May Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays

May is National Inventors Month,   a  month-long event celebrating invention and creativity.  Discover which clever creations came into being or received patents or trademarks during the May calendar, and find out  which famous inventor shares your May birthday.  Ã‚   May Inventions and Birthdays May 1 1888 -  Patent #382,280 was granted to Nikola Tesla for the electrical transmission of power. May 3 1831 -  Jim Manning patented a mowing machine.  However, the very first patent for a machine for mowing lawns was granted to Edwin Beard Budding. May 4 1943 - A patent for helicopter controls was obtained by Igor Sikorsky. Sikorsky invented fixed-winged and multi-engined aircraft, transoceanic flying boats and helicopters. May 5 1809 - Mary Kies was the first women to receive a patent. It was for a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. May 6 1851  -  John Gorrie received the ice-making machine patent. May 7 1878 - Joseph Winters  received the fire escape ladder patent. May 9 1958 - Mattels Barbie doll was registered. The Barbie doll was invented in 1959 by Ruth Handler (co-founder of Mattel), whose own daughter was called Barbara. May 10 1752  - Benjamin Franklin first tested his  lightning rod. Franklin invented the lightening rod, iron furnace stove, bifocal glasses and  odometer. May 12 1885  - Ottmar Mergenthaler received a patent for a machine for producing printing bars. May 14 1853 - Gail Borden invented her process for condensed milk. May 15 1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the worlds first machine gun. May 17 1839 - Lorenzo Adkins patented a water wheel. May 18 1827 - Artist Rembrandt Peale registered a lithographic portrait of President George Washington  based on his famous oil painting.1830 - Edwin Beard Budding of England signed a licensing agreement for the manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower. May 19 1896  - Edward Acheson was issued a patent for an electrical furnace used to produce one of the hardest industrial substances:  carborundum. May 20 1830 - D. Hyde patented the fountain pen.1958 - Robert Baumann obtained a patent for a satellite structure. May 22 1819 - The first bicycles, called swift walkers, were introduced to the United States in New York City.1906  - Orville and Wilbur Wright received a patent for a Flying Machine with a motor. May 23 1930 -  The Patent Act of 1930 permitted patenting of certain plants. May 24 1982 - Increased penalties for trafficking in counterfeit labels for certain works and criminal infringement of these works were added to the Copyright Act in 1982. May 25 1948 - Andrew Moyer was granted a patent for a method of mass production of penicillin. May 26 1857 - Robert Mushet received a patent for methods of manufacturing steel. May 27 1796 - James McLean was issued a patent for a piano. May 28 1742 - The first indoor swimming pool opened in Goodmans Fields, London.  1996 - Theo and Wayne Hart received a patent for a ponytail hair clasp. May 30 1790 -  The first Federal Copyright bill was enacted in 1790.1821 - James Boyd patented the rubber fire hose. May Birthdays May 2 1844 -  Elijah McCoy, the highly prolific African-American inventor, was born. May 12 1910 - Dorothy Hodgkin won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances. May 13 1857 - English pathologist  Ronald Ross won the Nobel Prize in 1902. May 14 1686 -  Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit  invented  the thermometer.1946 - Surgeon and  inventor  Robert Jarvik  invented the Jarvik 7 artificial heart. May 15 1859 - French physicist  Pierre Curie  shared the Nobel Prize in 1903 with his wife, Marie Curie.1863 - English toy inventor  Frank Hornby founded the legendary Meccano Toy Company. May 16 1763 - French chemist  Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin discovered chromium and beryllium.1831 -  David Edward Hughes  invented the carbon microphone and a teleprinter.1914 - American scientist  Edward T. Hall pioneered the study of nonverbal communication and interactions between members of different ethnic groups.1950 - German superconductivity physicist  Johannes Bednorz won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987. May 17 1940 - American computer scientist Alan Kay was one of the true luminaries of personal computing.   May 18 1872 - English mathematician and  philosopher Bertrand Russell won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.1901 - American biochemist  Vincent du Vigneaud won he 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in important sulphur compounds.1907 - Nuclear physicist  Robley D. Evans  helped to persuade the US government to allow the use of radioactive isotopes in medical research.1928 - Nuclear scientist  G.R. Hall was renown for his work in nuclear technology. May 20 1851 -  Emile Berliner of Germany was  the inventor of the  gramaphone. May 22 1828 - Albrecht Grafe was a pioneer eye surgeon who founded modern ophthalmology.1911 - Russian mathematician and  biologist Anatol Rapoport invented game theory.1927 - American scientist  George Andrew Olah was a chemist and Nobel laureate. May 29 1826 - Fashion business executive Ebenezer Butterick  invented the first graded sewing  pattern.