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Mark Twain Granted His First Patent on December 19, 1871
Famous
author and humorist was also an inventor
Samuel L. Clemens, born in Florida, Mo.,
received patent #121,992 on December 19, 1871 for
an Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps
for Garments.
Clemens, better known as Mark Twain and famous
for stories such as Huckleberry Finn and Tom
Sawyer, also was an inventor and received a total
of three patents. While living in Hartford, Conn.,
Twain, received his first patent for an adjustable
strap that could be used to tighten shirts at the
waist. This strap attached to the back of a shirt
and fastened with buttons to keep it in place and
was easy to remove. Twain's invention was not only
used for shirts, but for underpants and women's
corsets as well. His purpose was to do away with
suspenders, which he considered uncomfortable.
Twain also received patents for a self-pasting
scrapbook in 1873, that was very popular and sold
over 25,000 copies, and in 1885 for a history
trivia game.
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