Gibby Darin. Why Has America Stopped Inventing

Morgan James Publishing, 2011. — 252 p. — ISBN 9781614480488, 1614480486.America loves innovation and the can-do spirit that made this country what it is—a world leader in self-government, industry, technology, and pop culture. Everything about America has been an experiment and a leap of faith. And one such experiment—upon which all others depend for success — is the U.S. Patent System.
Why Has America Stopped Inventing? Takes a close look at why this experiment appears to be failing, and why America has all but stopped inventing.
Our belief that we are the most innovative people on earth is mistaken.
Statistics show that today we invent less than half of what our counterparts did a century and a half ago. Look around: Where are the groundbreaking inventions comparable to those from the Industrial Revolution? It’s unforgivable that we’ve been using the same mode of transportation for over a century. Why are we giving trillions of dollars every year to hostile foreign nations for imported oil when we have the inventive talent in America to solve the nation’s energy crisis?
We don’t have these desperately needed technologies because regular Americans have given up on inventing. Why Has America Stopped Inventing? Compares some of America’s most successful 19th century inventors with those of today, showing Jefferson refusing to waste any more weekends examining patent applications, Whitney being robbed of his fortune while the South’s wealth exploded, the patent models that kept British soldiers from burning Washington’s last-standing federal building, the formation of Lincoln’s cabinet, and Selden crippling the entire U.S. Auto Industry. It also tells the largely unforgotten stories of the Wright brother’s airplane monopoly, the Colt revolver’s role in the Mexican American War, the Sewing Machine wars, the last six months of Daniel Webster’s life, and the controversy surrounding the first telephone patents.Preface.
Introduction: The Patent Game.
Life Could be Better.
How America’s Innovation Began — Eli Whitney.
The U.S. Gets Her First Patent Office.
America’s Laws Get Broken In.
In Come the Models.
America Gets Rubber Fever.
A New Patent Office and Patent Statute.
The Patent Office Rescues Colt and Morse.
McCormick and Goodyear Secure Their Rotunda Fame.
Singer Starts the Patent Wars.
Colt Turns to the Courts.
Goodyear Seeks Out Daniel Webster.
The Legal Elite Join the Fight: Lincoln and his Future Cabinet Take Sides on the McCormick Reaper Case.
Morse Encounters Salmon P. Chase.
The Aftermath.
The Old Curiosity Shop Is Mothballed.
The Telephone and the Automobile.
The Patent Office Confronts the Ether.
In Come the Wright Brothers.
Where Did the Inventors Go?
The Staggering Cost of Inventing.
How Do We Fix This?
About the Author.
Resources.
References.