Inventors have reason to squirm a bit over the weather, suggests this new study about the granting — or rejection — of patents. The study is: “Too hot to reject: The effect of weather variations on the patent examination process at the United States Patent and Trademark Office,” Balázs Kovács [pictured here], Research Policy, vol. […]
Tag: Patents
Keith Raniere’s inventive patents
Keith Raniere, whose inventive uses of human beings are, some of them, profiled in the New York Times under the headline “Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded“, has filed unusual patent applications. Here are three of those patent applications that relate to things other than branding women. “Determination of whether a luciferian can be […]
Inventing an Artificial Banana (reconfigurable)
Sometimes, if one were to purchase an artificial-fruit display (for example featuring bananas) one may eventually become frustrated – in the sense that the display is not easily re-configured. Thus, one may be left with just one expensive option. “Currently, the only way to vary the configuration or display of artificial fruit is to purchase […]
Showcasing the Venturi Didgeridoo (new patent)
Dr. Charles Adams Eaton, who is an instructor at the University of New Mexico, has invented the “Venturi Didgeridoo” (or “Reverse Didgeridoo”) for which a US patent 8,466,361 was granted June 18, 2013. The new didgeridoo not only manages to produce much lower tones than would normally be expected for its length, it also converts […]
More Flying Saucer Patents (Russian Federation style)
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is not the only blue-chip global-reach official authority which grants patents to the inventors of spacefaring ‘flying saucers‘. So does Федеральная служба по интеллектуальной собственности (Роспатент) (The Federal Service for Intellectual Property in Russia, a.k.a. Rospatent). See, for example : AEROSPACE AIRCRAFT (RF Patent № 2436715) The design […]
Some vexed machines
Donald Simanek compiled a long, yet undoubtedly very, very partial list of patents for machines that do not and, by their nature, cannot work as described. (Thanks to investigator Timmy Barton for bringing it to our attention.) Here’s one item: 1857 [No. 1330] Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau of London, Agent. Hydraulic motor. The “bucket […]
Slow Bite™ — Bite Slow and Fight Obesity (new patent)
“Overweight [sic] and obesity are some of the most common health and social problems. Millions of people suffer from overweight [sic], which is considered to be a main cause for diseases and early death. “ So what’s to be done? The quote above comes from a new US patent (Feb. 19th 2013) which offers a […]
Dr. Fish, Dr. Watts and their cetacean tubercules
“Major discoveries always come with a story: Newton had his apple, Archimedes had his bath tub, and Dr. Frank E. Fish, while shopping for a gift, examined a sculpture of a humpback whale in a shop and issued a fatefully inaccurate observation: ‘Look at that. The sculptor put the bumps on the wrong side of the flipper.’ […]
Introducing the Terahertz Egg, with water imprinting (new patent)
On March 5th 2013 the US patent office issued a patent centered around the enigmatic concept of “imprinting” water. More specifically : “The present invention provides a method for imprinting water so as to emit Terahertz radiation and a method for maintaining the freshness of foodstuff with an article containing the imprinted water.“ [For comprehensive […]
Bubble Weapons: one way to sink a ship
The next time you hear the phrase : “You can’t sink a battleship by blowing bubbles at it.” you’ll be able, with some degree of confidence, to inform the speaker that they’re probably wrong. A new US patent issued on Feb 12th 2013, describes what the inventors call a Bubble Weapons System. Fanciful though it […]