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:

patent-eddievanhalen.gif

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.

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3 Responses to Celebrity Patents

  1. triticale says:

    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.

  2. Les Jones says:

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

  3. Tony M says:

    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.