Patents

Just found this article about the earliest sound recording

Edourd blah blah de Martinville was recording shit twenty years before The Wizard of Menlo Park and nobody has heard of the guy. He gave his invention a much cooler name to: the Phonoautograph. But it just goes to show you though that it's all about being the first to get the patent.

In the famous case of Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell, Bell beat her to the patent office by a few hours, literally, and is now famously known as the inventor of the telephone. It's universally accepted now that he stole the idea from Gray, but history will probably always remember Bell as the father of the phone.

Same story with Gutenberg and his moveable print (that's Johannes not Steve). He probably didn't invent the printing press, rather stole it from his apprentice who had likely stolen it from his previous mentor. History uses a lot of white out though, and if you're on a quiz show or playing trivial pursuit, you're better off going with the likes of Bell and Gutenberg, respectively.

Another example is roller shoes- how many people came up with that idea before it surfaced 10 years ago or so? I'm talking about the mini wheels on kid's shoes, not roller blades. At least I invented "The Helping Hand," and no one can deny that.