Great Inventions [antikvár]

• INTRODUCTION • All About Invention Inventions have shaped our world. We benefit from the work of great inventors every day: when we switch on a light, use a computer, call a friend or watch a video. Simple inventions, from buttons and zippers to Coca-Cola™ and cornflakes, make our lives easier and more enjoyable. Some inventors toil for years to perfect an idea, while others work together, sharing their discoveries and insights. The famous inventor Thomas Edison said that "genius is 1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration." He developed the electric light bulb, after painstakingly completing 9,000 experiments! Every invention creates new knowledge, and this knowledge is used to make other inventions. Inventors protect their inventions by taking out patents-agreements with the government where inventors reveal their secrets in exchange for the right to make, use or sell their inventions. Patents can last up to 21 years, and then the invention becomes public property. During the past 500 years, a staggering 25 million products, processes and devices have been invented and patented.