26Load Screen Games
There was a 20-year patent on mini-games during loading screens of computer games that only expired in 2015. This is why all loading screens weren’t interactive until then and usually only contained flavor or lore text.
27. There exists a patent for a nuclear-powered drill that heats up the tip of the drill to high enough temperatures to melt rocks and create a glass-coated tunnel.
28. Wilhelm Neubronner used pigeons to deliver medications from his pharmacy. When neighboring villages received their own pharmacies, his son patented the invention of aerial photography by attaching cameras to the pigeons.
29. Alexander Cumming was an inventor who was the first person to patent a flush toilet in 1775. Cumming included an s-trap in the design to prevent sewer gasses from entering the building through the toilet. Modern toilets still incorporate this design.
30. Patent trolls cost businesses $29 billion a year in direct losses and account for almost 2/3 of patent lawsuits. Companies that have to pay patent trolls reduce R&D spending, by an average of $211 million and invest in legal representation at the expense of technology development.
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31Neil Young Patents
Musician Neil Young not only used to own a part of the Lionel LLC model train company, but he also helped design the Lionel Legacy control system and his name is on seven model train-related patents.
32. The US Patent Office building was the only major government building to survive the British burning of Washington D.C. during the War of 1812. Superintendent Dr. William Thorton persuaded the British that they’d be destroying the shared intellectual record of mankind if the patents were burned.
33. Amazon owns the patent for purchasing things with a single mouse click.
34. The Super Soaker was invented in 1990 by NASA engineer, and Air Force Veteran Lonnie George Johnson who describes himself as a “part of a small group of African-American inventors whose work accounts for 6 percent of all U.S. patent applications.”
35. Henry Bessemer, the engineer largely credited with the invention of modern steel, also invented or contributed to embossed postage stamps, long sheets of plate glass, military weapons, and a method for extracting sugar from sugar cane. He eventually earned nearly 130 patents.
