Inventive Adventures

During a hike in 1948, Swiss inventor George de Mestral first envisioned his idea for the hook and loop fastener when he observed burrs sticking to his dog’s fur. His biomemetic invention, however, would not succeed commercially for 20-more years. U.S. Pat. 3,009,235.

He needed to develop a viable industrial scale manufacturing process. The loop part was easy, but the hooks proved much more difficult. He discovered, however, a new material－nylon－could form rigid loops. Those loops could then be cut to form burr-like hooks.

A decade later in 1958, he filed his patent and coined the term Velcro® which was a combination of the French words “velours” (velvet) and “crochet” (hook). Velcro® brand hook and loop fasteners did not achieve immediate success, however. Another serendipitous event was necessary for his product to gain commercial acceptance.

“There are two paths of ruin for men: women and inventions, inventions being the more certain path.”

George de Mestral*

*Mestral often repeated this quote, which was attributed to a friend of his.

NASA’s use of the material (500 pieces inside and outside the Apollo 7 spacecraft) allowed the material to capture the consumer’s imagination as a space-aged material. In 1978, Mestral’s patents expired allowing other companies to enter the field with competing hook and loop fasteners. Although Mestral was unsuccessful in updating his expiring patents, the Velcro® brand had been successfully established. 

The last Monday of January is National Bubble Wrap Day, a celebration of Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes’ invention that revolutionized product packaging, started Sealed Air Corporation, and provided us all with decades of soothing crackles. U.S. Pat. 3,142,599.

Initially intended as 3D wallpaper and later greenhouse insulation, the bubble wrap concept took off after Frederick Bowers’ 1960 suggestion to use it as a packaging material for IBM’s newest line of computer, the IBM 1401. When the first bubble wrap patent expired in 1981, Sealed Air tried to enforce its 1985-expiring process patent against cheap imports in the International Trade Commission. Although victorious in the ITC, the CCPA (Fed. Cir. predecessor) reversed on appeal, finding that one of the importers had successfully avoided infringement of Sealed Air’s patent under the doctrine of equivalents (DOE).

Sealed Air’s later Patent was specific to feeding two sheets that fused at a “kiss point” after the embossing roller. But the accused infringer applied melted plastic directly into the roller where it solidified before joining to the laminating sheet. Illustrating the difficulty of enforcing later expiring process patents, the court found the infringer was free to use variations of the expired process. 

A box of matches used to contain enough white phosphorous to kill you. Deaths and suicides from eating match sticks were frequent, and workers in the industry developed phosphorous necrosis, or “phossy jaw,” a disease resulting in the deterioration of the teeth and jawbone.

French chemists Henri Sévène and Emile Cahen patented their non-toxic phosphorous sesquisulfide for matchmaking as U.S. Pat. 614,350, and sold it to the Diamond Match Co for $100,000 in 1900.

Progressive opposition to the use of toxic white phosphorous in matchmaking led to a legislative effort to end it. Diamond supported the Federal legislation, hoping to avoid regulation on a state-by-state basis. It first offered its patent for license to the entire industry on favorable terms hoping it would encourage passage of the white phosphorous ban. Outside observers, however, viewed Diamond’s licensing terms as too tough and a public backlash ensued.

President Taft publicly called on Diamond to relinquish its patent. Fearing that it would lose the legislative effort, Diamond eventually disclaimed its entire patent and disclosed its own trade secret match composition to competitors. 

Percy Spencer (1894-1970) was orphaned at a young age and never finished grammar school. His natural curiosity and long nights studying calculus, physics, metallurgy and chemistry led to a job at a new company in Cambridge called Raytheon.

Percy was instrumental in designing radar systems used during World War II, and was credited with many of the Raytheon’s biggest breakthrough inventions. Legend has it, that Percy got the idea for a microwave oven when he noticed that the microwaves he was studying had melted the peanut bar in his pocket into a gooey mess.

Percy’s U.S. Pat. 2,495,429 claims the basic process of heating food with microwaves within a restricted space. Other Raytheon employees, however, contributed critical technology such as Marvin Bock’s invention of a mechanism to shut off the microwave power when the oven is empty of food, U.S. Pat. 2,516,503, entitled “Controlling Device for Cooking Apparatus.”

“When you work nights you think nobody cares what you do. I know; I used to be there.”

P.L. Spencer

The first commercially viable microwave oven was marketed to restaurants as the “Radarange” in 1946. The first consumer microwave oven, the Tappan RL-1, was made under license and sold 1955 for $1,295, or about $12,000 in today’s dollars. 

Maggie Phillips filed her patent application for the Landlord’s game in 1923, as “a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences.” Her patent issued as U.S. Pat. 1,509,312. Charles Darrow later patented the board game known as Monopoly, as U.S. Pat. 2,026,082.

Although her patent claims dominated Monopoly, Magie’s deal with Parker Brothers allowed them to shun royalties, claiming that her game was “completely worthless” and that Parker Brothers had published a small run of her games “merely to make her happy.”

“It might well have been called the ‘Game of Life,’ as it contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world, and the object is the same as the human race in general seem to have, i.e., the accumulation of wealth.”

Elizabeth Maggie Phillips

Meanwhile, Charles Darrow, creator of Monopoly who was inspired by the Landlord Game, became wealthy from his patent royalties, the first person to earn $1 million from licensing a board game. 

Charles Goodyear, whose U.S. Pat. 3,633 granted in 1844, sent samples of his vulcanized rubber to British rubber pioneer Thomas Hancock without disclosing his process. Hancock filed his patent in Britain two weeks before Goodyear. Hancock’s British Patent was upheld after a court found he did not learn the process from Goodyear ー underscoring the difference between the United States’ first to invent system in effect until 2013, and Britain’s first to file system.

“Life … should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents. I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps.”

Charles Goodyear

Walter Hunt was a mechanical genus, but his poor understanding of business and finance led him to spend his life toiling in obscurity. He invented and patented the safety pin in an effort to pay off a $15 debt. U.S. Pat. 6281, granted on April 10, 1849.

Hunt is said to have coiled an 8-inch length of brass wire at the center, and formed a clasp at the other end. Calling it a “dress pin”, Hunt sold the patent within three hours to W.R. Grace & Co. for $400 (about $10,000 in today’s dollars). The company went on to make millions from sales of the safety pin, but Hunt did not see a dime of that money.

Hunt’s other commercially important inventions were the repeating rifle, U.S. Pat.  6,663, and the sewing machine, U.S. Pat. 11,161. The rifle patent was sold off and eventually bought by Winchester. The sewing machine patent became the subject of protracted litigation, which eventually resulted in Isaac Singer agreeing to pay Hunt $50,000. But Hunt died of pneumonia in 1859 before any payments were made.