Many patents are noteworthy. Perhaps the first patent for a new technology or a patent from a famous person makes them interesting. You may find a few of these eye-opening.
• Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson – Duck Call Apparatus
• President Abraham Lincoln – Buoying Vessels Over Shoals
• Steve Job’s first patent – Personal Computer
• Ben Franklin – Refused to patent any invention, even when offered the chance to do so. He believed that since he benefited from inventions done by people who lived before him, others should also benefit from his inventions.
• First US patent: USX1 The making of Pot ash and Pearl ashes (Samuel Hopkins) signed by George Washington.
• Hedy Lamarr, a famous woman actor in the 1940’s, received a patent for a Secret Communication System for torpedoes. This invention was significant for two reasons: it was at the forefront of spread-spectrum communications that are now in widespread use and because this invention occurred in a time when many people preferred to think of women as actors rather than inventors.
