Intellectual Property Law

How Inventive! (No. 13)

By Dan

When was the helicopter invented?  Setting aside the classic example of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings (because he apparently never attempted to make a working device?), how long ago was the helicopter patented?  In 1907, J.N. Williams applied for his "Flying Machine" patent, U.S. Patent 1,023,233.  The following year, the venerable Thomas Edison applied for U.S. Patent 970,616, also titled "Flying Machine".

Figure 1 from U.S. Patent 1,023,233:

Figure 1 from U.S. Patent 970,616:

Full post as published by Dan Fingerman on May 03, 2009 (boomark / email).