najlepszą stroną o 'wynalazkach' opatentowanych przed USPTO jest blog : http://www.patentlysilly.com/

można paść ze smiechu

Polecam także abstrakt patentu, który New Scientist uhonorował zaszczytnym tytułem "dziwactwa tygodnia". Co prawda nie jest to 'software patent', ale i tak wzbudził we mnie niekłamaną radość.

WEIRDEST patent of the week is US patent 6,055,910, the "toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly" filed by Michael Zanakis and Philip Femano. The abstract says it all:

"A toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly, whose missile is composed of a soft head and a tail extending therefrom formed by a piston. The piston is telescoped into the barrel of a launcher having a closed end on which is mounted an electrically activated igniter, the air space between the end of the piston and the closed end of the barrel defining a combustion chamber. Joined to the barrel, and communicating with the chamber therein, is a gas intake tube having a normally closed inlet valve.

"To operate the assembly, the operator places the inlet tube with its valve open adjacent [to] his anal region, from which a colonic gas is discharged. The piston is then withdrawn to a degree producing a negative pressure to inhale the gas into the combustion chamber to intermix with the air therein to create a combustible mixture. The igniter is then activated to explode the mixture in the chamber and fire the missile into space."

This, incidentally, is not just a patent application. The patent has been issued, so anyone who wants to make this device will have to get a licence from Zanakis and Femano to do so.