...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 |
| 7353610 | Wheel component centering system for vehicle service devices A system and method for centered mounting of a rotating body upon a spindle shaft. The system includes a set of double low-tapers cones arranged and identified according to size. A guide is provided to identify an appropriate cone from the set for a given rotating b... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7082694 | Center point locator device Provided is a device that locates the center point of any one of a number of differently shaped objects in one manipulation. The device incorporates a bed plate and two opposing right angle sliding jaws to position a center punch or drill bit bushing to the center o... | 08/01/2006 |
| 5437105 | Center finding device A center finding device for locating the geometric center of a workpiece having substantially parallel side surfaces including a pair of crossed arm members pivotally secured to each other by a tubular member with a marking pin received therein and secure... | 08/01/1995 |
| 5121556 | Adjustable bolt circle layout apparatus An apparatus includes a base plate, with a series of convex slots oriented in a clockwise array through the base plate, and a top plate including a clockwise array of concave slots, wherein the convex slots and concave slots are each of a predetermined nu... | 06/16/1992 |
| 4858334 | Method and apparatus for locating the web center of a beam A method and apparatus for locating the intersection of the center of the web of a beam with a flat upper surface of an end cap of the beam. The apparatus has an upper portion that contacts the flat upper surface of the end cap and has ends that extend be... | 08/22/1989 |
| 4281462 | Calliper system for laying out stirrups used in lower extremity orthosis An accurate mechanical method and associated calliper for determining the vertical and longitudinal center lines and the mid-point between joint holes in the laying out of a stirrup for use in the foundation of a lower extremity orthosis. The calliper com... | 08/04/1981 |