The most wonderful time of the year is officially here! You may usually count down the days until Christmas with an Advent calendar, but why not count down with an “Invent” calendar, too? Happy Holidays from the Office of Technology Transfer and these twelve days of festive inventions.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… with all of those twinkly lights strung up around the house! Would you believe that Christmas lights were actually invented by Thomas Eddison and his business partner Edward Johnson in 1882? The duo hand-wired 80 lights around Johnson’s revolving Christmas tree, but it didn’t become common practice until President Glover Cleveland requested to light the White House Christmas tree in 1895. https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/who-invented-electric-christmas-lights/
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow… so you can have a chance to try out this Snowball Gun! Filed in 1947, U.S. Patent 2607333 contains a mechanism that transforms loose snow into small pellets for the best snowball fight ever. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2607333?oq=snowball
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me…. A Santa Claus visit kit! US Patent 7258592B2 comes with everything you need to bring the magic of a visit from Santa to your kiddos on Christmas Eve–Santa sized boot stencil and all.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7258592B2/en
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen… and you know they need something to eat after flying around the world on Christmas Eve. U.S. Patent US20020128081 is a Reindeer Food Kit. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20020128081
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! U.S. Patent 20160215971A1 blends the style of a Christmas tree with a traditional Hanukkah candle holder for interfaith holiday celebrations. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160215971
Rocking around the *artificial* Christmas tree! U.S. Patent 1654427 is a collapsible, artificial Christmas tree that probably looks similar to the one you use in your home today… even though it was filed all the way back in 1927! http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1654427.pdf
No matter what you stuff your stocking with, U.S. Patent US2536407A has got you covered! The Christmas stocking hanger is “designed for holding stockings suspended from a mantelpiece to be filled by Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.” https://patents.google.com/patent/US2536407A/en
He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice, and he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice… and with US Patent 20080299533A1, you can find out too! This Naughty or Nice Meter grades children on things like how well they brush their teeth and clean their room to see if they will end up with toys or coal in their stocking.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080299533A1/en
Take a trip down Candy Cane *history* Lane with me! Legend has it that Candy Canes were invented by a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, in an effort to keep his young singers quiet during the Living Crèche ceremony. The choirmaster bent sugar sticks into shepherds’ crooks in honor of the occasion–and now the bent candies that we know and love today are the most popular holiday treat. https://www.history.com/news/candy-canes-invented-germany
Elves used to live at the North Pole, but now they live on the shelves of homes across the country. Elf on a Shelf, the Christmas staple that watches over children and reports back to Santa each night during the Holiday season, was invented by a stay-at-home mom and her two daughters back in 2005, after they themselves had used a sort of “elf on a shelf” as family tradition since the early 1970s! https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-elf-on-the-shelf-history_n_5a24c89be4b0a02abe920d71
This patent gives a whole new meaning to Holiday Magic! Officially called a “wand activated electric menorah,” U.S. Patent 6053622A is an innovative Menorah that is lit and extinguished with the flick of a wand. https://patents.google.com/patent/US6053622A/en
Sleigh bells ring… are you listening? U.S. Patent US5297324A, called the “fully rounded jingle bell making method,” streamlines the bell-making process so that they’re ready to ring all holiday long! https://patents.google.com/patent/US5297324A/en