Patent Pending Blog - Patents and the History of Technology

Early Snowmobile

Here is a great snow machine, basically a model T with treads on the rear and the front wheels replaced by steering skiis. Other snow machines are to be found in the automobile category.  Many sources attribute the invention of the snowmobile to Joseph Armand Bombardier but this motorized sleigh, and Eliason's snow machines clearly predate Bombardier's 1959 Skidoo. 

The Largest Group Hug in History, and the 300 Spartans

In 481 BC when the Persian king Xerxes was going to invade Greece for conquest, he assembled a huge army from his tributary states. They were so numerous that it was hard to count them. So they counted out 10,000 and had them stand in a densely packed circle. Then they built a waist high wall around them. Then they had the rest of the troops enter the walled circle until it was full, and called it 10,000 per filling. The Persian army filled the circle 170 times, for a head count of 1,700,000!!  Of these there were 80,000 cavalry, 20,000 charioteers and camel riders. This was and is the largest army ever assembled in the history of the world.  The Persian army was made up of armies from each province or satrapy of the kingdom, and my theory of the purpose of the head count is that this technique was to verify the number of soldiers that each provincial governor said he had contributed, which might have been an inflated number.

This illustration from The History of the World, by Ridpath, 1915.  The Persian navy sailed through a specially built canal in the Athos peninsula which had been in preparation for three years. 

The Persians continued via a land march to the Pass of Thermopylae, where they were faced by 300 Spartans and 8700 Greek soldiers from allied cities.  The Persians finally got through the pass, at a loss of 20,000 killed, and the Spartans killed to a man.

The Persians then met the Athenian fleet, who they greatly outnumbered.  The Athenian fleet mauled the Persian fleet, and the main force of the Persians returned to Persia, leaving an army of 260,000 to finish the conquest in the Spring.  They were routed by a Greek force of 108,000 soldiers at Platea. What the Greeks  had discovered was a new strategy of fighting, the phalanx, and they had perfected its use during decades of Greek against Greek warfare.

Eddie Bauer Down Coat

One evening in 1935 outdoorsman Eddie Bauer almost froze to death in his soaking wet wool coat.  Inspired by that incident,  he designed a garment like a down sleeping bag, except that you wore it.  Eddie Bauer's coat of 1940 was the first down garment to be manufactured, and Bauer got a design patent on his design of downcoat.  Bauer started with a store in Seattle, and now his company has 400+ stores in all 50 states.  There is even an Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer.  In the early years Bauer also patented a badminton shuttlecock, and was influential in popularizing badminton in the U.S. Thanks to Steve Nipper of The Invent Blog fame for this patent.

More P-38 Type Can Openers!

I wrote a first piece about P-38 can openers a while ago.  Shortly I posted another piece with some P-38 patents.  Here are a few more P-38 type can openers, the favorite of hikers, GIs, campers, aviators, sailors, and anyone who needs to get a can open.  Later, I met Kobie of dogtagrus.com and enjoyed his P-38 can opener history page, complete with government specs for the little wonder.

Here are some additional P-38 type can openers.

This 1924 can opener has a little swing arm that locks the cutting blade in place when it is not in use.  Very nice.

This can opener has a recess that the blade fits in when not in use, and it has a bottle opener.

Last but not least, this 1981 can opener is made to be easy to use by left or right handers.  I want one of these! 

Military Dog Tags!

It wasn't too long ago that I wrote about my daughter's experience in her own seed business (Introduce Your Kids to Entrepreneurship).  I recently "met" a young entrepreneur who had an even better introduction to business and entrepreneurship.  That was Kobie, a 13 year old with his own internet business.  Like me, his father wanted to expose him to business, and give him a way to earn some money.  They thought of a business making dog tags, and bought an old addressograph machine to make them.  With the addressograph machine in the back of a truck, they went to swap meets and other local events.

Later they set up a web based business selling a number of different styles of dog tags, including brass ones, round ones, and modern types with the rubber edge protector.  They also sell LED belt buckles, name patches, and P-38 and P-51 can openers. Kobie added a page to his site about P-38 can openers which he also sells, which is how we met when he emailed about my posts about this type of can opener in the Outdoor Technology Section of the Patent Pending blog (scroll down to see them).

Kobie's site is DogTagsRUs and that link will lead you to his home page, from which you can see his "About" page for more biographical information, and his catalog page with his product offerings.   Way to go Kobie! (and Kobie's Dad).




I bought a set of dog tags for my son,  and I can't wait to check them out.

Spring Cushioned Front Forks, 1891

Those old bike designers tried a lot of ways to cushion the ride of the safety bike on the rough roads found at the end of the 19th century.  Here is a different way to employ springs on the front forks to cushion the ride. 

Other early suspension systems on bikes are at:

Front suspension, 1891

Rear suspension, 1891

Front spring suspension, 1909

Full Suspension, 1891

Rear suspension, 1892

Front suspension, 1889

Front suspension, 1889

Full suspension, 1890

Telescoping forks, 1922

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of theAncient world, a list of seven tourist destinations of ancient times.  The list of the seven wonders includes:

The Colossus of Rhodes
The Pyramids of Egypt
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
The Lighthouse at Alexandria

The Hanging Gardens were built in the reign of Nebuchadnezzer in about 570 BC. along with numberous other impressive works, after successful military campaigns against Egypt, Israel, Phoenicians, and Syria.  Captives from these campaigns provided cheap labor for these works that glorified the capital of the empire.  The Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzer for his wife Amyitis.  She was the princess of the nearby kingdom of Media, given in marriage to Nebuchadnezzer to cement allegiance with that powerful kingdom.

Petzl Flashlight

In 1984 the climber / inventor Paul Petzl came up with a headlamp with no on/off switch.  To turn the light on or off, the housing around the lens of the lamp was rotated.  Rotating this housing also served to focus the beam of light.  This style of controlling lights is still seen in headlamps and flashlights.  This design seems to be the precursor to the famous Maglite unless someone can show me that the Maglite was invented earlier. An advantage to this design is that the headlamp does not get turned on accidentally when the switch gets bumped in your pack. 

Early Front Bike Suspension

This front suspension seems to be the precursor to early springer motorcycle forks.  The beefy springs allowed the front wheel and forks to move upward and absorb some road shocks. 

Circumnavigation of Africa, 600 BC

Necho II was the Pharoah of Egypt from 610 to 595 BC. His reign saw some momentous projects, including the start of construction of the first Suez Canal in about 600 BC and a major military defeat in Syria at the hands of the Babylonians.  Another big project was the circumnavigation of the continent of Africa.  Necho ordered a fleet manned by his allies the Phoenecians, to sail south along the coast of Africa to the land of Punt, where regular trade was conducted for antimony and incense.  The fleet was then to continue along the coast of Africa into unknown water.  It seems that the fleet departed in July, and reached the Horn of Africa where they put ashore, planted wheat, and stayed long enough to harvest the wheat for provisions. 

Sailing and rowing on after the harvest in November, they sailed until planting time in the Spring came again.  They again put ahore and planted and harvested wheat.  Again in November they pushed on with the coast of Africa to their right, but they were going north by then.  Going around the bulge of Africa, they finally encounted the westernmost Phoenecian colonies along the Morroccan coast.  The ships used were likely Phoenecian and Egyptian warships, possibly triremes, forming a mixed fleet.   

The journey was related by the Greek historian and world traveler Herodotus in 440 BC, in his Histories:

    "the Phoenicians made a statement which I myself do not believe (though others may if they wish) to the effect that they sailed west around the southern end of Africa, they had the sun on their right".                   

However this comment adds to the credibility of the account, since a west sailing ship in the northern hemisphere has the sun on its left side, but in the southern hemisphere the sun is on its right side.  Since Herodotus did not know about the equator and the Earth as a sphere, this statement would have not appeared to make sense.  The Greek scientist Eratosthones didn't calculate the circumference of the Earth as a sphere for another 200 years, in 205 BC.