Many inventors have had success patenting simple inventions like paperclips. The paperclip is simply a piece of wire that has been bent into a particular shape, yet this invention from the 1800s has spawned a number of different designs which have each received their own patents over the years.
Some of the designs differ in terms of the number of bends in the wire, while others are made from different materials.
Another example of a simple invention that was easy to patent is the post-it note. These simple notes with an adhesive strip were invented by a large US corporation, and quickly became an office and household essential. This profitable invention enjoyed patent protection up until the 1990s.
An additional simple invention that we use every day is the rubber band, which like the paper clip dates back to the 1800s. Since being patented in the 1800s, no one has been able to improve on the basic design of the rubber band.
Moreover, there is also the simple invention of the creative card clip, which is a fun children’s toy. The story of the card clip illustrates the basic process that any inventor must go through to prototype, patent, manufacture and market a new product.
This simple invention was created from ¾ inch long tubing pieces which were sliced on the ends with a razor blade. This allowed them to serve as connectors for playing cards so that kids could use them as building blocks for various structures like a house of cards. The inventor of this toy created a prototype at home and used his own kids to test it out.
The history of simple inventions demonstrates that it is possible to patent even the smallest of household ideas. The patenting of such products proved highly useful as they enabled the inventors to reap large profits from their seemingly pedestrian idea.
