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.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 4294501 | Plug member for the electrical connection of an appliance to a base A plug member for the electrical connection of an appliance to a base. The plug member comprises conducting pins, an insulating centering stud and means for locking the plug member on the base. The centering stud is open laterally. The locking means are d... | 10/13/1981 |
| 4192198 | Two gear train reduction mechanism This invention relates to a reduction mechanism including two gear trains, of different speed reductions, for rotating one cam, both gear trains having different input gears but a same output gear, said input gears being rotatable by a step-up gear mounte... | 03/11/1980 |
| 4186550 | Programmer for electric household appliances Programmer for electric household appliances, comprising an assembly of programming cams driven in rotation by a reversing cam driven itself by a motor, a timing wheel driven in rotation by the reversing cam via a set of levers, a first cam of the cam ass... | 02/05/1980 |
