WASHINGTON, June 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
PATENTLY PRECOCIOUS
Profile America — Saturday, June 4th. Most little boys at the age of 5 are content to play with toy trucks without thinking about how they could be improved. This was not the case for Robert Patch. He designed a truck that could be assembled and disassembled easily — and changed into different types of vehicle each time, such as a dump truck or a closed van. Patch submitted his application and drawings in 1962, and on this date in 1963, at age 6, he was granted a patent. In 2015, nearly 326,000 patents were granted out of almost 630,000 applications. Fifty-two percent of the patents were awarded to foreign recipients. Toys, games and hobby goods are a small ticket-but-big total part of the economy, as nearly 133,000 retail outlets sell them to the tune of about $33 billion per year. Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources:
Boy inventor: http://recognizinginnovation.com/3703/weeks-featured-inventor-14/
The patent/accessed 4/6/2016: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/06/04/32087/50-years-later-robert-patch-remembers-being-younge/
Patent applications and grants/accessed 4/6/2016: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/us_stat.htm
Sales of toys, games and hobby goods/NAICS 20460: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/44SLLS1
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at <http://www.census.gov> (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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