Inventor: Jason A. Barba  
Application number: 10/256,143
Publication Number:US 2004/0062836 A1
Filing date: Sep 27, 2002

Wildcat! This is a strange concept for candy, but your kids are going to love it. An anatomically correct candy novelty made of an exterior layer of confectionery material that represents the skin and flesh of an anatomically correct human body part, and an interior layer of hard candy material that represents the skeleton of the same anatomically correct human body part. So chomp away on flesh and bone, gobbling ears and slurping down eyes. We’re living in a time when most of our processed food bares little or no resemblance to it’s nature. If meet looks like plastic, candy might as well look like flesh.

Inventor: George V. Rael 
Patent number: 5357633
Filing date: Feb 25, 1993
Issue date: Oct 25, 1994

Hair - Check. Cheekbones - Check. Truckers Tan - Check… It’s tough when you got a job to do in this hot weather. Driver’s arm is almost unavoidable without keeping sun cream on your door arm. It’s hot out there, but don’t worry tough guy, just slide into this arm sling and hang your hand right out the window. It’s even got a handy thumb hole. Keep on truckin’.

Inventor: Paul A. Sperry 
Patent number:  2206860 
Filing date:  Nov 30, 1937 
Issue date: Jul 9, 1940

This summer sees a million John F. Kennedy Juniors sporting decks and polos… …but the story behind the original Sperry Top-Sider is the stuff of legend, the sole was originally carved with a penknife by Paul Sperry after watching his cocker spaniel run across the ice without slipping one winter’s day in Connecticut. Flipping over Prince’s paw he noticed the hundreds of tiny wave like cracks and cuts going in all directions. Prince’s paws became the inspiration for Sperry’s patent, called Razor-Siping (an implementation of a process of splitting a shoe sole invented and patented in the 1920s by John Sipe). Sperry asked the President of Converse Rubber Company if he would make the shoe, his reply “I will make any damn thing that I can make a profit on”… Converse blanked out the soles, shipped them to Sperry and he cut the non-skid designs himself with Abercrombie & Finch eventually getting exclusive rights for distribution in New York City. Sperry’s shoe quickly became popular with boaters not only for its non-slip sole but also for its white color, which prevented the shoe from leaving marks on a boat’s deck. Before the Top-Sider boaters risked injury while walking on the slippery decks, now they could practically dance from bow to stern. The shoe remained a niche product until 1939 when the U.S. Navy negotiated the right to manufacture the shoe for its sailors. As a result of the Navy contract, Sperry’s business was purchased by the U.S. Rubber Co. (who sperry had originally approached to manufacture the shoe), which then marketed the shoe across the country.

Previous shoe post: Reversible Heel For Shoes (Vans)

Inventor: Dwight L. Myers
Assignee: Water-Boggan, Inc.
Patent number: 3923301
Filing date: Sep 19, 1974
Issue date: Dec 2, 1975

Summer’s here kids and it’s time to dust off the board shorts and head to the local waterpark… These stunning illustrations from 1974 describe a method of using the natural contours and topography of hilly land bordering a body of water to carve a waterside trench. The slide zig-zags through the beautiful landscape past trees and rocks down to a  landing pool at the bottom of the slideway to provide safe deacceleration for successive riders…

The Golden Age of Summer where nature and man intertwine in a beautiful dance… Legend has it that my local waterpark ‘The Rainbow Rapids’ Dun Laoghaire were shut down after a kid wearing a ring lost a finger in the tube…

Inventor: Claudia Durham / Jeffrey E. Hopkins
Patent number: 4572501
Filing date:  Jul 1, 1983
Issue date: Feb 25, 1986

Such long legs… There’s many, many patents for wheelchair accessories such as this exercise device. Wheelchair exercise is very important for helping increase strength, flexibility, muscle-tone as well as self-esteem (see Joe Swanson). Exercise also prevents DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and other poor health outcomes.

Inventor: Ronald G. Chang
Patent number: 5063376
Filing date: May 5, 1989
Issue date: Nov 5, 1991

All this talk about the iPad has me scratching my head… There’s been a ton of nifty inventions that have {so far} failed to take off. Why am I using a keyboard when I could by typing on my mouse? As Apple strips the mouse back to a smooth curved Magic Mouse and replaces keyboards with multi-touch LCD’s… …aren’t we losing something? Clunky buttons, wires & 8-bit graphics…

Inventor: Otto Schuller
Patent number: 3139622
Filing date: Apr 17, 1961
Issue date: Jul 1964

The cost of space exploration is a complicated subject; with a 2010 budget of almost $18 billion many argue that money would be better spent right here on the big blue marble for medical research, social programs, finding solutions to poverty, hunger and homelessness. Meanwhile Professor Stephen Hawking is worried about contact with aliens leading to the raiding of planet earth for precious resources and moving on. “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.”  Hawking realizes the need to explore space for the future of humanity but envisages a long-term space exploration project starting with building an experimental base on the moon within 30 years, and devising a new propulsion system to take us on a planetary hunt outside our solar system in 200-500 years.

Inventor: James C. Asher
Patent number: 4349708
Filing date: Aug 22, 1979
Issue date: Sep 14, 1982

Back in the day it was fun but simple. The mighty Atari 2600, myself and my brother played ours so much we destroyed the joystick! After the stick snapped off we ripped out the chipboard, used it like a joypad and went right on playing; Centipede, Yars’ Revenge and Ms. Pacman. Yars’ Revenge, the most popular original-concept Atari game ever, was insane! A droning industrial soundtrack grates in the background while a swirling symbol is fired at you. One word comes to mind when I play it now; evil! Oddly enough the killer swirl looks not unlike a Nazi Swastika, so much so that eBay refuses to list the game fearing it contains Nazi Propaganda. Atari games had great playability but you needed a good imagination to fill in the graphics; In a distant galaxy the civilization known as the Yars were attacked by the fierce Qotiles. Though badly damaged, the Yars’ fought back using their mechanical ships that look like giant metal insects. Years later I managed to complete Centipede, game just starts again!

Inventor: Wesley K. Johnson
Patent number: RE39371
Filing date: Feb 21, 2003
Issue date: Oct 31, 2006

Hey, you ever been down to the strip club? I said you ever been down the strip club? If you want to avoid a sticky situation next time, how’s about bringing a Lap Dance Liner with you. It’s a combination pouch and underwear worn by a man for facilitating sexual activity such as lap dancing. The pouch is worn over the sex organs of a man under the underwear pant, which is adapted by an elastic waistband for compressively pinning the pouch in place. Nasty!

Inventor: Tinker L. Hatfield
Assignees: Nike, Inc., Nike International Ltd.
Patent number: D324129 / D329126
Filing date: Apr 6, 1990

Self Drying Jackets, Self Tying Sneakers, Hoverboards; back in ‘89 every kid wanted Marty McFly’s Power Lace kicks. In ‘90 Nike International Ltd. went ahead and patented the design but it took almost 20 years and a massive internet campaign to get Nike moving. Summer 2008 saw the release of the Nike McFly 2015. Although they’re based on the original they have one major flaw; no air-pressurized auto-lacing! The shoes are basically a mashup of Marty’s sneaker and Kobe Bryant’s Hyperdunks which is cool, but kinda lame too. 350 pairs were originally released with prices between $600 and $2,000 I’m going to hold off till 2015 for the real deal. On the plus side you can get your Hoverboard now!