Category:
Patents
The Invention Merit Badge has the distinction of being the least-earned boy scout merit badge ever. Only 10 people ever earned it. The primary reason for this being that it required a scout to "invent and patent some useful article," which was a pretty high bar to set. After only three years the scout organization decided it was too much of a challenge and discontinued the badge. So it was only offered from 1911 to 1914. It was eventually replaced in 2010 by an Inventing badge which didn't have the patent requirement.
Enthusiasts of scout history have tried to figure out who the 10 winners of the badge were and what they invented, but so far it seems that only one of the patents has been identified. It was a "uniform coat with a removable false sleeve on which Scouts could sew merit badges and rank badges," patented by Graeme Thomas Smallwood of Washington, D.C.
More info:
Scouting Magazine,
"History of the Invention Merit Badge" [pdf]

Graeme Smallwood
Patent awarded to Paul Bungo of Ambridge, Pennsylvania - July 20, 1971:
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a whisper seat for a toilet and which prevents sounds, made within a toilet bowl during a bowel movement, from being heard by other persons.
Another object is to provide a whisper seat which accordingly will eliminate the embarrassment to an occupant of a bath room that persons outside thereof have heard him during a bowel movement.
I can't imagine that this invention actually worked, because how would it stop the sound from coming out from between your legs?
Invented by Russell Greathouse of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Patented on Jan 23, 1973.
This invention relates to a toe holder or similar device for holding one’s feet together when sunbathing or the like, and it includes the process of applying the toe holder.
When a sunbather lies on his back his feet are not normally held perpendicular to the ground, but swing outward. As a result, the inner surfaces of the legs are subjected more intensely to the sun’s rays than the outer surfaces. By the use of a toe holder or similar device which holds the big toes adjacent one another a relatively uniform burning effect is obtainable.
The toe holder shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 includes two rings 5 and 6 joined by the web 7. There is a small hole 8 through the web. This hole is not necessary but provides means for decorating the toe holder, and in the drawing the stem 10 of a flower (natural or artificial) is held in the opening 8.
When the chair rocked, visible adverts scrolled in the arms of the chair. So much for our age having a monopoly on intrusive ads.
Complete patent here.
Patented Dec 29, 1903 by Joseph Karwowski:
This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in methods of preserving the dead; and it has for its object the provision of a means whereby a corpse may be hermetically incased within a block of transparent glass, whereby being effectually excluded from the air the corpse will be maintained for an indefinite period in a perfect and life-like condition, so that it will be prevented from decay and will at all times present a lifelike appearance...
In carrying out my process I first surround the corpse 1 with a thick layer 2 of sodium silicate or water-glass. After the corpse has been thus inclosed within the layer of waterglass it is allowed to remain for a short time within a compartment or chamber having a dry heated temperature, which will serve to evaporate the water from this incasing layer, after which molten glass is applied to the desired thickness. This outer lay of glass may be molded into a rectangular form 3, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, or, if preferred, cylindrical or other forms may be substituted for the rectangular block which I have illustrated. In Fig. 3 I have shown the head only of the corpse as incased within the transparent block of glass, it being at once evident that the head alone may be preserved in this manner, if preferred.
It will be at once noted that a body preserved in this way may be kept indefinitely, as the body being hermetically inclosed within the outer glass covering it will be impossible for air to reach it, and hence it will be effectually preserved from decay. The glass surrounding the corpse being transparent, the body will be at all times visible.
Patent #US4781174A:
Heat rays of the sun are concentrated and focussed by means of a reflective and/or lenticular device at a focal point for the purpose of the cremation of corpses, and their reduction to ashes thereby, either as a system per se or in combination with various ancillary buildings, equipment and facilities, more particularly an auditorium structure for conducting a funeral service or the like and from which a corpse may be transferred to the focal point of the concentrating device preferably by elevating the corpse through an opening in the ceiling and/or roof of the structure.
Seems like something a James Bond villain would create, if he were in the funeral business.
Back in the day when the theft of hats from hatracks was an ongoing problem, Frank P. Snow of Los Angeles patented this invention designed to inflict pain on any would-be hat thieves.
A thief could take the hat, but if he tried to put it on, a "guarding prong" would jab into his skull. The prong locked in place and could only be moved if you knew the code to the combination lock.

Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office - June 2, 1914
US Patent Application No. 2009/0195400A1 describes an invention that can "provide a warning or alert regarding the position of the zipper."
Sounds potentially useful. What kind of warning does it give you? Apparently you've got a choice of a sound, vibration, having a page sent to a remote device, or getting an electric shock.
Patented by Clifford Malbon of Daytona Beach, Florida in 1977.
Patent # US4050125A. From the patent abstract:
An inflated casket which may remain deflated for storage prior to use and for transportation prior to storage. The casket body is provided with one or a plurality of chambers into which a fluid substance is injected for distending the chambers to cause the casket body to assume an erect position for use. The fluid substance while usually in the form of a gas, such as air, may constitute a substance which will subsequently solidify to produce a substantially rigid casket body.

Naples Daily News - Dec 11, 1977
U.S. Patent No. 6,618,419.
Abstract: A forehead support apparatus for resting a standing users forehead against a wall above a bathroom commode or urinal or beneath a showerhead. The apparatus includes a mounting member adapted for attachment to an upright bathroom wall either above the commode or urinal or below the showerhead.