Celebrity Patents

Celebrity patents. Who would have guessed that Zeppo Marx, Prince, Marlon Brando, Michael Jackson, Julie Newmar, and Lawrence Welk held patents? Check out the drawing for Eddie Van Halen’s U.S. Patent #4,656,917 - Musical instrument support:

That link goes to Ironicsans.com. Great site. Visit the favorites and 2006 year in review for tasty choices.

Bonus! - His pacifist chess set is nifty. As you advance your pieces you realize yours are the same color as your opponent’s. The idea takes advantage of the checker-shadow illusion.

3 Comments to Celebrity Patents

triticale
January 16, 2007

Hedy Lamar’s patent is of course widely known. It is absolutely basic to WiFi, Bluetooth and CDMA cellular, and is used to improve performance in GSM cellular.

Les Jones
January 16, 2007

One of the bloggers I read recently had a post about Hedey Lamar’s invention, but I can’t remember which blogger.

Tony M
January 17, 2007

Sure, frequency hopping is the basis for all the spread spectrum technology we have today. But, I want a Lawrence Welk accordian ash tray. I don’t even smoke, but I still want one.