Public Collectors Patent Observations: Issue 2

The second in a series of three publications created by Public Collectors administrator Marc Fischer in response to a spreadsheet of over 34,000 patent applications by Los Angeles area inventors from 1976-2024. Each issue presents a series of findings, organized into playful categories. The contents of each issue are completely different. From the introduction: US Patent applications reduce the world of human-designed inventions to line drawings and words that fit on 8 ½ by 11 inch sheets of paper. There are three types of patents: utility patents (how an invention works), design patents (“the visual ornamental characteristics embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture”), and plant patents (for legally protecting a new species of plant).  Perhaps because these drawings lack color, texture, and sometimes specificity beyond the inventions, I find myself projecting onto them, and filling in various details in my own way. Some of the drawings, particularly those with more than o