Our firm is taking the day off for Veterans Day to honor all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Did you know that Veterans Day originally marked the signing of the armistice that ended World War I, the “War to End All Wars?” World War I was a terrible conflict that saw death and destruction on such a massive scale, with armies deploying new weapons of war like airplanes, tanks, and mustard gas. Yet, in all the destruction, some of these weapons of war actually led to significant inventions that have useful non-military applications. For example, African-American inventor Garrett Morgan invented a “breathing device” in U.S. Patent Number 1,113,675 (pictured left) that issued in 1914 to protect soldiers from mustard gas used by the Germans against the Allies in France. His invention–the precursor to more modern gas masks–has no doubt saved countless lives since.
His patent reads, in part, that “[t]he objects of the invention are to provide means whereby a fireman having his head [e]nclosed in a hood with which a hanging air tube communicates will be able to supply himself at will with fresh air from near the floor or other suitable place and at the same time forcibly remove smoke or injurious gases from the air tube.” To achieve those objects, the “invention comprises a tube having a mouthpiece [e]nclosed within the hood which can be inserted in the mouth and this tube is turned upward at the lower end to enter the mouth of the lower end of the air tube and by forcibly exhaling into the mouthpiece a strong current of air can be driven into the lower end of the air tube.”
Our offices in Roanoke and Lynchburg our closed today in honor of our veterans. We will be back to our intellectual property litigation, trademark protection, and business counseling work on Tuesday.
- Veterans Day Intellectual Property - November 11, 2024
- A Christian IP Attorney Considers #Scamilton - August 19, 2022
