IPKAT PATENT OF THE MONTH: SEPTEMBER 2003

Worn out by your clients? Feeling tired and fatigued? Having trouble keeping up with the fast pace set by your IP peers? Then IPKat’s Patent of the Month for September is for you! Richard A. Hartman’s motorized ice cream cone (pictures here)

will save you the effort of moving your tongue to lick your scoop of super-duper mocha fudge peanut butter crunch. Your tongue remains stationary while the cone rotates the scoop of ice cream on it.



Surprisingly, according to the patent specification:



“Because the act of eating an ice cream cone has traditionally been performed by holding a scoop of ice cream largely stationary in one's hand relative to the continuous licking movements of one's tongue, the appeal of a device that basically reverses this procedure--that is, continuously moves the ice cream portion while one's tongue is held in a relatively stationary position--has been largely overlooked.”



What more can the IPKat say, except to quote the patent specification:



“…There remains a need for a novel, hand-held cup spinner for supporting, containing, rotating and sculpting an individual portion of ice cream or similarly malleable food during consumption that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike, and facilitates new and entertaining methods for eating such foods.”



This need has been admirably met, to the relief of the exhausted and lazy everywhere, by this month’s Patent of the Month – Rick Hartman, the IPKat salutes you!



Find out what happened when Jay Leno encountered the motorized ice cream cone here

Ice cream cones here, here and here

Traffic cones here