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 |
| 4460939 | Device for producing a line of illumination A device for providing a line of illumination in an optical reader, comprises an internally reflecting body having an elliptical reflecting surface joined to a part-cylindrical reflecting surface. A light source is disposed on one focal line of the ellipt... | 07/17/1984 |
