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.
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 |
| 7628384 | Ratchet block The present invention provides a ratchet block with a block body 10 having a pair of side cheeks 11,12 and a sheave assembly 15 therebetween, which comprises a hub 16 supporting an annular sheave 17 for rotation about a principal a... | 12/08/2009 |
| 6951442 | Device for inspecting, sampling or extracting at a precise spot beneath a slab A tool (7) for sampling or extracting the contents of a pit (4) is suspended from a cable (8) passing through a narrow opening (3) in a slab (2) covering the pit. A crosspiece (13) hooked to guide cables (11) which co... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6276666 | Apparatus and method for moving a load An apparatus for moving a load has a boom with a lower end and an upper end and a base having a front end and a rear end. The front end of the base is pivotably connected to the lower end of the boom along a pivot axis, wherein a lower surface of the base... | 08/21/2001 |
| 6138992 | Winch pulley attachable to a motor vehicle-mounted box hitch A winch pulley accessory for directing the pull of a vehicle-mounted winch to move a motor vehicle in any desired direction. The pulley accessory comprises an elongated tubular member and a pulley block. The tubular member slides into a box hitch mounted ... | 10/31/2000 |
| 5601527 | spine sling support A back and body support for maintaining a person in an antigravity position, primarily forward bending, with minimal muscle activity, force, and fatigue and, therefore, compressive loading on the spine. It also allows for changing position without such mu... | 02/11/1997 |
| 5364075 | Retractable mount for a mooring line guide and process for operating the same As a carriage carrying a mooring line guide is lowered by paying out a hoisting line two retaining projections mounted on the carriage are inserted into complementary stationary sockets to anchor the carriage in a lower position, As the carriage reaches s... | 11/15/1994 |
| 5145075 | Boom point construction A boom point construction connects the for and aft mountings of a sheave swivel to the major structural elements of a boom. The boom point includes a framework of elongated members joined together to form a truss. The framework includes assemblies of at l... | 09/08/1992 |
| 4903443 | Derrick having upper and lower crown block positions The crown block has two parallel clusters of sheaves. In one use the crown block is positioned such that the center of the derrick passes through the axle of one of the clusters and a power cable is threaded through the first cluster of the crown block an... | 02/27/1990 |
| 4718371 | Resilient support for yacht fitting A resilient support is provided for maintaining a pivotally mounted yacht fitting in an upright position. The support is in the form of a conical section made from a resilient polymeric material.... | 01/12/1988 |
| 4597562 | Apparatus for lowering and raising an article An apparatus for lowering and raising a suspended article comprises a base, at least one holding means connected to the base adapted to locate and hold the base onto a desired structure, a suspension rod rotatably connected to the base, and winding means ... | 07/01/1986 |
| 4358089 | Wire guiding device A wire pulling device has a pulley wheel rotatably mounted to a clamp in the first embodiment of the invention, with the clamp being affixed to a junction box having an open side in a horizontal plane for the passage of the wire to the pulley wheel. In a ... | 11/09/1982 |
| 4334670 | Anchor winch equipment Anchor winch equipment, for a motor boat, a yacht or a small-sized fishing boat, which ensures easy and simple paying out and hauling in of an anchor and whose power is supplied from a battery or a generator provided in said boat or yacht, is characterize... | 06/15/1982 |
| 4325537 | Snatch block A novel snatch block particularly suitable for marine use and for movement on a boat deck mounted track, comprising a track slide portion and an upper sheave assembly. The sheave assembly comprises a pair of normally spaced-apart side cheeks; a sheave pin... | 04/20/1982 |
| 4221365 | Adjustable cable draw mechanism An adjustable cable draw mechanism including a pair of interlocking elongated channel members slidable relative to each other so as to vary their combined length, a plurality of rollers mounted in end-to-end relationship and lengthwise on each of the chan... | 09/09/1980 |
| 4213596 | Wheeled, overhead wire installing apparatus A trolley wire is paid out under tension from a drum on a traveling railroad car and is guided by a guide roller device on a following car to be hung by temporary hangers on a previously installed messenger wire, the guide roller device having a cradle ro... | 07/22/1980 |
| 4062519 | Pulley lift assembly and curtain system employing same A multifunctional pulley lift assembly is provided for supporting and lifting a foldable curtain. The assembly is easily attached to an overhead structural beam by means of a horizontally adjustable clamp mechanism. A plurality of said pulley lift assembl... | 12/13/1977 |
| 4013031 | Apparatus to control jib A jib sheet apparatus for sailboats which will permit a jib sheet, and thus a head sail of any size, to be trimmed from one side of a sailboat to the other, as in tacking or jibbing, by use of a continuous, closed traveller-track and fairlead apparatus sy... | 03/22/1977 |
| 3959899 | Boom point assembly for an excavating machine A boom point assembly is provided with a sheave or sheaves that are swivel mounted to allow the sheaves and the cables supported thereby to swing sidewise relative to the centerline of the boom without applying substantial twisting forces on the boom and ... | 06/01/1976 |
