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Found 310 Stories
Drawing of a brain with a circuit diagram overlaid
Blog

Recognizing Artificial Intelligence Systems as Inventors

I doubt, therefore I invent?

Title page of Hopkins’s address to manufacturers
Blog

Licensing the First US Patent

Inventions do not sell themselves.

Model is a white cube on legs with a hinged door and controls on the base
Blog

The Einstein-Szilard Refrigerator

Why didn't the geniuses’ refrigerator ever make it to market?

Detail of Figure 1, US Patent 1,242,872, showing entrance signage
Blog

One-Way Supermarket Aisles

The return of an invention from the 1910s.

An engraving of the South Hall, Museum of Models, in the US Patent Office, 1887. Several well-dressed men and women and a young child admire the models in glass cases along the walls of a long room with high vaulted ceilings.
Blog

Patent Models and Prototypes on Display

To mark the issuance of the 10 millionth US Patent, we showcase ten nineteenth-century patent models and prototypes that are currently on display at the National Museum of American History.

Figure 3 of Sholes US Patent 207,559 (1878) shows the now-standard QWERTY keyboard layout.
Blog

Was the Patent Application for the Typewriter Handwritten?

On the challenges of introducing new technology

Spark!Lab activity developer Tim at work in his office/workshop
Blog

America Participates in Innovation – 2000s

The turn of the 21st century has witnessed many new opportunities for American inventors, especially independent (i.e. individual, non-corporate) inventors. A combination of increased demand for inventors’ ideas and improved supply-side conditions have (again) enticed a diverse spectrum of Americans to participate in innovation over the last 10 to 15 years.

Margaret Knight’s patent model for an improved paper bag making machine shows 2 sets of 3 gears attached by articulated arms and springs to a wooden frame and horizontal bed where the paper is moved through the bag making process.
Blog

America Participates in Innovation – 1800s

In this post, I’ll describe how the democratic features of the United States Patent System enticed a broad spectrum of the American population to become inventors in the 19th century.

Issac Singer's Sewing Machine Patent Model, 1851.
Invention Stories

Patents and Public Goods

This weekend's Innovation Festival, held in partnership with the USPTO, will showcase inventors and the patent process. Director Arthur Daemmrich takes a deeper look into the role of patents.

Fish toys invented by Jerome Lemelson
Invention Stories

Jerome Lemelson: Toying with Invention

One of the most interesting things about Jerome Lemelson’s toy patents is the way in which they parallel interests that he was pursuing in other fields.

Sample card for McGill’s patent fasteners
Invention Stories

Fascinating Fasteners

Who knew the history of staples and paper clips could be so fraught?

Patent model for tabletop portable printing press invented by JJ C Smith
Invention Stories

Conserving the Patent Model Collection

The National Museum of American History's collection of patent models offers an endless repository of yet-untold stories of American technological history.

Battle of the Sewing Machines Sheet Music Cover
Beyond Words

Podcast: Law Professor Adam Mossoff Says Patent Wars Aren’t a New Thing

Adam Mossoff, professor of law at George Mason University, explores the sewing machine patent war of the 1850s and its parallels with contemporary patent wars.

Invention Stories

A Primer on Intellectual Property

The Lemelson Center exists to promote the study of invention and innovation.

Lemelson Lightbulb Graphic Identity
Invention Stories

Innovation in Engineering—What It Is, and What It Isn’t

If an invention does not meet a need or is otherwise unappealing, it is not innovative.

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Bobcat Company Records, 1940s-2009

Inventor Name Keller, Louis and Cyril

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Helen Clawson Wells Papers, 1814-1995

Inventor Name Clawson, Selden Repository J. Willard Marriott Library, University of UtahSpecial Collections295 South 1500 EastSalt Lake City, Utah 84112-0860801-581-8864http://www.lib.utah.edu/

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Cushman Family Papers, 1918-1985

Inventor Name Unknown

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

William Sill Records, 1894-1933 (bulk 1903-1906)

Inventor Name Sill, William Repository Oregon Historical SocietyResearch Library1200 SW Park AvenuePortland, Oregon 97205503-306-5240http://www.ohs.org/

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Blazer Family Papers, 1864-1965

Inventor Name Blazer, A.N.

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