...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 |
| 7416376 | Partially coated fastener assembly and method for coating A fastener assembly includes a row of fasteners having a head, a tip, and a portion of a shank coated with a polymer composition. The polymer composition includes a polymer material such as polyurethane and metal particles. The polymer composition is used to provide... | 08/26/2008 |
| 5728445 | Fastening member A fastening member is formed from a fiber-reinforced ceramic composite material, in which a ceramic material is reinforced with a plurality of inorganic long fibers. The inorganic long fibers are located in the ceramic material such that first orientated ... | 03/17/1998 |