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 |
| 5797651 | Sofa with reversible upholstery A seat has a frame, including a bench and a back, padded upholstery including a particular fabric pattern on the frame covering the bench and the back with a pocket in the upholstery in a forward-facing lower portion of the back as it covers the back, a c... | 08/25/1998 |
| 5734767 | Fiber optic coupler A hermetically sealed fiber optic coupler for packaging end joined optical fibers. The device includes at least one first optical fiber having a glass-based portion having a first free end and a second optical fiber having a glass-based portion having a s... | 03/31/1998 |
| 5632184 | Safety pedal for motor vehicles A vehicle safety pedal apparatus includes a foot engaging portion, a linkage attachment for attaching the pedal apparatus to a vehicle, a pedal linkage coupled between the linkage attachment and the foot engaging portion including first and second sub-lin... | 05/27/1997 |
