A very Nifty Triangular Hat Box

This is a design for a shipping hat box from a patent (443,397) filed in 1890. It’s a great design. The advantages cited were:

• the fancy hat would not move around in any position – saving packing. and
• more of these triangular boxes could be stored in the shipping room when compared with the rectangular variety.

This is great stuff to stimulate imagination. I do not know what the modern post office would do with such a packing container however.

I repeat this information on the legality of patents from my previous postings under the category Wacky Hatty Inventions.

If you are interested in patent protection you should visit the US Patent Office site. I did not research the patent laws as they applied in 1890. The bottom line is that provided you comply with certain conditions such as continuous filing with prescribed fees, under current laws you are protected for 10 years (twenty years prior to 1989). I am NOT a lawyer and I am definitely not giving you any legal advice. It’s complicated and before you assume you are in the clear you need to research similar patents that might be in force that “improve”on an earlier patent that may not be in force, such as the one in this post. In addition these patent and indeed,copyright (a different thing) laws are different even among the developed nations. So take care!

I present these inventions for amusement and education only.

Original article: A Triangular Hat Box

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