The Future of Invention (1879) | Hacker News Reader

The Future of Invention (1879)

theatlantic.com

49 pointsapophasis11 comments

> Unfortunately, no one has as yet devised a satisfactory machine for automatically sweeping and scrubbing floors, and it is likely that these labors will be generally performed by hand to the end of the chapter. But the toil has been lightened by improvements in the implements used for such purposes, and there will undoubtedly be further advances in that direction. The number of patented mop wringers, for instance, is very considerable, and rotary floor sweepers, like street sweepers, are already in use.

Sure enough, the modern vacuum cleaner would arrive less than 30 years later, invented by department store janitor James Murray Spangler in 1907, who sold the patent to William Henry Hoover.

> It must be remembered, also, that labor-saving devices, and indeed inventions of all kinds, often absolutely lessen demand instead of increasing it. Suppose, for example, that the many attempts at producing a satisfactory traction engine should result in success; is it not evident that the number of horses in use would be greatly diminished? This would similarly reduce the demand for horseshoes, horseshoe nails, currycombs, and harness of all sorts, every one of which now forms the centre of extensive manufacturing interests, employing many men.

Also prescient, John Froelich got such a tractor working 14 years later!

I have a feeling it was awesome to live in America in the 80s and 90s. (1880s of course). This article hints on the zeitgeist of the era.

But I'm mostly reminded by this when I walk over the Brooklyn bridge. That bridge was completed in 1883 and somehow is still heavily used today. At the time, nothing that big was ever built. Nobody even knew if a suspension bridge that long would be feasible.

Also by 1882, NYC had it's first electricity power plant thanks to Edison. Imagine the benefits of electricity over gas burning light. Reminds me of Arthur c Clarke's quote "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

Oh I dunno antibiotics, vaccines, and water treatment plants sure beat cholera pandemics and polio.

A/C is pretty nice too

“Vast sums are continually changing hands in the litigation upon them. They have probably made and unmade more fortunes than all other agencies combined.” He was spot on with patent lawyers!

The apps of yesteryear: https://www.bissell.com/about-us/our-history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuller_Brush_Company#Early_yea...

One should not equate patents with inventions. There has not been a one-to-one relationship between the two for quite some time.

This was written in 1879.

Exactly. This aligns well with my point. As I said, there has not been a one-to-one relationship between patents and invention for quite some time. I don't have the time to do the necessary forensics, but I'll take 1879. Sure.

Today it's even worse. I still say if you add the requirement for a working patent prototype (like they did pre-1880 [1]), that the number of rediculous patent issuances will drop signficficantly.

1.) https://invention.si.edu/patent-models-and-prototypes-displa...

Wow I didn't know that the Atlantic has existed (and been awesome) for since such a long time. Apparently the newspaper was founded in 1857. Quite remarkable!

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