Patently Absurd discusses several of Arthur Pedrick’s inventions including the following:

UK Patent No. GB1251780. A practice golf tee. Photocells monitor the path of the club head. If they detect that the player is about to hook or slice the ball, a puff of compressed air passes along the conduit 1″ and up the middle of the tee. This blows the ball off the tee so that the player misses it, and does not have to search for a lost ball.

(Thanks to BoingBoing for the link)

Update: Pedrick’s invention is an improvement on George Grant’s 1899 invention of the golf tee.

The waffle ice-cream cone is approaching its 100th birthday. (Chicago Tribune). Popular legend is that the first waffle cone was developed at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. A New York vendor, however, obtained a patent in 1903 on an apparatus for making waffle ice-cream cups. (U.S. Patent 746,971). More Recently, Heinrich Herting patented an ice-cream cone with an edible logo (U.S. Patent 4,859,476). Because of a spike in the prices of butter, chocolate, and vanilla, ice-cream is expected to be expensive this summer. (The Slate)

Leatherman Tool Group has obtained nearly 100 U.S. patents. Most are on aspects of their multipurpose tools. Their latest patent (U.S. patent 6,718,585) is a continuation that claims priority back to a 1997 application.

When worn, Josh Maggert’s necktie appears identical to a conventional necktie. . . . Secretly, however, the necktie has a lint-brush backing. When Josh wants to remove lint from his shirt, he simply brushes the back of the tie over the offending debris. (U.S. Patent 6,170,085).

Read necktie history here.

David Johnson has written a history of the necktie. The Lemelson-MIT program provides resources for inventors. Thanks to Kevin Heller for his link to tiegate.

Joseph J. Zimmermann Jr., who invented the telephone answering machine in 1948 and patented it a year later, has died at age 92.

Chicago Tribune has the story. About.com provides more on the history of the answering machine. The Occupational Adventure Blog provides advice about a career as an inventor.