Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7391861 | Input devices and their use A keypad in which output keystrokes are determined both from individual switch activation and from the combined activation of adjacent switches. The keypad has a substrate carrying an array of sense elements arranged to change state in response to keypad operation, ... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7175438 | Fast typing system and method A method of interpreting keypad input includes identifying a first letter of a target word from activation of an initial key, identifying a set of possible intermediate letters of the target word in response to non-activating traversal of associated keys of the keyp... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7164087 | Keypads with multi-function keys A keypad has keys (12) protruding through a housing (18) with at least one at-a-distance sensor (20) located approximately equidistant between each adjacent set of keys (12). Each key (12) has a tactile feedback element (32)... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7126498 | Keypad construction An IACK keypad with independent key regions arranged in an array of multiple rows and columns, and combination key regions defined between rows and columns of the array of independent key regions. A trace matrix underlying the keymat either includes, in addition to ... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7015896 | Keyboards with both individual and combination key output Methods of providing input feedback in a device having a keyboard with a matrix of independent keys having associated switches arranged in rows and columns, wherein combinations of diagonally adjacent keys are associated with combination key outputs, and devices per... | 03/21/2006 |
| 6911608 | Keypads and key switches A keypad with both elevated and non-elevated key regions, and key switches disposed beneath both types of key regions. The non-elevated key regions each provide corresponding character output based on an operation algorithm that considers activation of at least one ... | 06/28/2005 |
