American Inventions: A History of Curious, Extraordinary, and Just Plain Useful Patents by Stephen Van Dulken, New York University Press, $26.95, ISBN 0814788130 (to be published in next month) Reviewed by Barry Fox
SEVEN million US patent have been filed since the American Constitution was agreed. Only a few thousand of these cover inventions that have changed the world, characterised the American dream or just make fun reading. To sift them out, distil often turgid text into a few pithy words and collate the results into a dozen seamless chapters may sound simple. Only someone who has worked with patents…
