Right around 1879, the fishwheel (historical images, McCord replica) came to the Columbia River. A clever application of mill-like thinking to traditional net fishing techniques, the fishwheel's river-powered automation of upstream harvesting revolutionized canning in Oregon and Washington, drawing both commercial attention and critical concern [NYT 1881, PDF]. Two men, Thornton Williams and William Rankin McCord, each filed patents for fishwheel designs in 1881 (#245251) and 1882 (#257960) respectively; Williams brought an infringement suit against McCord which was dismissed on the grounds that the invention was not new, being based directly on the publicly documented work of one Samuel Wilson in 1879. Fishwheels were fair game. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jun 28, 2011 - 15 comments

Ridiculous product for sale. Ridiculed on Amazon, in comments and in pictures. It causes a stir at NPR. Borked by Jalopnik.
posted by chavenet on Jun 3, 2010 - 82 comments

A better way to get kids to learn to ride - a single training wheel. The folks at bikecommuters.com liked it too. Available December 1.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan on Oct 8, 2009 - 46 comments

OMG! It's THE NEW MACBOOK WHEEL! Squeeee!
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 5, 2009 - 81 comments

Ferris wheels making a comeback. Wheels across the world, past, present, and future, big and small. Graphic comparing various wheels. The London Eye. The Singapore Flyer. A triple Ferris Wheel that closed 10 years ago. And George Washington Gale Ferris's 1893 wheel that started it all.
posted by grouse on Jul 28, 2007 - 14 comments

Somehow the Canon City, Colorado branch of the KKK was not quite as fear-inspiring as their brethren to the South. Home page.
posted by spock on Feb 16, 2007 - 29 comments

Das Rad ("The Wheel") google video Apparently rocks speak to one another. They just do it very, very slowly. An stop-motion short from Germany with English subtitles. Creators' website.flash
posted by maryh on Feb 9, 2007 - 15 comments

Australian Man Patents The Wheel This story reads as if it was meant to be in The Onion instead. Freelance patent lawyer John Keogh was issued with an Innovation Patent for a "circular transportation facilitation device" ... in May. But he has no immediate plans to patent fire, crop rotation or other fundamental advances in civilisation.
posted by wackybrit on Jul 2, 2001 - 9 comments