Category:
Patents

Tornado-Proof House With Tail

The idea, from an 1890 patent, was to make the house aerodynamic (long and narrow) and then attach it to a turntable, so that it could turn to face the wind.

I'm sure there must be some basic flaw in the concept. I imagine the entire house being spun like a top by the wind.





Source: Popular Mechanics - Apr 1910

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 04, 2015 - Comments (19)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Nineteenth Century

Toilet Sanitary Shield For Men

Florida inventor Vladimir Laurent recently received a patent for a device which he describes as a "toilet sanitary shield for male genitalia." From his patent application:

The toilet sanitary shield for male genitalia is a device that is placed in the toilet to prevent the male genitalia from touching the walls of the toilet while in use. The toilet sanitary shield for male genitalia comprises a shield, a securing device, and a ball and socket joint.

Laurent told the South Florida Business Journal, "It's a home product and it's designed for a specific need, for something that I felt was needed, personally." He also said that he's spent "between $25,000 and $30,000" on developing the product.

His patent included a line drawing (below) which illustrates his device being used. I've put a purple circle over the male dangly bit, in order to avoid any risk of offending that company which pays our web hosting bill (because that company is easily offended). You can see the unaltered patent image at the South Florida Biz Journal link above.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 05, 2015 - Comments (13)
Category: Bathrooms, Inventions, Patents, Genitals

MacLevy Leg Massager

Image source: Time magazine - April 19, 1948


Displayed at a Beauty Shop trade convention in Manhattan's Grand Central Palace, April 1948.

The machine (the MacLevy Leg Massager) was marketed to beauty shop owners. The introduction of home permanent wave kits in the mid-1940s had caused a steep decline in business for beauty shops, so the inventors of machines such as the leg massager were promising the shop owners that they could lure customers back by installing gadgets such as this, which would allow them to offer new services without having to hire trained masseuses.

The leg massager was invented by Monte MacLevy, who filed a patent application for it in July 1939. From the patent:

[It is] the contemplation of my invention to provide mechanical means for massaging a persons legs and thighs in a manner that has heretofore been possible only by a well-executed manual massage. And in this aspect of my invention it is a further objective to effect a simultaneous massage of the calf and thigh so as to produce most efiective results in a minimum of time. It is also within the contemplation of my invention to enable the massaging operation to be effectuated while the legs are relieved of practically all strain, an objective that I attain by providing such supporting means for the subject as to enable him to recline in a position where the legs and thighs are conveniently supported in natural angular relation with respect to each other so that they may be completely relaxed during the massaging operation. And in this aspect of my invention it is a further object to provide mechanical massaging implements simultaneously and operably movable in different directions so as to be engageable with various portions of both legs and thighs.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 21, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Patents, 1940s

Hiccupops

What were you doing when you were 16? Not much? 16-year-old Mallory Kievman has invented a cure for hiccups (one that apparently actually works) and set up a business to manufacture it. She's also been invited to the White House Science Fair in a few days. From patch.com:

Kievman invented "hiccupops" after her own bout with the hiccups around the seventh grade. She researched cures and found three things that helped cure them (and were backed up by some scientific research) — apple cider, sugar and sucking on lollipops. She decided to combine all three into one product... Kievman then started setting up a business to manufacture it. Right now, she’s on the brink of getting it distributed and ready for sale.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 20, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Medicine

Yoga Patent

A company called YogaGlo recently received a patent for the concept of an "image capturing device" placed in "a studio having a front area and a rear area" and containing an instructor and a "plurality of students." Which is to say, they've patented the idea of filming a yoga class.

The Washington Post credits the reward of this patent to the "culture of the patent office," which views "more patenting as a good thing" and doesn't like to reject patents lest examiners get "bogged down in never-ending arguments with applicants."

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 14, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Inventions, Patents

Global Warming Solved

Nike recently filed a patent application for "a golf ball that includes carbon dioxide absorbents in order that the golf ball may reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to aid in alleviating global warming."

So if we all just play more golf, that global warming thing should be reversed in no time! [via Mother Jones]

Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 09, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Sports

The Fire Escape Parachute

Patented by Benjamin Oppenheimer in 1879. I wonder if he ever tried testing it.


Be it known that I, Benjamin B. Oppenheimer, of Trenton, in the county of Gibson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and Improved Fire-Escape, of which the following is a specification.

The accompanying drawing represents a side view of a person with my improved fire escape or safety device, by which a person may safely jump out of the window of a burning building from any height; and land, without injury and without the least damage, on the ground; and it consists of a parachute attached, in suitable manner, to the upper part of the body, in combination with overshoes having elastic bottom pads of suitable thickness to take up the concussion with the ground.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 22, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Nineteenth Century

The Scream Muffler



Patent No. 4834212, issued on May 30, 1989 to inventors Moira and Frank Figone.:

There is a need in our complex society for a device which can be placed over the mouth and into which a person may yell or scream but which muffles the sound so others are not disturbed. Such a device would even be more useful if it provided an indication of the intensity of the sound thereby providing feedback to the user.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a sound muffler which can be placed over the mouth to receive and muffle sound from the mouth. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sound muffler which provides means for measuring and indicating the intensity of the sound which is muffled.

But there seems to be a prior art issue here, because I did a news search and found a story about a woman, Diane Berkowitz, who was selling a scream muffler in 1987 described as a "silver-colored sphere which opens to reveal some sort of sound-absorbent acoustic foam."

Perhaps the Figones were able to claim their device was unique because Berkowitz didn't add blinking lights to indicate the scream intensity.

Ripley's Believe It or Not - Mar 5, 1987



The White Plains Journal News - Aug 7, 1987

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 22, 2009 - Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, Patents

Sloped Writing

It's not a bad idea, though it has no chance of ever becoming widely adopted. Inventor Paolo Bizziocchi proposes that it would be easier to read text if it were sloped downhill from left to right, so that each new line would be at the same height as the line just finished. This would allow "a quick-reading without mistakes and delays whatsoever."

Bizziocchi filed a patent that includes this helpful illustration:



What I don't understand is how this was patentable. People have been writing with lines at all kinds of crazy angles ever since writing was invented.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 20, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, Patents

Sick Human Detector

A Belgian company has filed a patent for an invention designed to detect sick travelers in airports. They call it a device for the "RECOGNITION AND LOCALISATION OF PATHOLOGIC ANIMAL AND HUMAN SOUNDS."

The idea is to place microphones around airports that will zero in on the sound of people coughing. The people hacking their lungs out can then be prevented from boarding a plane. A less controversial use of the technology is to detect sick pigs in pig pens.

Can people be stopped from traveling because they have a cold? I've never seen that done, but I'd like it (despite the inconvenience to the sick people) 'cause otherwise they infect everyone else on the plane. Though of course, if I were the one kicked off a plane I'd be seeing red. (via New Scientist)

Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 17, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Health, Disease, Inventions, Patents, Travel

Page 22 of 23 pages ‹ First  < 20 21 22 23 > 




weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •