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Show HN: Print iconic patents for your walls

howacarworks.com

241 pointsAlexMuir51 comments

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I would prefer to put "silly" patents on my wall instead, such as [1], [2], [3].

[1] http://www.google.nl/patents/US4320756

[2] http://www.google.com/patents/US4022227

[3] https://www.google.nl/patents/US1106495

How about US6145506 A: Decorative penile wrap

http://www.google.com/patents/US6145506

Can't forget the gerbil vest!

http://www.google.com/patents/US5901666

This is hilarious! The "toilet breathing tube" [1] actually had a prominent appearance in this year's movie "Kingsman - The Secret Service" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/), where a group of trainees used shower tubes to breathe through the toilets when their dorm was flooded with water. I guess they were lucky that the patent on this has already expired, otherwise they would have drowned for certain...

I had a problem with that scene. That works for a fire. I would not expect it to work when the entire room, toilets included, are filled with water. Wouldn't the toilets just continuously "flush" due to the water pressure, the same way as they flush if you manually dump a bucket of water into a regular toilet?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing :-)

If you could get the breathing tube to the vent pipe part of the plumbing there might be air in that part of the piping even while the toilet is draining the water from the flooded room. You would need to get the tube pushed past the toilet and into the main drain pipe though to have a chance at hitting the vent which would be difficult. I would be concerted about the gases that come out of a waste pipe though in either case I would think that can't be good for you.

yes, I had exactly the same thought! The water pressure should eject any air inside the U-tube and probably make it impossible to breathe through the toilet. But then again, not everything in a movie has to be 100 % accurate all the time ;)

Here you go - How to be a Kingsman http://i.imgur.com/7IuXtbb.png :-D

Clearly the only way to make this work in the movie, where the entire room was flooded, would have been to rip the toilet off of its mooring bolts. Otherwise you'd never get the hose up into the vent pipe.

I agree. I also like Van Halen's: http://www.google.com/patents/US4656917 And many more: https://www.google.com/search?q=funny+patents&safe=active&so...

I can't believe someone patented a combover.

Wish we had seen these when we were decorating our office. The architects, who happened to be involved in decorating as well, had picked out some 'iconic patent images'. The only problem was they were from an Etsy store and the artist just collected random, but plausible, image from the web.

We had a patent for Sputnik, that might have been ok until I spotted this https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c7/4f/06/c74f...

Its a V2 rocket.

The Allies really put the V2 to good use, though.

http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-first-photo-from-space-...

Does that mean copyright infringement?

These do look cool and perhaps are examples of inventions that should be patented, but unfortunately for me, patent abuses have turned me off to the whole patent system. I wouldn't want reminders of this broken system staring me in the face every day.

I think that view is a bit short sighted. For example, Xerox PARC was bankrolled by Xerox's monopoly on copier patents. In an environment where the company didn't have to worry about counting pennies in cut throat competition, it was able to fund fundamental research into technologies we take for granted today (dynamic languages, the GUI, networking). After Japanese companies successfully sued Xerox and got a consent decree to force licensing of the patents, the company, and PARC, quickly declined.

Monopolies are often good for fundamental innovation. How much of modern computing traces back to either Bell Labs (built on the AT&T monopoly, which traces back to the Bell patent) or PARC (built on the Xerox patent monopoly)?

I think I would have to go with this one: https://i.imgur.com/4t5xWq2.png

Please drink a verification can - http://i.imgur.com/3VfoZDm.png

What patent is that from?

A Sony patent for mid-videogame advertising:

http://www.google.com/patents/US8246454

It's really quite a gem.

How about printing software patents on toilet paper?

I've been discouraged from looking at software patents by lawyers because apparently knowledge that you're infringing can be bad news bears even if the patent is frivolous.

If you actually read the toilet paper it could put you in a legally precarious situation. Funny as hell.

they could use frivolous, but already defeated, software patents. No harm in reading them anymore.. and a reminder to what the USPTO thinks is innovation.

You could print copies of your own patents.

There are also these https://i.imgur.com/z2wHuvM.jpg [Cherry MX Switch pictured] prints by Inked and Screened. Sometimes available @ Massdrop for a way cheaper price.

http://inkedandscreened.com/

I created a page at https://society6.com/constantchaos where these can be ordered as prints.

I was so intrigued with the drawings that I started to look for additional patent drawings to add. My favorite new ones are the Gameboy patent drawing and 3 drawings related to Curta mechanical calculators.

I developed my own vectorization and re-rasterization process that I believe offers a slight improvement in faithfulness to the original drawing (took a few tries to get the Curta ones right).

We created a page at Unixstickers where you can purchase the posters for each of these patent arts and have them conveniently delivered to your home or office: http://www.unixstickers.com/posters/iconic-patent-posters

Check it out : )

I wish Unixstickers offered framing, otherwise I would have gotten my print here!

The terminal catalog is cool: https://www.unixstickers.com/terminal

The blog post mentions "the images are too low resolution for a good print. We've made the high resolution versions available below for you to download."

Does this mean higher res versions came from another source or that these were somehow enhanced/cleaned up?

I'm fairly sure the USPTO has higher-res versions.

We converted the original PNGs to vector using Illustrator's image trace, then cleaned up some noise and removed some bits of pixelation before scaling them up and resaving them as raster.

For a great collection of weird old patents, check out https://www.flickr.com/groups/1478617@N25/pool/

A flickr collection by LisaGenius.

As for "remastering" the patent images, here's how to do it.

Patent images are stored by the USPTO in TIFF form, which is a lossless compression. For years, they were delivered to users from the USPTO site in TIFF form, and you had to have a TIFF plug-in to view them. Last year, the USPTO switched to displaying PDF files instead. Those are harder to process in programs.

You can still download the TIFF files, but only in bulk.[1] They're available in blocks of about 10GB, each covering a range of patent numbers. You need about 10TB to store the whole set.

[1] http://patents.reedtech.com/pgyb.php

What's the copyright on patents? Could this be done as an actual business?

As someone who is fairly good at this (I spend a fair bit of time creating vectors of old motorcycles for livery design), I'm also intrigued to know.

According to http://patents.stackexchange.com/a/78, "the text and drawings of a patent are typically not subject to copyright restrictions" (except when specifically accompanied by a copyright notice). So I suppose the answer is yes, this could be done as a business.

USPTO has the answer: http://www.uspto.gov/terms-use-uspto-websites.html

Patents are published as part of the terms of granting the patent to the inventor. Subject to limited exceptions reflected in 37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e) and 1.84(s), the text and drawings of a patent are typically not subject to copyright restrictions.

And if you follow the links to those laws, you'll see this:

(d) A copyright or mask work notice may be placed in a design or utility patent application adjacent to copyright and mask work material contained therein. ... Inclusion of a copyright or mask work notice will be permitted only if the authorization language set forth in paragraph (e) of this section is included at the beginning (preferably as the first paragraph) of the specification.

(e) The authorization shall read as follows: A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to (copyright or mask work) protection. The (copyright or mask work) owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all (copyright or mask work) rights whatsoever.

I want this one on my office wall http://totallyabsurd.com/dadsaddle.htm

I would really like to see the patent expiration date on the diagrams. To give an idea of how long the screwdriver, for example, was patented.

While not a patent, I have always thought this schematic for the Appoe I, signed by Woz himself, would look great in the office.

http://signedbywoz.com/products-schematic.php

First couple just made me think "how does that get a patent". Philips screwdriver - a flat screwdriver with another blade across it. Lego - a brick.

Nice illustrations but maddening.

Well, one of the novelties of the Phillips screwdriver is its ability cam out of the screw head if it encounters too much resistance.

While frustrating to many who use it, it does prevent the all too easy case of sheering off the screw head because the screw met resistance (something I've done a few times with hexagonal heads and flat screwdrivers).

Lego - completely novel for its time. Just because it's not novel now, doesn't mean it wasn't novel when it was invented.

Welcome to the US patent system, where everything can get a patent and you just battle it out in court!

I recently watched Lego's "Brickumentary" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3214286/)... according to the movie, Lego's major invention was putting cylinders inside the bricks, which allow them to be stacked in all kinds of ways. I think that qualifies for a patent.

Everything is obvious after it's been invented.

Awesome! What are the specific sizes for the prints and the frames?

29x39cm

Can you add the best of Nikola Tesla section?

This is beautiful!

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