Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they came to be [Hardcover]

Ben Ikenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Patents is covered in bubble wrap, one of man's more ingenious creations. It includes dozens of notable patents, from the airplane, brassiere, chain saw, and fire hydrant to the Internet, parachute, plunger, and zipper. The purpose of each device is explained in accessible language, along with background about the inventor, interesting sidebars and history, and an excerpt from the original patent application. The artwork throughout includes photos of original models and patent diagrams created by the inventors themselves, annotated to show exactly how each item works.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

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).–Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Ben Ikenson is a writer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  based in Washington, D.C. He is also a freelance writer. His articles on wildlife conservation have appeared in regional, national, and international magazines, including Américas, Earth Island Journal, Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine, North American Sportsman Magazine, New Mexico Magazine, and American Indian Report.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; annotated edition edition (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579123678
• ISBN-13: 978-1579123673
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,145,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should have been a good book, July 17, 2009

By 

S. Carnahan (Maple Valley, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they came to be (Hardcover)

I bought this book thinking it would be a good book for casual reading when just a few minutes were available since the book is divided into individual patented items and then grouped into sections.
Each patent is listed with the number, the title, patent date, followed by the description often followed by an illustration, then a paragraph of the inventor's own words. The structure, while formulaic, lends itself to fast, easy to break-up reading sessions. Good waiting room book was my thought.

The book is disappointing in the inclusion of unnecessary margin comments. The margin comments early in the book tended toward interesting trivia relating to the invention/patent, but some miss the mark entirely. In the Kitty Litter patent the margin comment included a benefit of keeping your cat in the house to keep it safe from the local delinquent torturing it. Another example in the patent about the Goat Traction Footwear essentially showcasing the Nike sports shoes the author manages to suggest that Nike should use a similar sticky material to make gloves that mimics the dexterity of children's hands, since Nike had been using child labor to produce footwear.

There were also editing problems in the book. In at least one patent description the numerated list is repeated creating a list that is longer, but has the exact same lines repeated. Whether this was an author or editor problem it should have been caught prior to publication.

The choice of patents to highlight is a bit curious on a number of the entries. A more current patent is listed yet the background and history cover someone's work decades before. It would be more honest to show the original patent or to give a better explanation why the later patent is described not the one used in the history of the entry.

This book isn't really appropriate for too young of readers either, whether it be the "fact" that 20% of kids before 8th grade are inhaling from aerosol cans (included as a margin comment in the Aerosol Can patent entry), or the patent information for viagra, or the patent information for the tampon. This type of book should appeal to the natural curiosity of children, but the editorial margin comments and the more mature patents make it impossible to recommend for that purpose.

The book is disappointing, it could have been so much better without the author editorializing and otherwise cheapening the celebration of innovation that many patents represent.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your Library Will Love It, February 5, 2005

By 

Learned Hand - See all my reviews

This review is from: Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they came to be (Hardcover)

While much of the information can easily be obtained online for free, this book puts the most interesting of that information in a form that anyone with a pulse (not in unity with the computer) can understand and learn from. Inaccuracies contained within are allowed because this isn't a book to use as a reference on a graduate thesis. The explanations of each invention are so quick and concise (about a page) and filled with humor and annicodtes and small selections from the inventor's actual patent language that it would be impossible to rely on any of it for real accuracy. The descriptions are just enough to wet one's interest. Then again, so are the descriptions in my UNCLE JOHN'S BATHROOM reader, which devotes a few pages to the same information. Why then do I love this book? The cover is cool, the page design and layout are very clean and easy to understand. Choice of graphics (patent drawings) are good (although the pictures attached to the ATM machine could use some work). Choice of inventions are interesting and so are each of their stories (from Velcro to the nuclear reactor). Even the very few pages of "resources" at the end of the book are informative and well layed out - quick description of the three types of patents, how one obtains a patent, and website links if one wanted to learn more. Perfect addition to any library, but first it goes on my coffee table because that's really where a book like this belongs (and not next the toilet). The bubble wrap cover makes up for its un-coffeetable-book size.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but don't believe everything you read, October 4, 2008

By 

Paige Bucherschrank (Poughkeepsie, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they came to be (Hardcover)

The book is entertaining and the choice of inventors and inventions is excellent but I found errors. For example, the bio for Linus Yale, Jr., who is credited with the invention of the pin tumbler lock, appears under a different lock patent that was filed years earlier by his father, Linus Yale, Sr.