Intellectual Property Law

How Inventive! (No. 1)

By Dan

This is the first in an occassional series of posts on interesting, dubious, or fun patents. (Or my second, depending whether this counts.) Three recent emails asked if my blog was defunct because I hadn't posted in a while. Two of those asked about my patent collection. Since I have little time for "real" blogging now, I'll post on some of the patents in my collection from time to time.

US Patent 7,114,465
Pet operated ball thrower
Invented by Dana S. Winter

Yes, the invention is what the title sounds like. This really is a pet-powered self-exercise device:

A pet operated ball thrower including a base, a fulcrum post attached at its lower end to the base, a throw arm pivotally attached to the upper end of the fulcrum post, a ball receiving receptacle attached to the throw arm adjacent its outer end, a treadle pivotally attached at its lower end to the base, and an attachment member pivotally attached at its lower end to the treadle and pivotally attached at its upper end to the throw arm. A pet is trained to jump on the treadle to cause the outer end of the throw arm and attached ball receiving receptacle to be rapidly moved upwardly, thereby tossing the ball from the receptacle into the air for retrieval. The pet is trained to replace the retrieved ball into the receptacle, thereby allowing repeated tossing and retrieving of the ball by the pet.

Full post as published by Dan Fingerman on August 11, 2007 (boomark / email).