...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 |
| 5532187 | Process for sealing apertures in glass-silicon-glass micromechanical acceleration sensors A method for sealing apertures caused by manufacturing processes in micromechanical acceleration sensors is disclosed whereby apertures or recesses, serving for leading the conductor paths out of the oscillation space of an acceleration sensor without cau... | 07/02/1996 |