In continuance to our series on historically game-changing inventions, here is Part II.
VOLTAS BATTERY
Patent Name – “Improvement in Voltaic piles or batteries"
Italian scientist Alessandro Volta invented the first technique for delivering a constant flow of electric current in the 1800s. He named the battery as Voltaic pile which consisted of zinc and copper-plate separated via cardboard disks dampened in a salt solution. The flow of electricity took place through a wire which connected the top and bottom of the battery. This battery was the first portable energy source in the world; without which it would be difficult to conceive numerous creations which require electricity. Later on, Isaac Louis Pulver[1] invented specific improvements in Volta-electric batteries and a patent for the same was granted in 1876.
MERCURY THERMOMETER
Patent Name - “Mercury thermometer and temperature Scale”
Prussian scientist Gabriel Fahrenheit was the inventor of the mercury thermometer in 1714. Although Galileo Galilei had designed a water thermometer 100 years prior, it was very basic and not as precise as Fahrenheit's mercury thermometer. In addition to the mercury thermometer, Fahrenheit invented a temperature scale to ascertain the boiling point of fluids. The temperature scale eventually came to be known as the Fahrenheit scale.
CHOCOLATE MANUFACTURING METHOD
Patent Name –“Milk Chocolate Manufacturing”
2000 years ago, the world’s first chocolate was made by the Aztec civilization in Mexico. The xocolatl drink was a costly mixture of chocolate, chili peppers, cornflower, and water. This method was subsequently modified in the following years and such changes allowed the
making of milk chocolates. The patent for the milk chocolate manufacturing method was obtained in the year 1975[2]. The method was invented by Umberto Bracco. He prepared this chocolate by a mixture of milk, sugar, and cocoa and fixing the pH value to be around 6.5, and then finally drying it to form the product.
APPLE IPHONE
Patent Name – “Electronic device”
The patent application for the Apple iPhone was filed in 2008 and was subsequently granted in 2010. Apple's patent for the first iPhone recorded simply as an “electronic device”, simply says that it is an “ornamental design of an electronic gadget”[3]. The patent for the signature
gadget of the 21st century discloses barely anything about it. Albeit the iPhone was not the first cell phone or the telephone to have internet, the initial design of the phone has subsequently been modified and is regarded as a handheld computer. This electronic gadget has now come to impact how people communicate, explore, and even think.
3D PRINTER
Patent Name: “Apparatus for production of three-dimensional objects by stereolithography”
The 3D printer was invented by Chuck Hull in 1984 and the patent for the same was issued in 1986[4]. This technology is utilized in most 3D printers: stereo-lithography, or light-hardening of gum/resin. A PC gives the input to the moving platform which then positions the base under a spout. Fluid resin from the spout shapes the article, layer by layer, which is cemented by UV light. With the advancement of technology, the actual worth of 3D
printing became more evident. These 3D metal-printing techniques such as laser metal sintering are now being employed by the manufacturers in preparing models for constructions of bridges, rocket engines, etc.
Sources:
[1]Improvement in Voltaic piles or batteries, https://patents.google.com/patent/US177273A/en]
[2] Milk Chocolate Manufacturinghttps://patents.google.com/patent/US4081568A/en
[3] Electronic devicehttps://patents.google.com/patent/USD618677S1/en
[4]Apparatusproduction-three-dimensional-objects-by-stereolithographyhttps://patents.google.com/patent/US7291002B2/en