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[DEC. 11,
2003]
Chelsea Lannon invented a
diaper with a pocket to hold a baby wipe and baby powder, but she
couldn't get a patent without some help.
The Thompson sisters, Theresa and Mary,
invented a solar tepee and called it a "Wigwarm." Pretty clever
name, but the sisters weren't able to get a patent on their own.
Suzanna Goodin invented an edible
spoon-shaped cracker. She even won a grand prize for her invention;
yet she, too, needed some help to get a patent.
Why couldn't these young women get
patents on their own? Was it because property laws prevented women
from owning property, including patents, during part of the 1700s
and 1800s?
No, because all of the above inventors
were born in the 1900s. Besides, inventor Robert Patch had the same
problem as the other four inventors. So did Brandon Whale and his
brother, Spencer, when they invented separate devices to help
hospital patients.
Why, then, couldn't these inventors
receive patents on their own?
It was because they weren't even 10
years old yet!
Young Ms. Lannon was only 8 years old
when she invented the diaper with a pocket in 1994, and the Thompson
sisters were only 8 and 9 when they invented their solar tepee in
1960. Ms. Goodin was only 6 when she invented her prize-winning
edible spoon-shaped cracker.
Robert Patch was only 6 in 1963 when he
received a patent for a toy truck that could be changed into
different types of trucks.
Brandon Whale invented the "PaceMate"
in 1998 to improve the electrical conductivity of his mother's
sensor-bracelets after she had an operation for a pacemaker implant.
Brandon's brother, Spencer, created a device to attach IVs to the
wheeled vehicles that child patients rode in, allowing the IVs to
stay in place.
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In the end, each of these young
inventors, except the Whale brothers, received patents for their
great ideas.
By comparison, how old were some of the
more famous inventors when they first achieved success?
Thomas Edison was 21 when he received
his first patent, which was for a vote counter intended to speed
things up in Congress. Despite the benefits it offered, it never
made it onto the market.
Margaret Knight was 30 when she
invented the machine that makes the square-bottom paper bags in
1871, and that type of bag is still being used today. Alexander
Graham Bell was 29 when he invented the telephone in 1876. Mattel
co-founder Ruth Handler was 43 years old when she introduced the
world to the Barbie doll in 1959.
The United States Patent Office does
not have an age requirement for receiving a patent. Most inventors,
though, whether they're 6 or 60, need the assistance of a patent
attorney to either prepare their patent application or at least
review it before submitting it to the patent office. And most child
inventors need to get some parental assistance when paying for the
patent application and attorney fees.
We'll
spotlight additional child inventors and their inventions in future
articles.
[Paul
Niemann]
Invention Mysteries is written each
week by Paul Niemann, who invented his first product at age 33,
which means that he's only half as bright as the inventors profiled
in this article. He can be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright
Paul Niemann 2003
Last week's column in LDN:
"Would you believe… that you can make an airplane out of that?"
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