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

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 :)

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.