原文: 10 Really Great American Patents

The US patent office contains a trove of documentation of technological progress. Searching this data has never been easier. Here are 10 great American patents that made a great difference. In selecting these I stopped about 50 years ago for two reasons (1) historical perspective – it takes time to see the shifts happen and (2) to minimize the inevitable “where is the ___”.

Here, then, are ten really great patents that made a difference. In order of appearance and not importance.

No, the ‘Gin’ has nothing to do with drinking. It is a shortened form of ‘engine’ . This device, that separates the cotton from embedded seeds, was instrumental in the explosion of wealth of the United States.

At the heart of the industrial revolution is the ability to take electric power and convert it to mechanical energy. Developed based on the discoveries of Faraday in 1821 and Sturgeon in 1832, Thomas Davenport patented the first commercial electric motor. Unfortunately, because there was no practical electric distribution system in place, Davenport’s invention did not sell and he went bankrupt.

Modern life would be vastly different without refrigeration and air conditioning. The patent that started it all was issued to John Gorrie, a doctor in Florida looking to keep his patients cool. Unable to commercialize his ice making machine, he died four year later at age 54, a ruined man.

By the early 1870’s the telegraph was in widespread use. Many inventors worked on the problem of sending multiple signals over one wire, increasing the scalability of the systems in place. Alexander Bell took the path of sending multiple tones on a wire which evolved into the transmission of human voice. Teamed with Tom Watson he was issued patent 1764465 – the first telephone.

The ability to store information is so pervasive today that it is hard to remember that the whole concept of ‘a media storage device’ is only 130 years old. Mr. Edison didn’t call it that, but the path from his phonograph to you multi-gig thumb drive is fairly impressive. This meme was developed at the first industrial research facility – Menlo Park, New Jersey, USA. The patent was one of the few inventions of Edison that did not describe an improvement of ‘prior art’, but a new and unique way to record, save and reproduce sounds on demand.

Contrary to popular knowledge, Thomas Edison did not actually invent the light bulb. The patent is for ‘an improvement in Electrical Lamps, and in the method for manufacturing the same’. It was part of the genius of Edison that also created the Edison Electric Light Company (with the backing of some of the most famous financiers of the day) to market not only the light bulb itself, but also the electric power needed by all those bulbs.

In a certain way, this started the whole computer thing going. An operator would handle about 50-80 cards per minute (say 1 per second). Hollerith electric tabulating system, including tabulating machine, card reader, pantograph punching machine, and sorting machine, 1890, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Of all of the dreams of humanity throughout the ages, the thought of traveling though the air seemed the most fantastical. Truly a multitude of people spent countless years thinking, building, testing and ultimately failing in the efforts to create a heaver-than-air flying machine.

This is the Main American Standard against which all other inventions are based. To say something is “the best thing since sliced bread”, is high praise indeed. With this in mind, the first “Machine for slicing an entire loaf of bread at a single operation” must be the most important invention on this list.

The tenth item is currently pending - tell us what you think should be here.

Contributor: stevenh

译文: 十项真正伟大的美国专利

在哪里”最小化。

于是，这有了10项真正引起变化的伟大的专利。按出现的先后和重要性递增顺序排列。

1、轧棉机

不，“Gin”与酒无关。它是engine这个词的缩写形式。这个把棉花从深埋的棉籽中剥离出来的装置，在美国的财富爆炸中起了重要的作用。

2、电动机

 产业革命的核心是利用电力并把电力转化为机械能的能力。基于1821年法拉第和1832年Sturgeon的发现得以发展，托马斯·达文坡取得了第一个商业电动机的专利权。不幸的是，由于没有适当而实际的电子销售制度，达文坡的发明并没有销售出去，他破产了。

3、冷冻机

        如果没有冷藏设备和空调，现代生活将会大大的不同。开始利用冷冻机的这项专利要颁发给约翰·戈利，一位来自佛罗里达州的医生，他试图使他的病人保持凉快。没能将他的制冷机器商业化，4年后，他死时才54岁，变成了一个完全受损的人。

4、电报机的改进

       19世纪70年代早期，电报机被广泛使用。很多发明家们研究这个问题：把多种信号通过一条线发送，适当地增加系统的延展性。亚历山大·贝尔采取把多种声音信号发送到一条线路上的方法，这条线逐渐演变成人类声音的传输。和汤姆·沃特森一起合作，他被授予专利号1764465——第一台电话。

5、留声机

       如今，储存信息的能力是如此普遍以至于很难让人想起整个“媒体储存装置”的概念只有130年的历史。爱迪生先生并不那样称呼它，但是从他的留声机到你的多重拇指驱动的历史令人印象深刻。这个文化因子在美国新泽西州门罗帕克市的第一次产业调研设备中得到发展。这项专利是爱迪生为数不多的发明中的一项，但是他并没有把这个改进描述为先进的艺术，而是一种新的独一无二的方式，按照要求记录、保持和复制声音。

6、电灯泡

与普遍的认识相反，托马斯·爱迪生实际上并没有发明电灯泡。这项专利是关于“电灯和电灯制造的方法改进”。爱迪生天赋的一部分也开创了爱迪生电灯公司（得到当时最有名的一些金融家的支持），不仅使电灯本身得以上市，而且也使所有需要这些灯泡支持的电力得以交易。

7、电子加数器

从某种程度上讲，这推动了整个计算机系统的发展。一个操作员每分钟可以处理大约50至80张卡（也就是一秒一张）。霍尔瑞斯电子平面系统，包括平面机器、读卡机、比例绘图打孔机和分床分码机。1890，美国历史博物馆，史密森协会，华盛顿。

8、飞机

       很长一段时间以来，人类所有的梦想、穿越天空旅行的想法看起来非常的荒谬。事实上很多人花费无数年的时间思考、建造、测试，最后失落在创造出比天空更高的飞行器的努力中。

9、切片面包

       这是美国的主要标准，所有其他的发明都建立在与它相反的基础上。如果说什么东西是自切片面包以来最好的东西，那是很高的赞扬。记住了这个，那第一台把一整条面包在一道程序中切成片的机器一定是这个清单上最重要的发明。

10、待定的第十项

      第十项专利目前待定——告诉我们你认为什么应该写在这儿。

    由史蒂文斯供稿