num_pages: 101
description: America is the land of original thinkers, of great ideas - of wacky inventors. For every Thomas Alva Edison there have been thousands of Alden L. McMurtrys, the Connecticut tinkerer who left behind his immortal design for a hat that produced streams of soap bubbles - perfect for show-stopping chorus numbers. Or so he dreamed.Like McMurtry, the zany visionaries who patented their awesomely impractical concoctions missed hitting the jackpot (by a mile!) But they created something the Wright Brothers' flying machine and Edwin Herbert Land's Polaroid camera didn't - the ability to make us laugh. Now, reproduced directly from the records stored in the U.S. Patent Office, are the best of the worst!
language: English
title: Mr. McMurtry's Bubble Hat: And Other Great Moments in American Ingenuity
titlecomplete: Mr. McMurtry's Bubble Hat: And Other Great Moments in American Ingenuity
genres: Nonfiction
ratings_count: 3
publisher: Dell