Motorized Ice Cream Cones and Floating Campgrounds: 14 of the Wackiest Summer Fun Patents

Inventors never stop thinking of new ways to have fun, as these 14 patents show.

For the times that licking an ice cream cone is too difficult, this patented motorized ice cream cone does the work for you. Happy summer. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,829)

By Emily Matchar

smithsonian.com
June 21, 2017

Summer’s almost officially here, which means all kinds of warm-weather fun: swimming, fishing, picnicking, lying on the beach. But to some of the world's’s tinkerers, those pastimes could be improved on with a dash of ingenuity. The results are sometimes useful, sometimes funny, sometimes quirky, and sometimes just plain ridiculous. See for yourself with this slideshow of the wildest summer fun patents.

Body Sail

The patent for the body sail, from 1973, says the average recreational mini boat is flimsy and too expensive. So why not strap sails and a mast to your torso and feet to turn your body into a sailboat? The inventor, Raymond C. Dansereau of St Petersburg, Florida, later made another human-sailboat hybrid, with a larger sail and greater stability. It looks like fun; we’re a little bummed we can’t find one on Amazon.