Question from Caycee L.:
I know not all patents are original inventions and some of them are like different versions or solutions for the same task. I was wondering, is there a way to tell what the most patented invention is? Like what item has been invented/reinvented/improved the most?
That would be a neat piece of trivia.
Thanks for listening
There are numerous inventions that have been patented in different forms over the years. The one that seems to have been reinvented and patented the most though is the mousetrap. The United States Patent Office has issued over 4,400 patents for different types of mousetraps. 95% of these patents have been issued to amateur inventors. About forty new mousetrap patents are issued every year and ten times that many are denied.
Of all the patents issued for mousetrap, only about twenty have made any money. The most successful of these patents was Patent Number 744,379 issued to John Mast on November 17, 1903 for an animal-trap. This patent was the basis for the Victor mousetrap still manufactured today.
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