At 100 years old, Eemeli Väyrynen (FI) became the oldest person to receive a patent for his improved potato planter.
Factoids
The first season of the FLL Global Innovation Award had 179 team submissions!
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere" - Albert Einstein
“Every generation has its own innovations.” – Dean Kamen, FIRST founder
Get ahold of this! A 4-year-old girl from Texas is the youngest person to get a patent – which was for grasping knobs.
Be still my cardiac organ! In 1979 a patent was granted for an artificial heart.
FIRST LEGO League reaches kids in 61 countries!
Silly Putty, trademarked in 1952, was used by Apollo astronauts to hold down their tools in zero-gravity.
Patents can be granted for innovative processes and technologies — like how computers run.
A clean sweep! The first patent ever was granted in 1790 for a soap-making formula.
The Wright brothers aircraft idea took off in 1906 when they received a patent for what they called a “flying machine.”
The first US patent was issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia
There are three types of patents: utility, design, and plant.
The US has issued over 7 million patents since 1790.
219,614 utility patents were issued in 2010.
Numbered patents began in 1836. Patent No. 1 was granted to John Ruggles of Maine.
Utility patent holders have the right to control the use of their inventions for 20 years.
Design patent holders have the right to control the use of their inventions for 14 years.
