Invention↕ | Inventor↕ | Patent Year↕ | Patent #↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Telephone | Alexander Graham Bell | 1876 | US 174,465 | Most valuable patent in history, beat Elisha Gray by hours, 'Mr. Watson, come here', spawned AT&T and telecom |
Light Bulb (Practical) | Thomas Edison | 1880 | US 223,898 | Not the first but the practical one — carbonized bamboo filament, 1,200 hours, created the electric utility industry |
Radio | Guglielmo Marconi | 1897 | UK 12,039 | Wireless telegraphy, first transatlantic signal, Nobel Prize 1909, disputed with Tesla, created broadcasting |
Zipper | Gideon Sundback | 1917 | US 1,219,881 | Hookless Fastener No. 2, took decades to catch on, B.F. Goodrich named it 'zipper', now on everything |
Velcro | George de Mestral | 1955 | Swiss Patent | Inspired by burrs stuck to his dog's fur, hooks and loops, NASA adopted it for space, the satisfying rip sound |
Ballpoint Pen | László Bíró | 1938 | Argentine patent | Replaced fountain pens, ball rotates to deposit ink, 'biro' is generic term in UK, Bic made it disposable |
Post-it Note | Spencer Silver / Art Fry | 1977 | US 5,194,299 (later) | Accidental weak adhesive turned into office essential, 3M nearly killed it, canary yellow is iconic |
Dynamite | Alfred Nobel | 1867 | US 78,317 | Stabilized nitroglycerin, made mining and construction possible, Nobel's guilt funded the Nobel Prize |
Sewing Machine | Elias Howe / Isaac Singer | 1846 | US 4,750 | Howe invented it, Singer marketed it, first consumer installment plan, industrialized clothing production |
Air Conditioning | Willis Carrier | 1906 | US 808,897 | Originally to control humidity in a printing plant, made the Sun Belt habitable, changed architecture and cities |
Barbed Wire | Joseph Glidden | 1874 | US 157,124 | Tamed the American West, ended open range, cheapest fencing ever, caused range wars, 'the devil's rope' |
Microwave Oven | Percy Spencer | 1945 | US 2,495,429 | Discovered when radar melted a chocolate bar in his pocket, Raytheon's accidental kitchen revolution |
WD-40 | Norm Larsen | Never patented (trade secret) | Trade secret | Water Displacement formula 40, kept as trade secret instead of patent, 2,000+ uses, squeaky hinge savior |
Kevlar | Stephanie Kwolek | 1966 | US 3,819,587 | Five times stronger than steel by weight, bulletproof vests, invented by a woman at DuPont, saved countless lives |
CRISPR Gene Editing | Doudna / Charpentier | 2012 (filed) | US 8,697,359 | Cut and paste DNA, Nobel Prize 2020, Broad Institute vs Berkeley patent war, could cure genetic diseases |
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