For years, people have been inventing and creating new machines, devices, and processes in production. Many of the ideas contributed to making this world a better place to live, but some did not have that luck, nor did their inventors become millionaires overnight. Moreover, there are those inventors who were not responsible for the inventions attributed to them. What are these common myths about famous Inventors? We will list some of them.
Myths Of Invention
Searching the history of the invention, you will find extensive documentation that stretches from the moment the first press was invented – to the expansion of the Internet. As so many myths and stories are related to certain inventions, it is interesting to read about some of them – especially those that contain something more than dry facts. Many inventions were humorous, some were serious – but even inventions that were not at all successful do not have to be considered complete failures. Moreover, each of them shows the desire of people to improve their living conditions. The list of inventions includes cars, aspirins, chewing gum, but also the story of computer mice. We will try to reach some truths and break some common myths when it comes to science and invention.
Stealing Inventions
For some of the most important inventions in history – the credit has long been attributed to people who are not quite credited for their discoveries. A telescope, plane, and radio are just some of them. The people associated with the most important inventions of mankind become famous in the history of science and technology. But many people who made important discoveries before the formal inventors – remained in the shadows for various reasons. These merits were recognized only later, and for some of them, almost no one even knows. Therefore, it is important to protect the invention, that is – to have a patent.
Protection Of The Invention
The idea should be protected even before it reaches the patent office. Therefore, expert companies such as Invent Help deal with the problem of patent legal protection at the global level. According to Jpost.com, inexperienced inventors often present to lawyers the entire project they want to patent, which does not provide any flexibility during the registration process and prevents the inventor from making minor alterations that can improve product performance. Patent protection is important because it prevents the unauthorized use, production, and sale of a particular product. No less important is the name of the product. Therefore, people from specialized companies like this will conduct market research and gather information on whether there is a product with a similar name that would create confusion. It will then analyze how potential consumers react to the new product. Investing in such research is not small, but it mostly pays off, and it also protects the inventor from various inconveniences.
Common Myths About Famous Inventors
If they knew how to protect their inventions, some of these people might not have a headache – as was the case in these few examples.
1. War Of The Currents
The so-called current war, the conflict over the adoption of alternating current or direct current, was not truly a conflict between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. Tesla was not involved in this war that actually happened was between Edison and George Westinghouse – for whom Tesla just worked at the time of his inventions of alternating current. Even though the alternating current was more popular in Europe – North American cities have already invested in direct current systems, and there was an inventive tradition that relied on direct current. After Edison perfected the first practical electric light bulb – the need for a national switch to electricity became apparent. As Edison had numerous patents on direct current, he would have made a fortune if electric dams had been built on it.
One of Tesla’s first jobs was for Edison. Tesla was given the task of improving Edison’s system to make it more efficient. Tesla did this by completely rejecting Edison’s design – so Edison would have to give up his patent and accept Tesla’s design. This was unacceptable to Edison for practical reasons, so they parted ways. Edison continued to consider Tesla brilliant but stubborn, while Tesla spread the story that Edison had deceived him. They split up during the mid-1880s, and Tesla decided to start his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing – which he financed even with occasional manual labor.
2. Thomas Edison The Inventor Of The Light bulb?!
Do we need to call Edison the inventor of light bulbs? Even though he played a key role in the development of a commercially successful light bulb – he didn’t design it. Careful research leads us to 1809 when the Englishman Humphrey Davy made an arched lamp. Some ten years later, Warren de la Roux made the first sealed light bulb – and in 1840, William Robert Grou lit up the whole room with lamps. Unfortunately, the products were very expensive, short-lived. 8 scientists and 3 patents later – Edison developed one of these inventions to get a longer-lasting, cheaper product. And we all know the rest of the story.
3. The First Phone
We’ve all heard the story of Alexander Graham Bell, the man who first invented the telephone and used it to call someone for the first time in human history – his secretary, Mr. Watson. However, the first functional phone was actually invented 15 years before that famous event, and it was invented by Philipp Reis, a German inventor. The first real telephone was called the Reis Telephone and was first shown in 1861. Reis The phone could transmit musical tones quite clearly, and human voices a little worse. There is no doubt at all that Reis was responsible for the first transmission of the human voice over a wire, a full fifteen years before the invention of the man who received all the glory.
4. Flight Of The Plane – The Fall Of The True Inventor
The Wilbur brothers and four-year-old Orville Wright are pioneers of aviation. Their enormous contribution to the development of aviation is that in 1903 they were the first to construct a motorized aircraft called the Flyer I and officially became the first people to fly a plane. Their venture was officially declared the first controlled and continuous flight by a vehicle heavier than air. However, when the construction of the Wright brothers’ first motor aircraft is mentioned, few mention the man-inventor who made the first airplane engine. Charlie Taylor, an American mechanic, and inventor was actually working for the Wright brothers who had a bicycle repair shop.
Although Charlie was primarily employed to repair bicycles – his mechanical skills have not gone unnoticed. When it came to constructing an engine for the Flyer – two brothers hired him to do this job. He designed and constructed a water-cooled aluminum and copper engine in just six weeks. The Flyer project needed an engine with at least eight horsepower – but Taylor constructed had 12 horsepower. He continued working for the Wright brothers on engine maintenance until the 1920s.
