The 2012 National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees were announced late last week and Steve Jobs, co-founder of both Apple and Pixar, with more than 300 patents under his belt, was posthumously honored. According to the Invent Now Web site, Jobs is credited "with revolutionizing entire industries, including personal computing, mobile phones, animated movies, digital publishing and retailing."
The National Inventors Hall of Fame was established in 1973 to honor some of the best patented inventions throughout history. Rifling through the Web site, there are tons of inventions you may never think of, or maybe even consider inventions, but they have changed the way we do things.
Here are our top ten most useful patented inventions. 10. Cereal - Patent No. 558,393
Every morning when you pour yourself a nice bowl of Fruity Pebbles, do you ever think about how important cereal is to our daily existence? Flaked Cereal was patented by John Harvey Kellogg, who stumbled upon the idea by forgetting to properly store a slab of wheat dough. He turned the dough into flakes and fed them to patients at the wellness sanitarium he ran. They were such a hit, he patented the process. Can you imagine life without cereal? What would you single guys eat for dinner? And would the raisin industry even need to exist?
9. Bottle-Sealing Device - Patent No. 468,226
Before William Painter developed the Crown Cork, sodas and pop would lose their fizz pretty quickly. Painter created a metal cap with a "corrugated-flange edge [that] was lined with a thin cork disc and a special paper backing to seal the bottle and prevent contact between the metal cap and the drink." Thank God that Painter realized back then what we all know now -- there is nothing nastier than flat beer. 8. Synthetic Diamonds - Patent #: 2,947,611
All you "scrubs" out there should be grateful to Francis P. Bundy for inventing the process that creates synthetic diamonds. Without fake diamonds, what would you all be buying your boos when they are tripping at you for not having a job still?
7. Foot Measuring Device - Patent #: 1,682,366
Do you remember being a kid and going with your mom to get new school shoes? You had to step on that metal foot plate, which measured your shoe size so the store clerk knew which size Reebok Pumps to get from the back. You may never have thought about Charles F. Brannock and his foot-measuring device before, but now maybe you will...for like ten seconds. And you're done.
6. Social Game - Patent No. 53,561
Board games! Milton Bradley and his patented board game idea have been saving the sheer awkwardness of family fun night for decades. Additionally, without board games the world mighty have never known Words With Friends, and then what would you be doing to occupy yourself on long lines or while sitting on the toilet?
