

Inventing Modern Transportation, Black History Month Series--Benjamin Montgomery

Steamboats powered the movement of people and goods in the mid-19th century, with many communities still depending on the nation’s waterways for the necessities of everyday life. Inventor Benjamin Montgomery designed a steamboat propeller that could cut through shallow waters at different angles, limiting disastrous delays in shipments. 

 

Despite this clear improvement in existing technology, Montgomery never received a patent for his invention. Born into slavery in 1819, Montgomery’s patent application was denied in 1858 due to his legal status as a non-citizen. His enslaver then attempted to patent the propeller under his own name, but was denied on the basis of not being the true inventor. Despite not having intellectual property protection, Montgomery’s invention became a commercial success. 

 

Obtaining his freedom following the Civil War, Montgomery amassed significant wealth and worked to establish a prosperous community for newly free African Americans. Although Montgomery did not live to see this dream town become a reality, his son Isaiah purchased 840 acres of land in 1887 and founded the town of Mount Bayou, Mississippi. #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

Inventing Modern Agriculture, Black History Month Series-- Andrew J. Beard

A prolific inventor, two of Andrew J. Beard’s patents were improvements in agriculture. His first patent, received in 1881, was for a double plow design that allowed farmers to adjust the distance between plow plates. Beard’s second patent, issued in 1887, was for a plow that allowed for pitch adjustment, enabling farmers to further customize the equipment. 

 

Born on a small farm in Eastlake, Alabama, Beard was enslaved for the first 15 years of his life. After his emancipation during the American Civil War, he began working in flour mills and eventually built his own. This entrepreneurial spirit also led Beard to sell both his agricultural patents and invest the money in real estate. He continued to invent until almost the end of the 19th century. 

 

Beard is most well-known for his patents improving railroad coupling, revealing the close links between agriculture and transportation, a subject we will explore further next week. Read more about Beard’s inventions here: http://bit.ly/36RndNi #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

U.S. Patent no. 594,059

Title: Car-Coupling

Patented: November 23, 1897

Inventing Modern Agriculture, Black History Month Series--Henry Blair

Inventor Henry Blair’s two patents helped increase agricultural efficiency and output in early America. His first invention was a seed-planter that enabled farmers to plant more corn in a shorter period of time. Drawn by a horse, the device planted corn in a checkerboard pattern, which was good for weed control. He received Patent No. X8447 on October 14, 1834. Blair then devised a similar device for planting cotton, which he patented on August 31, 1836. That he signed both patents with the letter “x,” rather than his name, suggests that Blair probably couldn’t read or write and reflects the serious difficulty African Americans faced in trying to obtain formal educations in the early 19th century. 

 

Born in Maryland in 1807, Blair was part of a generation of Americans navigating the complexities of a new and growing republic. The rapid expansion of the U.S. population put enormous pressure on the food supply and increased the demand for cotton cloth. Meanwhile, westward expansion and the advent of the railroad opened up new lands and new markets. Blair’s inventions allowed farmers to increase their output to satisfy demand. #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

 

U.S. Patent no. X8447

Title: Seed Planter

Patented: October 14, 1834

U.S. Patent no. 15

Title: Cotton-Planter

Patented: August 31, 1836

 

Inventing the Modern Home, Black History Month Series -- Marie Van Brittan Brown

Everyone wants to feel safe at home. As a nurse living in Queens, New York, Marie Van Brittan Brown often came home after dark to an empty house. This, plus her husband’s long hours away as an electronics technician, drove Brown to invent a security system to see who was knocking at her door. 

 

The system created a closed-circuit television system for surveillance known as CCTV, which included peepholes, a television monitor, and two-way microphones. Brown was subsequently cited on 32 patents, and elements of her system are widely used today. She also served as an inspiration to her daughter, Norma, who grew up to be a nurse and an inventor.

 #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

Read more about Brown and her invention: https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/marie-van-brittan-brown

 

U.S. Patent no. 3,482,037

Title: Home Security System Utilizing Television Surveillance

Patented Dec. 2, 1969

Inventing the Modern Home, Black History Month Series -- Thomas Jennings

Thomas Jennings’ invention for a method of dry-scouring clothes was groundbreaking in many ways. The predecessor to dry cleaning, the invention was born from necessity. A skilled tailor and successful businessman in New York City, Jennings experimented until he found a method of cleaning that did not harm clothes. He received his patent in 1821, one of the first known African American patent holders in U.S. history.

Although Jennings was a freedman, his wife and children were enslaved. He used the proceeds from his invention to purchase his family’s freedom, and became active in abolitionist and civil rights work. When his daughter Elizabeth was forcibly removed from a “whites only” streetcar, he helped organize a legal defense fund against segregation on public transportation in New York City. Elizabeth won her case in 1855, the same year Thomas helped found the pioneering Legal Rights Association. Jennings’ story represents just one example of innovation driving positive social change. #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

Read more about Jennings: https://www.invent.org/inductees/thomas-jennings

 

U.S. Patent no. 3306x

Title: Dry Scouring

Patented March 3, 1821

Inventing the Modern Home, Black History Month Series -- Sara E. Goode

Efficient use of space in the home has been a concern for Americans for generations. The design for Sarah E. Goode’s 1885 patent for a folding cabinet bed was an early example of the flexible and modular furniture used in many homes today. A precursor to the Murphy bed, Goode’s design collapsed into a roll-top desk when not in use, a perfect design for the home office.

Goode and her husband, a carpenter named Archibald, owned a furniture store in Chicago. Many of their customers lived in small apartments and benefitted from Goode’s economical design. Despite being one of the first African American women to hold a patent in the United States, not much is known about Goode’s life. Aside from U.S. Census records, the primary official written record of Goode’s movements and career is her patent application. #BlackHistoryMonth #InventingModernAmerica

 

U.S. Patent no. 322177

Title: Cabinet-Bed

Patented July 14, 1885.

Celebrate Black History Month: Granville Woods, the black Thomas Edison

An article written by John Schlipp, (an Intellectual Property Librarian and Professor of Library Science at W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University (NKU)), for the Northern Kentucky Tribune newspaper.   www.nkytribune.com

Our Rich History: Granville Woods, the black Thomas Edison, was noted inventor and held many patents

By John Schlipp
Special to NKyTribune

 A note from the “Our Rich History” editor: In celebration of the beginning of Black History Month, we honor the vast achievements of African-American inventor, Granville Woods. Nationally acclaimed as the “Black Edison,” Woods first achieved notable success in the Cincinnati region.

In 1888 Granville Woods, a highly respected Black inventor, was “unmercifully beaten” by Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) employees. Woods had purchased a first-class ticket on the L&N from Cincinnati to Nashville, and during the first leg of that journey to Louisville, sat in relative comfort in first class. Upon arriving in Louisville, however, a new crew “objected to a colored man riding through the ‘Dark and Bloody Ground’ [the South] in first-class style, and attempted to eject him from the car.” When Woods resisted, the crew beat him (“A Colored Man’s Rights,” Cincinnati Post, June 25, 1888, p. 4).

Of all the possible ironies in history, this incident should be recorded in the history books. After all, it was Granville Woods’ many inventions that literally made American railroads safe, fast, and efficient. One of his principal patents, in fact, enabled instantaneous telegraphic communication between the conductors of moving trains and station masters. Thanks to Woods, at any time railroads could keep track of where their trains were, thereby preventing unnecessary collisions.

Granville T. Woods. Source: The Evening Repository, March 12, 1892, p. 12.

By 1904 Granville Woods held 35 patents (“Brain to the Front,” Cleveland Gazette, April 23, 1904, p. 2). In the United States, a patent is a property right granted by the federal government. It gives an inventor the right to the benefits of commercialization of their invention. Patents provides innovators an incentive to invent by owning the fruits of their intellectual labor for a specified period of time.

Despite the huge hurdles........

To read the entire article please click here.