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Some inventions are so ubiquitous that it's difficult to imagine they started as an idea scribbled on paper and then a patent application submitted to, say, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Aluminum foil, adhesive bandages, the ballpoint pen, the computer mouse, the microwave oven -- these are just a few examples of great ideas that became indispensable products we now take for granted.
Nevertheless, of the 520,277 applications that inventors filed with USPTO in 2010, chances are that not even half will be granted patents, and far fewer will become commercial successes. For every new gadget that becomes a household name and changes our lives, there are thousands of others that languish in patent office files, unappreciated except perhaps as curiosities. Some of them are ingenious, but plagued with small but fatal flaws. Others are too outlandish to ever gain widespread acceptance. A few are simply ahead of their time.
In that spirit, here are 10 of the most outré technological advances from recent years -- inventions that push the boundaries of innovation, yet seem unlikely to gain widespread acceptance. Enjoy them with a caveat: There were people who scoffed at the notion that the motorized carriage would ever replace the convenience of having a horse, and others who figured that nobody would ever need or want to carry a telephone around in their pocket. Enjoy.
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| No mind control for these U.S. soldiers on patrol -- yet. |
The helmet used by the U.S. military has changed dramatically over the years. In World War I, the M1917/M1917A1 helmets, also known as "Doughboy" or "dishpan" helmets, protected the heads of American infantrymen. They were replaced in 1941 by the M-1 "steel pot," the standard-issue helmet in World War II, the Korean conflict and throughout the Vietnam War. By the 1980s, U.S. military helmets .... (read more)
09 Pencil Pusher
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| A sketch of what the pencil-making device might look like |
U.S. businesses use about 21 million tons (19 million metric tons) of paper every year -- 175 pounds of paper for each American, according to the Clean Air Council. This has led to office recycling programs, "please think before you print" (read more)
08 Perpetual Printing
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| The PrePeat, minus its plastic paper |
Printing has come a long way since the computer landed on the desktop. First, there were daisy-wheel printers, then dot-matrix printers, then inkjet and laser printers. The problem with all of these output devices, of course, is that they require paper -- lots of it -- and expensive consumables, like toner. Why can't someone invent an inkless, tonerless printer that allows the operator to reuse paper? (read more)
07 Insect Assailants
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| A NAV will be a lot smaller than the EMTAladin airborne reconnaissance dronethis German soldier is using for close areaimaging during patrol on Oct. 17, 2010,in Afghanistan. |
Many people don't know it, but USPTO can apply a secrecy order to a patent if patent office staff and their military advisers think the idea could be used to threaten national security. Once the USPTO decides that a technology is no longer a threat, it can publish the patent and pave the way for commercialization. Some patents may remain cloaked under a secrecy order for one or two years; others languish for decades. More than 5,000 patents -- inventions we may never know or see -- .... (read more)
06 Seed Racer
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| The BIOME, in all its far-out organicglory. Future, please hurry! |
Mercedes-Benz has been an innovator for decades. You can thank the German auto manufacturer for diesel and supercharged engines on passenger cars, antilock brakes, electronic stability systems and more.
But nothing could be more innovative than the BIOME concept car, unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2010. (read more)
05 Body Armor With Built-in Stun Gun, Flashlight and Cameraphone Charger
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| Body Armor With Built-in Stun Gun Flashlight and Cameraphone Charger |
The Armstar Bodyguard 9XI-HD01 looks a bit like that scary black body armor that Christian Bale wears in the recent Batman movies. And it is kind of like that, actually.
The Bodyguard, which was patented by a California inventor in 2007 under the title of "wearable shield and self-defense device," is designed to be a shield, a non-lethal weapon and a communications device all in one.
The flexible arm, which is armored with Kevlar and hard plastic, contains a ......(read more)
04 Bat Suit
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| Wingsuit flyers need to jump out of anairplane or off of a cliff to fly. |
Have you ever wanted to leave the ground and soar like a bird -- or perhaps a bat? In January 2012, a Connecticut-based inventor was granted a patent for what the application describes as "a completely dynamic human powered flying suit" that is modeled after the bat's style of aviation. The inventor explains in the patent application that bats are fellow mammals and the flying creatures "most closely related to human beings." (read more)
03 Portable Cat-toy Park
Comedian Steve Martin used to have a routine in which his pet cat figures out how to imitate his voice and orders $3,000 worth of cat toys from a mail-order company. The bit certainly resonated with cat owners, who know how easily felines can get into mischief when they're trying to alleviate boredom. In 2009, a New York-based inventor was granted a patent for one possible solution: a fold-up "cat toy park" equipped with a scratching post, a tunnel for crawling through, a hanging chew toy, and most ingeniously, a tube equipped with a ...... (read more)
02 License Plate Flipper
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| The Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond in the film "Goldfinger" |
Remember James Bond's tricked-out Aston Martin in the 1964 movie "Goldfinger" -- the one equipped with hidden machine guns, pop-out razor rims to slice pursuer's tires and an ejector seat? Wouldn't you love to outfit your Toyota Yaris with some of that stuff?
The high-powered weaponry, alas, probably is a bit impractical, not to mention dangerous. But there is a company that offers ...... (read more)
01 Robot That Devours Insects and Rodents
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| An old-fashioned mouse trap |
At this point, robotic vacuum sweepers, singing androids and mechanical dogs are old hat. But British inventors Jimmy Loizeau and James Auger have made a quantum leap with the Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robot, an automaton that would stalk and devour mice and insects, and then eat them and digest their bodies to produce its own power. ...... (read more)
