England Salutes 150 Years of Eccentric Patents

jonerik writes "Want to patent a moustache protector? Or perhaps you've hit upon the idea of improving chickens' lives by giving them eyeglasses. Well, don't bother - they've already been invented. The BBC has this piece today on the bizarre ideas that have trickled into the U.K. Patent Office on a regular basis since it opened 150 years ago this month. Other doozies which are saluted are a rifle fitted into a helmet, 'the recoil [of which] broke a man's neck during early trials' and the parachute hat. According to Steve van Dulken, who oversees the patent archive at the British Library, 'For every 100 applications lodged, I'd say that 10 are a bit whacky.'"

Comments

"the wake" and "dead ringer"

[misterhaan]

It must have seemed like a great idea at the time: an alarm to be fitted inside a coffin, just the thing to guard against premature burials.

a long time ago there actually was a problem with burying people who weren't dead but seemed to be dead. thus somebody came up with what is still called "the wake," where everyone sits around to see if the person they're going to bury wakes up.

the phrase "dead ringer" has a similar origin: they'd set up a bell above ground and tie a string or something to it when they buried someone, who could ring the bell and alert everyone that they would like to be dug up as they weren't dead . . .

invention: air tight coffins is the answer!

[mekkab]

I heard that during the civil war they cut down on these "presumed deaths" by shipping bodies in air tight coffins.

If you weren't dead when you were put in, You were by the time your body arrived home!

Patent Infringement

[Deathlizard]

Among these was a cat flap connected to an atomic bomb in space. The device was fitted with a colour sensor, designed to admit his ginger cat but block the passage of a neighbour's black moggie

Hmm. Looks Like This Company is Infringing on a patent :)

I remember this game....

[cybermace5]

When I was young(er), we had a game that included much of these patents. It was titled "Inventors" or "The Incredible Machine" or something. Each invention was on a card, and had a certain base value. You could buy patents from each other, roll the dice right and get into the "royalty track", have silent partners investing in your holdings, and best of all it came with a little machin that rolled the dice for you and rang a little bell.

It was all in a turn-of-the-century theme, and was a lot of fun. Perhaps a modern version of the game could include Rambus-style tactics...nah. If we'd had that, my sisters would have started pulling each others hair, and someone would be running crying to Mom.

One of my favorite inventions was the automatic hat-tipper.

USA! USA!

[buzzdecafe]

We have our share of patent zaniness on the left side of the Atlantic as well.

Wacky patent of the month

For example . . .

Great Britain ...

[vrai]

.. simply means 'large' Britain, i.e. Britain and Scotland. The only people who either don't know, or take exception to this are more-lefty-than-thou Guardian readers.

This is the reason we have a Great Britain team at the olympics, the Northern Irish are part of the Eire team.

In summary:

• England + Wales = Britain
• Britain + Scotland = Great Britain
• Great Britain + Northern Ireland = United Kingdom

Moustache protector looks familiar

[mikewas]

The moustache protector looks familiar. My father used to have one. It was issued to him when he was "requested" to join the German Army as it rolled through Hungary at the end of WW2.

The company commander sported a goatee & a long moustache. He made the facial hair a part of the uniform for his men. Troops had to keep the moustaches trained, they had to have the proper upward curve, and protected at night. To accomplish this, they were all given a moustache protector that they were required to wear at night. They were taught during basic training to tie it just right to achieve the proper look.

When my father got back home after the war, he threw his uniform, boots & everything else into the river. Somehow the moustache protector survived, travelling from Germany to Czechoslavakia where he barely survived an ambush, a POW camp in Poland, back home to Hungary, to East Germany, West Germany, and finally to the US.

Unuseless Japanese Inventions

[Kikaid.]

The Japanese have managed to publish 3 books focusing on whacky inventions. They, however, refuse to admit to the whackiness, hence the title "Unuseless".