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!
PatentStorm News
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 |
| 8016004 | More silent and robust electric pencil sharpener A pencil sharpener for sharpening a pencil includes a central gear including an aperture along an axis of the central gear for receiving an end portion of the pencil. A first gear rotates the central gear and a strap joined to the central gear secures the pencil whe... | 09/13/2011 |
| 7273079 | Electric pencil sharpener An electric sharpener has a casing, an electric motor, and a flat cutting blade for turning by the motor. There is an aperture in the casing through which a pencil can be inserted for sharpening by the cutting blade. An activation sensor is included for detecting wh... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7181854 | Laser leveling device having a suction mounting arrangement A laser leveling device having a suction mounting arrangement includes a housing and a mounting seal extending from the lower portion of the housing. The mounting seal cooperates with an attachment surface to define a suction mounting area therebetween. The suction ... | 02/27/2007 |
| 6845795 | Portable handheld sharpener with loop attachment A portable, handheld sharpener having an elongated body with loop attachments, a battery-operated DC motor with speed reducing gears and a gear plate and a rotatable sharpening unit. A pouch-shaped waste shavings receptacle detachably attached to the body provides a... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6688197 | Notch sawing apparatus for dove-tail joints A sawing apparatus for cutting dove-tail notches in boards includes at least one saw for cutting one or more back cuts of the dove-tail notch and at least one saw for cutting one or more head cuts of the dove-tail notch. The head saw is configured to be a... | 02/10/2004 |
| 6334475 | Pencil sharpener The invention relates to a pencil sharpener, comprising a clamping chuck (1) that feeds a pencil rotationally fixed therein to a rotating milling device. The clamping chuck (1) comprises a plurality of locating tongues (8) pointing almost radially towards... | 01/01/2002 |
| 5951386 | Dart sharpener A dart sharpening apparatus having a holed upper cover end cap and a hollow main body member. Within the body member are a self contained battery power source and an electrically operated motor used to rotate a honing surface mounted within the end cap. O... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5564871 | Chamfer machine A chamfer machine for providing a chamfer surface at the end of a workpiece. The machine includes a base and a guide member supported from the base for receiving the workpiece and disposed to enable the workpiece to move under gravity control. A rotary cu... | 10/15/1996 |
| 5524386 | Method and apparatus for uniting a scion to a stock A grafting method for uniting a scion to a stock includes forming conical projection on either a lower portion of a scion or an upper portion of a stock, forming a conical recess on either a lower portion of a scion or an upper portion of a stock, and joi... | 06/11/1996 |
| 5379817 | Sharpener for a soft element pencil A sharpener for a soft element pencil has a housing with a pencil hole. A rotor rotatably mounted in the housing has: (a) a base portion, (b) an annular portion spaced from said base portion, and (c) a blade supported at but not between the base and the a... | 01/10/1995 |
| 5052453 | Structure of pencil sharpener A pencil sharpener, comprising an audio circuit reporter which gives audio signal to report that pencil has been well sharpened. The audio circuit reporter is comprised of an audio circuit, a dry battery and a speaker. The two opposite terminal ends of th... | 10/01/1991 |
| 4759129 | Pencil sharpener Disclosed herein is an improved pencil sharpener specifically designed to sharpen the end of a carpenter's pencil. As is well known, a carpenter's pencil has a substantially rectangular cross-section and as such can not be sharpened in a conventional penc... | 07/26/1988 |
| 4601316 | Electric pencil sharpener A pencil sharpener which includes a sliding safety shield preventing operation of the sharpener with the pencil drawer removed and further preventing a pencil to be inserted into the sharpener so as to actuate the cutter assembly unless the shavings drawe... | 07/22/1986 |
| 4291502 | Grinding or polishing tool A tool is disclosed for precisely grinding or polishing the surface of a workpiece, such as the mating end face of a fiber optic ferrule. The tool utilizes a planar grinding wheel which is caused to rotate and simultaneously shift transversely in the plan... | 09/29/1981 |
| 4231405 | Pencil driven mechanical pencil sharpener A mechanical pencil sharpener including a housing with a cutter assembly adapted to receive the end of a pencil along its longitudinal axis. The manual force associated with inserting a pencil into the cutter assembly causes the cutter assembly to slidabl... | 11/04/1980 |
| 3980113 | Pencil sharpener A pencil sharpener having a base on which a sharpening assembly, including sharpening rollers, is mounted, a housing defined by a hollow figure formed of a flexible, deformable material and simulating the head of an animal enveloping the sharpening assemb... | 09/14/1976 |
