To inspire creativity, invention, and intellectual property development in 2007 in your company, here’s a list of patents over the last two centuries.
We’ve compiled the list in date order from data in “Patents: Bubblewrap, Bottlecaps, Barbed Wire, and Other Ingenious Inventions” by Ben Ikenson (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York, 2004). The data has a US bias. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or PTO) has granted 7 million patents and has about 7,300 employees, including 3,000 patent examiners and 400 trademark examiners.
Our list begins with Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin (as illustrated). Thomas Jefferson (the principal author of the 1776 Declaration of Independence and member of the patent board wrote a letter to Whitney in 1794 informing him of the patent. The Cotton Gin mechanised the production of cotton fiber and marks a major turning point in the economic history of the Southern United States.
| Application | Patent # | Year | Country | Inventor |
| Cotton Gin | 72X | 1794 | US | Eli Whitney |
| Colt Revolver | Z9430 | 1836 | US | Samuel Colt |
| Telegraph | 1,647 | 1840 | US | Samuel F. B. Morse |
| Vulcanization of Rubber | 3,633 | 1844 | US | Charles Goodyear |
| Door Lock | 3,630 | 1844 | US | Linus Yale |
| John Deere Plow | 41,203 | 1864 | US | John Deere |
| Skyscraper Steel | 49,051 | 1865 | UK | Henry Bessemer |
| Dynamite | 78,317 | 1868 | Sweden | Alfred Nobel |
| Typewriter | 79,265 | 1868 | US | Latham Sholes & Others |
| Chewing Gum | 98,304 | 1869 | US | William F. Semple |
| Levi Strauss Blue Jeans | 139,121 | 1873 | US | Jacob W. Davis |
| Pasteurization | 135,245 | 1873 | France | Louis Pasteur |
| Barbed Wire | 157,124 | 1874 | US | Joseph F. Glidden |
| Pigeon Starter | 159,846 | 1875 | US | Heny A. Rosenthal |
| Telephone | 174,465 | 1876 | US | Alexander Graham |
| Handcuffs | 200,950 | 1877 | US | John J. Tower & others |
| Phonograph | 200,521 | 1878 | US | Thomas A. Edison |
| Coal Breaker | 219,773 | 1879 | US | Philip Henry Sharp |
| Statue of Liberty | 11,023 | 1879 | France | Auguste Bartholde |
| Light Bulb | 223,898 | 1880 | US | Thomas A. Edison |
| Seat belt | 312,085 | 1885 | US | Edward J. Claghorn |
| Roller Coaster | 310,966 | 1885 | US | La Marcus A. Thompson |
| Bicycle | 59,915 | 1886 | France | Pierre Lallement |
| Internal Combustion Engine | 365,701 | 1887 | Germany | Nikolaus August Otto |
| Battery | 373,064 | 1887 | Germany | Carl Gassner |
| Calculator | 388,166 | 1888 | US | William Seward Burroughs |
| Drinking Straw | 375,962 | 1888 | US | Marvin C. Stone |
| Jukebox | 428,750 | 1890 | US | Louis Glass & William S. Arnold |
| Ouija Board | 446,054 | 1891 | US | Elijan J. Bond & Others |
| Bottle Cap | 468,226 | 1892 | US | William Painter |
| Zipper | 504,038 | 1893 | US | Whitcomb L. Judson |
| Submarine | 581,213 | 1897 | US | Simon Lake |
| Zeppelin | 621,195 | 1899 | Germany | Ferdinand Graf Zeppelin |
| Lawn Mower | 624,749 | 1899 | US | John Albert Burr |
| Aspirin | 644,077 | 1900 | Germany | Felix Hoffman |
| Chicken Goggles | 730,918 | 1903 | US | Andrew Jackson |
| Radio | 725,605 | 1903 | US | Nikola Tesia |
| Bra | 1,115,674 | 1905 | US | Mary P. Jacob |
| Airplane | 821,393 | 1906 | US | Orville Wright & Wilbur Wright |
| Air Conditioning | 808,897 | 1906 | US | Wills H. Carrier |
| Vacuum Cleaner | 889,823 | 1908 | US | James M. Spangler |
| Roller Skates | 906,281 | 1908 | US | James Leonard Plimpton |
| Cellophone | 981,398 | 1911 | France | Edwin Brandenberger |
| Rocket | 1,102,653 | 1914 | US | Robert H. Goddard |
| Flush Toilet | 1,107,515 | 1914 | US | Philip Haas |
| Neon | 1,125,476 | 1915 | France | Georges Claude |
| X-Ray Tube | 1,203,495 | 1916 | US | William D. Coolidge |
| Cornflakes | 1,321,754 | 1919 | US | John L. Kellogg |
| Parachute | 1,332,143 | 1920 | US | Karl O. K. Osterday |
| Traffic Signal | 1,475,024 | 1923 | US | Garret A. Morgan |
| Theremin | 1,661,058 | 1929 | Russia | Leon Sergejewitsch Theremin |
| Basketball | 1,718,305 | 1929 | US | George L. Pierce |
| Frozen Food | 1,773,079 | 1930 | US | Clarence Birdseye |
| Aerosol Can | 1,800,156 | 1931 | Norway | Erik Rotheim |
| Polygraph Lie Detector | 1,788,434 | 1931 | US | Leonard Keeler |
| Refrigeration | 1,886,339 | 1932 | US | Charles F. Kettering |
| Tampon | 1,926,900 | 1933 | US | Earle C. Hase |
| Drive-In Movie Theater | 1,909,537 | 1933 | US | Richard Hollingshead |
| Helicopter | 1,994,488 | 1935 | US | Igor I. Sjkorsky |
| Zippo Lighter | 2,032,695 | 1936 | US | Gergore Gimera & George G. Blaisdell |
| Vitamins | 2,049,988 | 1936 | US | Robert R. Williams & others |
| Television | 2,139,296 | 1938 | US | Vladimir K. Zworykin |
| Camera | 1,582 | 1940 | US | Alexaner S. Wolcott |
| Handle Guide | 2,377,745 | 1945 | Canada | Emile Belanger |
| Penicillin | 2,442,141 | 1948 | US | Andrew J. Moyer |
| PEZ Dispenser | 2,620,061 | 1949 | Austria | Oskar Uxa |
| Transistor | 2,502,488 | 1950 | US | William Shockley |
| Microwave | 2,459,429 | 1950 | US | Percy L. Spencer |
| Bar Code | 2,612,994 | 1952 | US | Norman J. Woodland & Bernard Silver |
| Fender Stratocaster | D169062 | 1953 | US | Clarence L. Fender |
| Peach | PP15 | 1953 | US | Luther Burbank |
| Nuclear Reactor | 2,708,656 | 1955 | US | Enrico Fermi & Leo Szilard |
| Velcro | 2,717,437 | 1955 | Switzerland | George de Mestral |
| Adhesive Bandage | 2,823,672 | 1958 | US | Peter Schladermundt & W. H. Dennerlein |
| Remote Control | 2,821,954 | 1958 | US | Robert Adler |
| Etch a Sketch | 3,053,113 | 1959 | France | Arthur Grandjean |
| Bubble Wrap | 3,142,599 | 1964 | US | Marc A. Chavannes |
| Respirator | 3,191,596 | 1965 | US | Forrest M. Bird |
| Astroturf | 3,332,828 | 1967 | US | James M. Faria |
| Smoke Detector | 3,460,124 | 1969 | US | Randolph J. Smith |
| Lva Lamp | 3,570,156 | 1971 | UK | Edward C. Walker |
| Artificial Heart | 3,641,591 | 1972 | Spain | Willem J Koltt |
| Optical Fiber | 3,569,915 | 1972 | US | Donald B. Keck & Peter C. Schuiz |
| Automated Teller Machine | 3,761,682 | 1973 | US | Thomas R. Barnes |
| Kevlar | 3,819,587 | 1974 | US | Stephanie Kwolek |
| Magnetic Resonance Image | 3,789,832 | 1974 | US | Raymond V. Damadian |
| Post-It Notes | 3,857,731 | 1974 | US | Roger F. Merrill & Others |
| Snowboard | 4,165,091 | 1979 | US | Daniel E. Chadwick |
| Genetic Engineering | 4,237,224 | 1980 | US | Stanley Cohen & Herbert Boyer |
| Prozac | 4,314,081 | 1982 | US | Bryan B. Molloy |
| Kitty Litter | 4,664,064 | 1987 | US | Edward H. Lowe |
| Laser Eye Surgery | 4,784,135 | 1988 | US | Samuel E. Blum |
| Turtle Excluder Device | 4,739,574 | 1988 | US | Noah J. Saunders |
| Air Bag | 5,071,161 | 1991 | US | Geoffrey L. Mahon & Allen Breed |
| DNA Fingerprinting | 5,175,082 | 1992 | UK | Alec J. Jeffreys |
| Chia Pet | 5,549,500 | 1994 | US | Ron Manoah |
| Reading System for Blind | 6,199,042 | 2001 | US | Raymond C. Kurzwel |
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