...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 |
| 6575539 | Wheel attachment An apparatus and method for attaching a wheel to an axle. The apparatus comprises a wheel with a hub for insertion into an indentation in the end of the axle and a non-cylindrically-symmetrical stud attached to the axle that is concentric with the axis of... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6454362 | Method of controlling cooling device in portable electronic and cooling device therefor A cooling device for a portable electronic comprises a radiation plate and a fin for radiating the heat from the CPU. When the plug of an external power. supply is attached to the body of the portable electronic, the CPU may operate at a high clock freque... | 09/24/2002 |