Patent Pending Blog - Patents and the History of Technology

Victorian Microscope

Allan Wissner of antique-microscopes.com has in interesting list of early microscope patents, with one of them shown below.  This microscope provides a focus adjustment by use of screw threads, instead of the previous friction grip of the tube.  More antique microscopes are to be found at Allan's site.

Lewisii tweedyi

These are examples of  Lewisii tweedyi, with text from an article at www.wenatcheeoutdoors.com by my friend Marc Dilley. Wenatchee Outdoors has a list of other articles here.

A gentle belle--resplendent in a muted setting of sharp needles, gritty soil and cold stone--Tweedy’s Lewisia clings to life in the least likely of environments.



Valued by many experts as the world’s premier rock garden plant, L. tweedyi is unique to impoverished, rocky settings in Wenatchee and Methow subranges of the Washington Cascades and in Manning Park, British Columbia. It was named after Frank Tweedy, a U.S. Geological Survey botanical collector who made the first ascent of Mt. Stuart on August 5, 1883. Much of L. tweedyi’s renown is due to its extravagant bloom.



A large flowering specimen can be spotted hundreds of feet away, its mass of flowers lighting the way like a beacon. While flowers are typically two to 10 per plant, individuals with 50 to 100 blooms are not uncommon.

Flowers in all stages of development may coexist on these large specimens.

Crepuscular Rays

Here is a new word for me, maybe it will be for you also.  Crepuscular rays are when lights rays stream through clouds and radiate from the sun.  An example is shown below.  Crepuscular is also a biology term for animals that are active in the twilight, as opposed to being nocturnal or diurnal.

Hamster Music

Cornell student Levi Lorenzo wanted to do a project about MIDI music technology,  so the project he came up with was to build a hamster controlled music generator.  The hamster controller uses 6 hamsters to control 3 rythmic tones.  One hamster controls the "rythmic qualities of the melodies", and the other controls the note sequence.  As the hamsters wander back and forth in their passages, the music created changes according to their position.  The music is actually not bad!

On Levi's web page, there are links to more information, sound recordings, and a video of the hamsters making music.

The World's Oldest Seed Germination

The ArchaeoBlog has a bit about a 2000 year old date palm seed recently germinated, citing a longer article in the International Herald Tribune.  The seed was found at Masada, the Jewish fortress in which the defenders killed themselves rather than surrender to the Romans.

A seed is alive, carries on respiration, and requires oxygen and food, the food coming from stored carbohydrates in the seed.  Apparently it doesn't require much food, or it would be dead after 2000 years.  One of the date palm seeds found there germinated, and scientists hope it grows to a mature date palm tree, which will take 30 years.  The palm seed is of a species that has been long extinct, and was much praised by people in antiquity.  It could have DNA for disease resistance and hardiness that has been lost during the past twenty centuries.  Now that's pretty neat!

Math trick

Here is a math trick from my buddy Martin that is so unbelievable that it will stump you.

If someone can explain why this works, let me know. 

      1. Grab a calculator. (you won't be able to do this one in your head)
      2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code)
      3. Multiply by 80
      4. Add 1
      5. Multiply by 250
      6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
      7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
      8. Subtract 250
      9. Divide number by 2

       Do you recognize the answer?

Spring Wildflowers

If you live in Idaho, Oregon, Eastern Washington, or Montana, you will recognize the wildflower "arrowleaf balsamroot", which is in full bloom in the foothills around Boise right now.  My friend Marc and I tried to dig one out one time, with the tap root intact so we could transplant it .  It had a taproot as big as your arm, and we found it to be more than 4 feet deep.  We gave up on getting all of it, so it might have been 6 feet deep or more.  The Indians pounded the root to obtain the starch, and made a paste out of it. 

Laws of the Universe

1.  If you talk a lot, you will say more stupid things than clever things.

2.  When hiring an attorney, the most important test is the "secretaries test". If the secretaries hate an attorney, he/she should not be hired. 

3.  If you want something done twice as fast, you may have to spend 10 times as much.  This only works once.

4. If people want improvements without any changes, they really don't want improvements.

5. Things that are done illegally are done most efficiently. 

6.  The most efficient conferences are held in corridors.

Science Facts 1

There is about 9 million tons of gold dissolved in the ocean, which is 180 times the amount that has been mined in human history. The gold in the oceans is very dilute, and a process for recovering it has not been found yet.

Damascus Syria is the oldest continually inhabited city, and has been inhabited for about 2000 years.

The ancient Spartans used a secret code machine to send messages from one commander to another. Each officer had a carefully made staff that was a precise diameter. A strip of cloth was wrapped around the staff, and a message was written on it. When the strip was unwound, it was unreadable without first being wrapped around a staff of the same diameter.

A flush toilet, drain pipes, and supplies lines of water were found in the palace of Knossos, dating from about 2000 BCE.

The ancient Mayans calculated the path of Venus to an accuracy of within fourteen seconds per year.

The Great Wall of China was not built to keep nomadic invaders from entering the Chinese homeland. They were built to keep out the horses of the invaders. Without their horses, the nomadic tribes were not that formidible. The Wall also slowed down the invading army, allowing nearby garrisons to respond before the whole army could penetrate the Wall.