Buzz
Nobel Prize winners in the sciences are 15 to 25 times more likely to be involved in the arts compared to other scientists. Early involvement in artistic pursuits sharpens a scientist's manual dexterity as well as their capacity for abstract thinking and pattern recognition.
Strangely, not many celebrity inventors are widely recognized for their artistic abilities. Benjamin Franklin is celebrated for his contributions to electricity, oceanography, and demographics, but few know that he composed music and was skilled with the harp, violin, and guitar. Marie Curie is famous as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first to win two, yet many can't recall her poetry. This is also true for those who gained fame through their artistic achievements but not their inventions.
10. Eddie Van Halen’s Musical Instrument Support
Rock icon Eddie Van Halen inherited his passion for inventing from his father. His dad, a clarinet and saxophonist in a band, faced difficulty playing his reed instruments after losing his lower teeth. To solve this, he crafted a prosthesis out of white Teflon to fill the gap in his mouth.
Like his father, Eddie was quick to tackle problems and find solutions on his own. To achieve the sound he desired, he would modify his guitar or even build one from scratch. When guitar necks felt too round at the back, he used sandpaper to flatten them. When the lacquer caused his fingers to slip or stick, he created a guitar made of natural wood. And when whammy bars wouldn't stay in tune, he invented a custom nut to adjust the tension on the strings.
Eventually, Eddie realized he could patent his creations. One of his patents came from the need to tune his guitar during a live performance. While he typically tuned his guitar before the concert using the tuning pegs, he realized that if a guitarist desires a “different range of notes, different sound qualities or feel, or various musical effects,” retuning on stage could be awkward and inaccurate. Eddie developed a tailpiece/bridge with a simple lever to adjust string tension (similar to a whammy bar) and retune the guitar.
Perhaps Eddie’s most recognized invention is his stringed instrument support. Renowned for his two-handed tapping technique on the guitar, Eddie designed a support attached to the back of his guitar that flipped the instrument into a horizontal position for optimal string visibility. The support holds the guitar against the guitarist’s body, allowing them to play without needing to hold the instrument with either hand.
9. Fish Attractor by Gary Burghoff
Gary Burghoff, the actor known for portraying Walter “Radar” O’Reilly in the M*A*S*H movie and TV series, holds several patents, including one granted in 1991 for a device designed to lift a toilet seat without using your hands.
Most of his other patents are related to fishing. In an interview with The News, Burghoff shared, “I’ve been fishing since I was three, and I’ve always loved it. I also enjoy tinkering and inventing things.” He created a fishing rod with a curved handle that helps anglers fight fish while in a fighting chair, though it can also be used for regular casting and trolling.
In 1990, Burghoff applied for a patent for a fish attractor. This flat flotation device featured a meshed basket suspended underneath, allowing chum to flow out and lure fish to the line and hook attached to it. “The body member is designed to move with the currents of oceans and rivers, keeping the device clear of human activity,” his application reads. The flotation device also creates shade, essentially acting as “an artificial haven for fish.”
Before his original invention even received its patent, Burghoff filed for another patent for an “Enhanced Fish Attractor.” This version was identical to the first, but included “flexible webs” to mimic seaweed. The flotation device was also capable of emitting lights and sounds into the water as additional attraction—creating a hot nightclub for largemouth bass.
8. Memory Builder Game by Mark Twain
Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens) was not only the author of timeless works like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but also the holder of three patents. His most profitable invention was an improved scrapbook. Twain believed gluing items into a scrapbook was too messy and tedious, so he coated each page with adhesive. He sold over 25,000 copies of this innovative creation.
His most significant invention, however, was the elastic hook clasp, designed to make straps adjustable and removable. Meant to replace suspenders, the clasp could be used for vests, pants, shirts, corsets, and undergarments—anything that required a strap for holding. The elastic hook clasp became even more widespread with the invention of the brassiere, and today, it’s found between almost every woman’s shoulder blades.
Twain’s foray into inventions wasn’t always smooth. He invested a hefty $50,000 in the Paige Compositor, an automatic typesetting machine. Unfortunately, the machine was too complex to maintain, and the simpler Linotype eventually dominated the market, leaving Twain bankrupt.
Twain was also friends with inventor Nikola Tesla and was once invited to witness Tesla’s high-frequency oscillator. Twain decided to stand on the oscillator while it was in use, and the result was enough to make him poop his pants. He humorously wrote: “I have, as you say, been interested in patents and patentees. If your books tell how to exterminate inventors, send me nine editions. Send them by express [mail].”
In spite of these setbacks, Twain went on to invent one more item—Mark Twain’s Memory Builder: A Game for Acquiring and Retaining All Sorts of Facts and Dates. Patented in 1885, the game was inspired by the struggles his daughter had with memorizing historical dates.
Two players would select a historical century and a country (though they could choose multiple centuries and countries to play with). Then, each player would name an event from that nation's history and place a pin on a board to mark the year of the event. After a set amount of time, the players would count their pins to determine the winner.
In 1891, Twain sent prototypes of the game to toy stores, but the memory game was too complex and never went into mass production.
7. Style Snaps by Melissa George
You might recognize Australian actress Melissa George from her roles in Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Alias, Lie To Me, The Good Wife, and the miniseries The Slap. As of late 2015, she was set to star in the NBC series Heartbreaker. She has also appeared in films such as Derailed (2005) and 30 Days of Night (2007). Despite her successful acting career, she has stated that her invention brings in more income than her acting roles.
In 2008, while living in New York City, George encountered a problem: her expensive Balenciaga pants were hemmed for heels, not flats. As she walked with her pant legs dragging along the sidewalk, she came up with a solution. “I didn’t want to buy two pairs of the same pants or jeans just to wear them with my flats,” she shared in an interview with People magazine. “It’s expensive and takes up too much space, especially living in New York City, where space is limited.”
Her idea led to the creation of Hemming My Way Style Snaps, a handy adhesive snap that allowed people to temporarily adjust the length of pant legs without needing to sew or iron. “You can snap up your long hem for a walk in the park,” she shared with People, “and unsnap to wear your favorite heels for lunch.” Within the first 10 months of 2012, her invention earned £15 million. By 2014, she also held a patent for a portable cosmetic organizer.
6. Packing Rack and Pulse-Rate Monitor by The Marx Brothers
The five Marx brothers were born into a family of entertainers who began their musical vaudeville act in 1904. The four older brothers—Julius, Adolph (later Arthur), Leonard, and Milton—adopted the stage names of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Gummo in 1915. Their youngest brother, Herbert, joined the group two years later when Gummo left to serve in World War I. Herbert became Zeppo.
Groucho, Chico, and Harpo were the most well-known of the brothers, staying together as a group until after World War II. By the early 1930s, Gummo and Zeppo had left the act and went on to build a successful talent agency instead.
By then, Gummo already had one patent under his belt. He filed it in 1918, likely while still serving in the military, and named it the Packing Rack. The Packing Rack was a box with shelves designed to help organize personal belongings, though it never gained much popularity.
Zeppo, on the other hand, was known for his inventive engineering mind, often responsible for maintaining the brothers' cars. In 1941, he established Marman Products, which produced the Marman Clamp. During World War II, the clamp was used to secure cargo, including attaching the “Little Boy” atomic bomb to the Enola Gay. Today, the Marman Clamp is found in nearly every moving vehicle, even the Cassini Orbiter.
Zeppo also holds three patents, two of which are for devices designed to monitor a person’s heartbeat. His invention is now a standard feature on most exercise machines with heart-rate tracking capabilities.
5. Artificial Heart by Paul Winchell
While you might not immediately recognize the name Paul Winchell, the actor and voice artist, you’re likely familiar with his voice. A stutterer in his youth, he turned to ventriloquism to overcome his speech impediment. This led to his own TV show with his ventriloquist dummy, and later, he became a sought-after voice actor.
Winchell lent his voice to iconic characters, such as Tigger from the late 1970s to the 1990s in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh series, Boomer in The Fox and the Hound (1981), and Shun Gon in The Aristocats (1970). On TV, he voiced Sam-I-Am in Dr. Seuss on the Loose, Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races, and Gargamel in The Smurfs. Remember the voice of Mr. Owl in the old Tootsie Roll ads? Or Scrubbing Bubbles for Dow Bathroom Cleaner? That was Winchell too.
In addition to his successful voice acting career, Winchell was an inventor with over 30 patents. His creations included a battery-powered heated glove, a flameless cigarette lighter, a retractable fountain pen, an “invisible” garter belt, and a disposable razor. After studying premed at Columbia, he worked with the American Red Cross and the Leukemia Society before patenting a portable blood plasma defroster, a piezoelectric diaphragm, and notably, an artificial heart.
Dr. Robert Jarvik is often mistakenly credited with creating the first artificial heart. In 1982, Jarvik designed the Jarvik-7 for implantation in humans, but this was not the first artificial heart. His design was partly inspired by Winchell’s earlier prototype.
A serendipitous encounter between Winchell and Dr. Henry Heimlich (the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver) led to Winchell being invited to observe Heimlich perform surgery. During this operation, Winchell conceived the idea of an artificial heart that could keep blood circulating during surgery. With Heimlich’s assistance, Winchell went on to design and patent the first artificial heart.
While Winchell’s heart design might appear primitive compared to today’s artificial hearts, it effectively mimicked the pumping action of the heart, powered by a motor and battery pack located outside the body. Winchell later reflected that his experience with creating his own ventriloquist dummies helped him in designing the heart. “As strange as it sounds,” he wrote in his autobiography, “the heart wasn’t so different from building a dummy; the valves and chambers resembled the moving eyes and mouth of a puppet.”
4. Straitjacket ToyHarry Houdini
Harry Houdini, widely known as the greatest escape artist and illusionist, was also an inventor at heart. Along with his chief mechanic, Jim Collins, Houdini frequently designed and built his own props. This inventive mindset led him to secure at least two patents during his career.
Houdini’s first patent was filed in June 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. By this time, the 43-year-old Houdini was too old to enlist, so he focused on selling war bonds and training soldiers to escape from German handcuffs and prisons. He also sought to address a pressing issue for the US Navy. Their divers needed help getting into their heavy deep-sea diving suits, and once submerged, they couldn’t easily remove them if they encountered a problem with air or became entangled.
The US Navy’s deep-sea diving suit was a single piece, requiring the diver to step into it and pull it up over their neck. Underwater, the diver had little time to remove the suit and ascend to the surface. Houdini’s solution was to split the suit into two parts, allowing it to be worn like a shirt and pants. The two halves were joined at the waist with a locking ring to secure the diver inside. Houdini claimed that even an inexperienced diver could shed the suit in just 45 seconds, but his design was never adopted by the Navy.
Houdini also patented a toy inspired by his signature straitjacket escape act. For years, he performed a daring stunt in which he was strapped into a straitjacket, his feet tied to a cable, which was then attached to a crane. Suspended upside down in front of a live audience, Houdini would escape from the straitjacket to the amazement of the crowd.
The toy featured a man trapped in a straitjacket, with his arms held tight against his body. On top of his head was a spinning disk. When wound with a key, the disk would spin, and if placed on its head, the toy would rotate. The centrifugal force generated by the spinning motion would free the arms, causing them to swing outward as if the toy were proudly announcing 'Ta-dah!' Houdini was granted the patent for this invention just four months before his death, which likely contributed to its never being mass-produced.
3. Cardboard FurnitureFrank Gehry
Frank Gehry stands out as one of the few architects who has achieved celebrity status beyond the architecture world. Renowned as one of the leading designers of the 20th century, his avant-garde, postmodern architectural works are renowned for their daring, unconventional designs that catch the eye and challenge the norms.
One of Gehry’s most iconic designs is the stainless steel Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, which was inspired by the billowing sails of a sailboat. His Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas appears as though it’s a paper structure that is collapsing under its own weight. The Beekman Tower in New York City features a facade that ripples like the surface of water. In Seattle, Gehry designed the Experience Music Project Museum at the base of the Space Needle to create an illusion of steel and aluminum walls that flap in the wake of the passing monorail. Additionally, his Fred and Ginger House in Prague was designed to resemble a couple dancing.
To furnish his innovative buildings, Gehry developed a distinctive approach for crafting chairs, tables, and other pieces of 'load-bearing' furniture. He uses adhesive to bind multiple layers of corrugated cardboard, then cuts them into the desired shapes to create functional furniture pieces.
As Gehry explains in his patent application, 'The furniture produced by this method is affordable yet sturdy and durable. It can also take on a wide range of attractive and interesting forms. What is perhaps most noteworthy, from an aesthetic perspective, is the distinctive texture created by the cut edges of the cardboard sheets, which gives the surface its unique appearance.'
Gehry went on to create a collection of furniture called 'Easy Edges,' which showcased some of his most inventive creations. However, the connection between the designer’s name and the furniture line meant that the pieces ended up being more expensive than he initially anticipated.
2. Butt-Enhancing PantyhoseJulie Newmar
Julie Newmar boasts a rich background in both the arts and sciences: Her father was an engineering professor, and her mother was a Ziegfeld Girl. With an IQ of 134, Newmar holds three patents and has won a Tony Award for her stage performances. Though she appeared in a few theatrical films and numerous forgettable TV movies, she is best remembered for playing Catwoman in the 1960s campy Batman series. Her skintight costume played a significant role in turning the show into a cult classic.
All of Newmar’s patents are fashion-related innovations. Standing at nearly 182 centimeters (6 feet) tall, she created a pantyhose belt for taller women that prevents the crotch from sagging to the knees. She also patented a bra during the mid-1970s that offered support while creating the appearance of being braless, a trend that was fashionable at the time.
Newmar’s bra design offered support from beneath the breasts, featured spaghetti straps, eliminated underwire, and included seamless cups. According to the patent, the material was so thin that the 'impressions of the wearer’s nipples are visible through sheer outer garments.'
Newmar’s third patent was aimed at enhancing the appearance of a woman’s backside. She noticed that while pantyhose could flatten the belly, they often had the undesired effect of flattening the butt as well. In an interview with People magazine, she remarked, “I have two drawers of pantyhose, but I don’t like what they do for my backside.” To solve this, she introduced “pantyhose with shaping band for cheeky derriere relief.”
The shaping band Newmar developed was essentially a repositioned seam in the pantyhose that was tucked between the wearer’s buttocks. While the pantyhose still featured an elastic waistband that flattened the belly, the shaping band allowed the fabric to remain looser across the rear, resulting in a more natural, rounded silhouette.
Newmar shared her thoughts with People magazine, saying, “They make your derriere look like an apple instead of a ham sandwich. It’s a simple improvement. I just gathered the back seam. But it gives a woman the firm fanny of a 12-year-old.”
1. Lip Balm DispenserCharlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen rose to fame through iconic films such as Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), and Hot Shots (1991). His role as Charlie Harper in the sitcom Two and a Half Men earned him a reported $1.8 million per episode, making him the highest-paid actor on television at the time. After his departure from that show, Sheen starred in the sitcom Anger Management a year later.
The idea for his Lip Balm Dispenser came to Sheen one day while he struggled to apply lip balm while driving. He dedicated time to refining the invention during his extended stays in rehab. In June 1999, he filed a patent for the dispenser. “I just wanted to make something better than I used every day,” he later explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The lip balm fits into the dispenser and is shielded by a cap that can be quickly removed with a flick of the finger, with the same ease to close it. The user no longer requires both hands to open or secure the cap. As Sheen highlighted in his abstract, the dispenser proves especially useful when the user is wearing gloves or mittens. Additionally, the dispenser features a window in the front to indicate when the lip balm is running low.
Sheen approached ChapStick with his invention, hoping to sell it to them. However, they were only interested if the dispensers could be manufactured for under seven cents each. Unable to reduce the cost enough, the dispenser is now in a state of limbo. He does have a prototype, which he enjoys showing off to friends. “I bring it out at parties,” he told the Toronto Sun in an interview.
