Mad Science: The Weirdest Patents Ever Granted

To tell you the truth. The majority of us, when we think about innovators, picture a brilliant individual wearing a lab coat and frantically putting down calculations that will ultimately lead to the creation of the next iPhone or a treatment for a catastrophic illness. Alternatively, a more effective method of slicing bread.

Nevertheless, the reality of the United States Patent and Trademark Office is much more peculiar. There is a man in his garage who is making something that is so thoroughly unhinged that you really have to ask who allowed him to have tools in the first place. For every Thomas Edison, there are other individuals.

What about the nuts part? The government did, in fact, take a look at these items, and they gave them their stamp of approval and said, "Yep, that is officially an invention."