Patently Ridiculous

By Peter Lloyd

I like to browse second-hand bookstores, because I’m always surprised by what people throw away. Much of it interests me. Sometimes I’m floored. Recently I learned a lesson in creativity.

So I’m browsing the bookshelves of my favorite thrift store the other day, and I pick up Patently Ridiculous by Richard Ross. By its subtitle, “scub-diving dogs, beerbrellas, musical toothpaste, and other patented strokes of genius,” it’s clear that Richard doesn’t think much of the inventions inside.

Still I open the book, and what do I turn to but patent no. US 6,655,061 from December of 2003. Inventor Lawrence D. Good (any relation to Johnny B. Goode?) designed “A one way free spinning hubcap assembly having a decorative hubcap and a bracket assembly...”

Wait a minute! I see these hubcaps all the time. They’re called spinners. Big with the hip-hop crowd. Now they’re even on shoes and wheelchairs. patent drawing

Ridiculous? Hardly.

A little more digging and I learn that Mr. Good wasn’t the first to patent this sort of thing. Patents as early as 1992 describe similar hubcaps. And on the Spinning Rims Facebook page, Good isn’t even listed.

And I don’t care to find out why. My beef is with Ross. As far as I can tell, Richard hasn’t invented anything. Although he is an outstandingly accomplished and heavily awarded photographer. Still, who is he to ridicule the creative process of invention?

Poetic justice. Not only was Richard wrong about the stature of spinners, a number of other inventors would also argue for their value. So would the entire spinner marketplace. I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon out back on the deck browsing Patently Ridiculous for ideas. I’ll be sipping a beer kept cool by my own version of a beerbrella.

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Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

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