Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7901274 | Rotary finishing wheel A rotary tool for surface machining has a disk having an elastomeric outer periphery, an array of angularly spaced elastomeric teeth projecting radially and each having a formation forming a hinge so that the tooth can flex at the hinge. ... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7462096 | Surface-treatment wheel A surface-treatment wheel has an inner element rotatable about an axis, and an outer ring fixed rotationally on the inner element, centered on the axis, and formed unitarily with an annular array of radially outwardly projecting teeth defining outwardly open notches... | 12/09/2008 |
| 6309292 | Rotary tool for surface treatment A rotary tool for the erasure-type abrading of adhesive residues and foil, in particular, from lacquered metal surfaces has an outer tooth crown of rubber or an elastomeric synthetic resin, the teeth being bendable. The tooth disk is mounted on a disk-sha... | 10/30/2001 |
| 5524315 | Rotary brush assembly A rotatable brush can have its steel bristles anchored in an endless bendable band which fits on a spacer sleeve of a holder bridging two end disks thereof. The disks can have axial ribs which are spaced from the sleeve and pass through gaps in the bristl... | 06/11/1996 |
| 5515569 | Handbrush especially for cleaning carpets and upholstery A handbrush for upholstery and carpets can have its brush body formed with at least one elastically bendable bristle band colinear with a handle and provided with bristles which can project forwardly on the band.... | 05/14/1996 |
| 5386608 | Rotary brush assembly A brush assembly adapted to be rotated about an axis has a brush having a flexible, annular and generally cylindrical collar generally centered on the axis and having a predetermined and generally uniform radial thickness, a predetermined inside diameter,... | 02/07/1995 |
| 5323505 | Rotary brush A brush assembly adapted to be rotated about an axis has a brush having a flexible, annular and generally cylindrical collar generally centered on the axis and having a predetermined and generally uniform radial thickness, a predetermined inside diameter,... | 06/28/1994 |
