...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.
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6142093 | Method for building lapstrake boats A method for building lapstrake boats without use of a strongback and molds, and without the need to cut bevels on the strakes. The two-dimensional shape of each strake is determined and the strakes are cut to these shapes. A groove, or rabbet, is cut in ... | 11/07/2000 |
| 5036790 | Boat hull construction Disclosed herein is a boat hull including a stringer member having an end surface including therein a cut-out, and a projection extending beyond the end surface, a bulkhead member extending transversely to the stringer member, fixed thereto, and including... | 08/06/1991 |
| 4931124 | Method of making veneer laminate composite structure This application relates to composite structures and, more particularly, to a composite or sandwich structure employing sheets of wood veneer.... | 06/05/1990 |
| 4550674 | Boat hull planking method A new method of hull construction using double, longitudinal, sealed, alternate and prestressed wooden planking. The hull is formed of an inner layer of longitudinally extending planks and an outer layer of longitudinally extending planks alternately posi... | 11/05/1985 |
| 4508047 | Connections between dividing walls, particularly for the construction of boat hulls To join together at least two light dividing walls, resisting tensile forces and possibly curved, recourse is had to a plurality of fastenings (4,5) each extending radially in at least one direction from a pivot (6), the pivots of these fastenings being s... | 04/02/1985 |
| 4483267 | Wooden boat hull constructions, and method for such constructions The hull of a wooden vessel is laminated and provided with an outer plastic skin which provides a hull of high structural strength, and protects the wood interior against rot and attack by marine organisms. In its preferred aspects, a skin of fabric-like ... | 11/20/1984 |