Great Engineer Inventors
And Why There Are So Many
September 22, 2016
Robert MacWright, Ph.D., Esq.
Director, Technology Transfer Office
UMass Amherst
Famous Inventor Engineers
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Nikola Tesla
James Watt
Guglielmo Marconi
Jan Ernst Matzeliger
Karl Benz
Martin Cooper
Maria Beasley
Samuel Colt
 Thomas Edison
 Alexander
Graham Bell
 Rudolf Diesel
 The Wright
Brothers
 Samuel Morse
 Igor Sikorsky
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Some Simple Reasons Why
 The Physical Realm is apparent
 Early machines as inspiration
 Commercial value perceptible
 Vast frontiers
 Key discoveries opened doors
 Equipment availability
 Patents to capture value
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Personal Qualities
 Born problem solvers
 Pioneering spirit
 Vision – “seeing around corners”
 Willing to set impossible goals
 Dogged determination
 Belief solutions can be found
 Disdain for mediocrity
 Willing to fail again and again!
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Nicola Tesla
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• Studied at Austrian Polytechnic
• Came to work for Edison in 1882
• Edison refused to pay reward
• Started Tesla Electric in 1886
Patented first AC motor in 1888
Licensed to George Westinghouse
Battle between DC and AC
Powered 1893 World’s fair
Hydroelectric at Niagra Falls powers Buffalo
Radio control boat,1898
Worked 12-21 hours a day
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James Watt
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• Self-taught as instrument maker
• Given a workshop at U. Glasgow
• Was asked to repair a Newcomen
engine, a 50-year old design
Realized 3/4ths of energy was lost
cooling the cylinder
2 innovations in 1765: a separate
condenser and a steam jacket
First machine installed in 1776
Mechanized the Industrial Revolution
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Samuel F.B. Morse
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Charlestown, MA, Yale grad
Famous painter; Washington, Adams
England after wife, parents die
Charles Jackson’s electromagnets
1-wire telegraph and code on voyage
Repeater with Leonard Gale at NYU
Code expanded to letters by Alfred Vale
Demo to Congress brings in $30K funding
Connected DC and Baltimore
O’Rielly v. Morse, US Supreme Court, declared
Morse the true inventor
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Guglielmo Marconi
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Wireless telegraphy was a dream
Radio waves were a curiosity
At age 20, experiments in attic
Studied the growing literature
½ mile at 21; 3.2 mi at 22
Acclaimed for lectures in 1898
Sent messages 1550 mi at 28!
Began regular transatlantic in 1907
Instrumental in Titanic rescues, 1912
Began broadcasts in 1922, to become BBC
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Jan Ernst Matzeliger
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Worked in machine shop at 10
A sailor, came to MA at 22
Worked at Harvey Bros. Shoe Co.
“Lasting” of shoes by hand; 50/day
Lasters went on strike
Worked long hours for 5 yrs
6 patents from 1893-1891
Could last 150-700 pairs/day!
Cut cost of shoes in half!
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Karl Benz
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• ME from University of Karlsruhe
• Fiancé buys out partner in
Factory for Machines
• Patents to make money
• 2-cycle engine in 1879
Invented spark ignition, spark plug,
carburetor, clutch, gear shift, radiator
1883, formed Benz & Co with bike shop
Patented first self-propelled vehicle 1886
Bertha Benz’s famous road trip
1909, Blitzen Benz reaches 141mph!
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Martin Cooper
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Illinois Institute of Technology
Led Motorola communications
Car phones already available
Cooper’s idea of a personal phone
1973 Motorola approved the project,
team made “the Brick” in 90 days!
• 1973 patent application on the cellular concept:
overlapping stations and handsets that can switch
• First call to his competitor at AT&T!
• 10 yrs to launch; $100M, 20 yrs before profits!
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Maria Beasley
• Patented the life raft in 1880
• Several patents on barrel
making machines, 1884-1888
• Beasley Standard Barrel Making
Co. made 100s/day
• Licensed the machine patents to
oil and sugar cos - $20,000/yr!
• Occupation listed as “inventor”
• Displayed her inventions at the
1884 Cotton Centennial Exhibit
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Samuel Colt
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• At 15, dreams of the “impossible gun”
• At 18 made a pistol that blew up!
• 1st revolver patent at 23, in 1836
• Cylinder locking bolt, percussion cap
• 1st factory closed in 1843
Texas Rangers and the Mexican-American War
1855 Colt Armory was first assembly line factory
Fired Rollin White, inventor of the metal cartridge!
Sold revolvers to the North and the South
After his death, developed “The Peacemaker”
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Yvonne Brill
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No engineering degree because a woman
1940, only woman rocket scientist in U.S.
Worked on NASA and IMSO Projects
1967, invented the hyrdozine resistojet
Satellites need 2 engines: 1-5 lbs + milipounds
Solved weight & complexity; one engine, one fuel
Industry standard for geostationary satellites
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Why Engineers Don’t Patent
 “Only breakthroughs are patentable”
• IPhone patents include rounded corners, finger scrolling
 “My developments are obvious”
• Assume others think like them, apply hindsight
 “Nobody would want it”
• Millions of small-market products make money daily!
 “Patents are un-academic”
• Patents bring new products and services to the public
 “All software should be free as the air”
• Far more Windows users than Linux users
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Don’t Talk Yourself Out of It!
 If you are solving practical problems,
you are inventing!
 Sending a disclosure is easy
 The TTO is there to serve you!
 Some of the best inventions are
elegantly simple, some complex
 Wouldn’t it be exciting to see your
invention make it?
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If in doubt, CALL US!
 We are patentability experts
 We will search patents, markets
 We will make it easy for you
 More often than not there is
something exciting!
 You will learn about patents, and
become an even better inventor
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THANKS!
Bob MacWright
Director, Technology Transfer Office
UMass Amherst
[email protected]
www.umass.edu/TTO
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