They Invented What? (No. 77)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,065: Walking hand puppet.
What is claimed is:
1. A hand puppet in the figure of a land or sea animal, bird, insect or the like with body carrying appendages comprising:
a. a body having a cavity formed therein,
b. manually movable appendages connected with the body, said appendages having finger-receiving cavities formed therein in communication with the body cavity,
c. means defining a hand receiving opening in said body in communication with said body cavity,
d. an open-ended hand-receiving glove having a finger portion an a palm portion, said glove finger portion being formed to provide the appearance of hand fingers therein, said glove being attached to said body with said palm portion covering the opening defined in said body and said finger portion being remote from said appendages, and
e. means defining an opening through said palm portion from…
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Custom 3-D Prosthetics is Vision for College Freshman’s Nonprofit
Custom 3-D Prosthetics is Vision for College Freshman’s Nonprofit
CEDARVILLE, OHIO – Connor Hart, a Cedarville freshman mechanical engineering major from Loveland, Ohio, founded The Hands of Hope Foundation, in August 2018. The Hands of Hope Foundation is a nonprofit that empowers children with a limb difference by providing them with free 3D-printed prosthetics.
“Prosthetics do not solve the problem of missing a hand, but they do help to empower children to have a more confident view of themselves ,” said Hart.
Hands of Hope started in September 2015 when Hart and three classmates at Milford High School in Milford, Ohio, volunteered to create a 3D-printed prosthetic for Hope McGill, a 7-year-old girl from the community missing her left arm from the elbow down.
“Hope was adopted from China. She had been taught from an early age to hide her arm, making her self-conscious about it. Because of the prosthetic, Hope became more confident in her little arm,” noted Catherine McGill, Hope’s older sister and a Cedarville sophomore professional writing and information design major.
Hands of Hope became a club at Milford High School and made prosthetics for three other children. However, in the spring of 2018, Milford High School decided to drop Hands of Hope as an extracurricular due to a lack of interest from the student body. Not wanting to see the organization dissolved, Hart transformed Hands of Hope into an official nonprofit and invited Catherine McGill to serve as the Foundation’s media director.
Hart and Catherine McGill created The Hands of Hope Foundation’s chapter on Cedarville University’s campus. This was made possible by Cedarville’s school of engineering and computer science.
“Connor went the extra mile by sending me an email over the summer just prior to coming to campus for his freshman fall semester,” said Robert Chasnov, dean of the school of engineering and computer science and senior professor of engineering. “He needed a space for the 3D printers he uses to manufacture the hands his team would be designing. Since we had a project lab that was being used primarily to store mobile test equipment, I set him up in that space and gave his student team card-key access to that project lab.”
Hart’s team is currently working on raising funds and building a training program for Cedarville students to learn how to create custom prosthetics. Even though 3D-printing custom prosthetics is common in the biomedical community, there is no official training. Hart and McGill hope their pilot training will become an official program that can be replicated by others.
“What I love most about working for Hands of Hope is knowing I am positively impacting the lives of both our clients and volunteers,” expressed Hart. “Knowing I provided joy to someone else with no strings attached is what keeps me smiling and driven toward giving others the same opportunities I have been given.”
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,193 undergraduate, graduate and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit http://www.cedarville.edu.
They Invented What? (No. 76)
U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,114: Vehicle wheel.
JW Note: The spoked wheel . . . application filed in 1995. Many thanks again to Michael Barclay for the submissions.
What is claimed is:
1. A spoked wheel comprising:
- an annular rim having an inner diameter;
- a central hub;
- a plurality of spokes running between the rim and hub, with each spoke having width to thickness ratio of at least 2:1, wherein said spokes have spoke portions including inside spoke portions in fixed relationship to the hub and outside spoke portions in fixed relationship to the rim, and wherein said spokes extend radially outwardly between the hub and rim;
- an encircling member affixed to at least one of the inside and outside spoke portions and included with at least one of the annular rim and the central hub, said encircling member defining a hollow annulus;
- a fastener for affixing said spokes…
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They Invented What? (No. 75)
U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,778: Painting kit and related method.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of painting using the posterior of an infant, said method comprising the acts of:
- providing a background media;
- providing a paint supply;
- dipping the posterior of the infant in said paint supply; and
- stamping the posterior on said background media to create stamping prints.
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They Invented What? (No. 74)
JW Note: Happy Thanksgiving 2018 from Anticipate This!
U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,971: Live fowl conveyor.
JW Note: Happy Thanksgiving 2007 from Anticipate This!
What is claimed is:
1. Apparatus for conveying live fowl to be inoculated, inseminated, debeaked, or to have another operation performed on them, comprising:
- (a) a base;
- (b) a pair of spindles, one spindle mounted at each of opposite ends of said base;
- (c) a generally horizontally-disposed, moving conveyor surface supported by said base and defined by an endless web encircling said spindles, said conveyor surface for receiving thereon fowl which are to have an operation performed on them; and
- (d) means for holding a bird in a defined position on said conveyor service, said holding means including:
- (i) a first elongated member, disposed generally parallel to said conveyor surface, spaced upward a desired distance from a lateral edge of said conveyor surface;
- (ii) a second elongated member, disposed generally parallel to said first…
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90th Anniversary of Mickey Mouse’s First Appearance on Steamboat Willie.
Via the USPTO today – Today marks the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse’s first appearance on Steamboat Willie.
They Invented What? (No. 73)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,201: Toy gun convertible into robotic-humanoid form.
What is claimed is:
1. A combination toy gun and robotic-humanoid assembly that can be reconfigured from a gun configuration to a robot configuration at the option of the user comprising:
- a handle member;
- a cylinder assembly;
- a gun barrel member attached to the cylinder assembly;
- a trigger assembly positioned adjacent the handle member and beneath the cylinder assembly, the handle member, cylinder assembly, gun barrel member and trigger assembly being connected together for simulating the configuration of a gun in a first position, and
- a robot head member movably connected to the trigger assembly, the handle member being configured to simulate the robotic legs of a humanoid robot when moved to a second position, a portion of the cylinder assembly being movable relative to the handle member and configured to simulate the…
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They Invented What? (No. 72)
U.S. Pat. No. 1,142,326: Combined scarecrow and advertising device.
Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: —
1. A scare crow comprising a horizontal bar pivoted upon an upright axis, a vane thereon whereby the bar will be turned around its pivot by the wind, and a garment hanger carried by said bar.
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