Archiv für den Monat: Februar 2012

More than just a can

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It may look like an ordinary sardine can, but before you get stuck or lost, check this out. The Wistle Creek Companys survival items in a genuine air-tight, waterproof, crushproof sardine can… Go fish with the hook and line, find your way home with the compass, boil water in the can for your tea and sugar, use the first aid supplies to survive the wilderness.


The kit includes the following items: non-aspirin pain reliever, adhesive bandage, alcohol prep pad, antibiotic ointment, book of matches, compass, chewing gum, sugar, salt, energy nugget, duct tape, fire starter cube, first aid instructions, fish hook & line, note paper, pencil, razor blade, safety pin, reflective signal surface, tea bag, waterproof bag, whistle, and wire clip.

Might be helpful, don´t you think?

Ever heard of the Lincoln patent?

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Presidents, especially the US ones, always attract a lot of attention. But there are some facts that aren’t commonly known. Well, that Barak Obama is the first African-American US-president and that he received the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 doesn´t sound new. But did you know that John F. Kennedy was so far the only Catholic American president and that he won a Purlitzer Prize.

And Abraham Lincoln? Do you know that he was the only United States President to hold a patent?

Want to know more? Read some quotes from about.com: Lincoln had a strong interest in new technology. As a young man he took a boatload of merchandise down the Mississippi River. At one point the boat slid onto a dam and was set free only after heroic efforts. In later years, while traveling on the Great Lakes, Lincoln’s ship ran afoul of a sandbar.

These two similar experiences led him to conceive his invention. In 1849 Abraham Lincoln received a patent for „A Device for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals“. Abraham Lincoln whittled the model for his patent application with his own hands out of wood. It is on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History.

The invention consisted of a set of bellows attached to the hull of a ship just below the water line. After reaching a shallow place, the bellows were filled with air that buoyed the vessel higher, making it float higher. The invention was never marketed, it was discovered that the extra weight the device added increased the probability of running onto sandbars, defeating the purpose of the invention.

The long distance kiss-messenger

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Don´t forget… Tomorrow is Valentine´s Day! In case your loved ones are far away Hooman Samani, an artificial intelligence researcher in Singapore, had an idea. He has developed a robot with a virtual mouth that can emulate and transmit a kiss – bringing an extra touch of intimacy to a long-distance relationship or even a video game.

The “Kissenger” has the size and shape of a softball and has a pair of touch-sensitive lips that detect and copy how each partner delivers the kiss.

Samani says as well as bridging the physical gap between real people it could also create a link with the virtual worlds to add a new dimension to gaming. Curious? Want to know how the „Kissenger“ works? Let´s have a closer look:


California leads the USA in innovation, or does it?

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Remember? We already told you about Utility patents. They are the most common patent type and a primary means of protecting intellectual property and technological innovation. IFI CLAIMS®Patent Services recently announced its top-50 ranking of global companies awarded the most U.S. utility patents in 2011. IBM remains in the first position, as it has for 19 years in a row, with a record of 6180 utility patents. Samsung trails second with 4894 and Canon replaces Microsoft in the third slot with 2821.

According to IFI, the USPTO issued 224.505 utility patents in 2011, an increase of two percent over 2010’s record breaking total. While preparing the 2011 Patent Intelligence and Technology Report, IFI analysts took a closer look at the 2011 US patent grants and in particular the location of the inventors named on these documents. Despite the obvious surge of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese companies in the Top 50 assignees, 50% of US patents in 2011 named US inventors.

Diving deeper into the US inventor information the IFI analysts could rank the States based on inventor data. In this case a patent is credited to a state if at least one of the patent’s inventors resides in the state. The top 10 states are shown below:

State
 2011 US Utility Patent Grants
California 32,715
Texas 9,407
New York 9,263
Massachusetts 7,106
Washington 5,737
New Jersey 5,583
Illinois 4,933
Pennsylvania 4,746
Michigan 4,644
Minnesota 4,609



As you see California is the clear leader with respect to the overall volume of patents accounting for 15% of the total number of US utility patents granted in 2011. However when you factor in population, IFI analysts find Vermont at the top of list along with Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The figure below shows a graph of the top 10 states by number of utility patents granted, and the number of patents granted per 100.000 residents.


So what exactly is going on in Vermont that accounts for its performance? The IFI analysts looked at the assignees and found IBM accounting for most of the patent activity. How come? IBM has a large facility in Burlington that designs and produces semiconductors.

Did you know the connection?

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Maple syrup, lacrosse and kayaks have one thing in common. Guess what? No idea? Well, they are all inventions of Native Americans. Yesterday we told you about some important inventions by African-Americans, today let´s have a closer look at things Native Americans came up with.

Maple syrup, for instance. Aboriginal peoples living in the northeastern part of North America were the first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar. They let the sap of the maple tree drip into pails and boiled it until it turned into syrup.




The game of lacrosse was invented by the American tribes living around the St. Lawrence River in New York and Ontario, and was spread by the Huron and the Iroquois.

Traditional lacrosse games were sometimes major events that could last serveral days. As many as 100 to 1000 men from opposite villages or tribes would participate. The Cherokees called the sport „the little brother of war“ because it was considered excellent military training.

The kayak on the other hand was invented by the Inuit Peoples. The skin-covered kayaks of the Arctic people are excellent examples of a technology developed over centuries of experimental refinement and everyday use.

Important African-American inventions

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Do you know that some of the world´s most popular inventions were created by African-Americans? In honor of Black History Month Inventors Digest is currently celebrating the valuable contributions of famous black inventors.

As an example the magazine names Lewis Howard Latimer. In 1874, he copatented (with Charles W. Brown) an improved toilet system for railroad cars. In 1881 Latimer received another patent for the „Process of Manufacturing Carbons“, an improved method for the production of carbon filaments used in lightbulbs.

We want to introduce you another important African-American inventor – Garrett Morgan.

He created a Safety Hood and 1914 patented it as a Breathing Device, which later came to be known as the Gas Mask. Morgan’s Gas Mask consisted of a hood with two long tubes, one allowing in clean air and the other allowing the user to exhale air out of the hood.

After witnessing a collision between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage, Morgan also took his turn at inventing a traffic signal. As you can read on about.com the Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This „third position“ halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely.

Do you want to know who invented the elevator, the lawn mower or the refrigerator.

Here you find a list of other important African-American inventors. Check it out!