PATENTS: Ingenious Inventions, How They Work and How They Came to Be

Adult/High School-Strong visual appeal and coherent organization are two immediately notable characteristics of the entries in this volume, which focuses on approximately 100 (primarily U.S.) inventions dating from the 1790s to the present. Each two-page profile begins with the name, number, and date of the patent, and the name of the inventor or corporate entity to whom it is assigned. This sequence is supplemented by a summary of the item’s development or importance, a synopsis of how it works, an excerpt from the patent application as to its purpose, and an original technical drawing reproduced from the U.S. Patent Office files. Ikenson offers examples of creative commercial successes in fields as diverse as medicine, aeronautics, computing, agriculture, and consumer goods. Readers are certain to find a topic of interest here, whether it is the history behind the patent for a Pez dispenser, cathode ray tube, kitty litter, DNA fingerprinting, or the design of a Fender Stratocaster guitar. There is sufficient authoritative detail to begin a report on an invention, and sufficient humor and human-interest commentary in the anecdotal sidebars to sustain pleasure reading. The book is sure to attract notice by its novel cover, which is approximately 75 percent encased in bubble wrap (see patent #3,142,599).-

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