Folks:
I was browsing the USPTO database, and turned up a lot of things that might amuse some people - some inventions that started things we still use to this day, some that have been abandoned but still bring back fond memories...or memories of another kind.
Most of these are pre-1975, and not available as full text, so you'll have to click on "Images" to see the scanned patent. You'll need a TIFF plugin such as AlternaTIFF to view these.
Kadee magnetic couplers (and magnetic X2Fs, too)! This patent took several years to award - the app was filed in 1959, and I suspect it had a lot to do with a patent awarded at just about the same time to someone named Ross, covering magnetic X2Fs which operated on a different principle:
3111229
Varney trucks - needlepoint axles and one-piece castings, in die-cast metal:
2284998
Lindberg trucks - the first to use Delrin for free rolling, and flexible snap assembly:
3120080
Varney diesel drive:
2739541
Athearn Hi-F Drive :
2903974
Tyco Powertorque trucks:
3918198 - this one is full-text
Rivarossi articulated drive:
3369500
And just for fun - one of many, MANY crackpot attempts to avert steam locomotive hammerblow. The steam loco was the greatest crank magnet ever to trouble this world. Observe:
2186355
(You know, the drawing of the loco looks a LOT like a Walthers cast-bronze Baltic.)
What I have not been able to find, and what I would really like to find, is the patent on the old reliable Athearn 8-wheel drive system that has eventually found its way into nearly every model diesel produced. It's got to be back there, but the database is a bedivilin' thing to search.