In search of a Millionaire

After this post on Tire pressure Indicators, I wanted to see if the person who actually came up with the idea, is in fact a millionaire. Just to get some closure on the fantasy that if I had come up with that idea, I would have millions of $$ and ergo, not have to worrry about rising college tuition costs sometime in the future!

So, decided to track down the US Patent numbers on this thingy and see who came up with this. Here is a link to the patent from 1985, if you would care to read about it!

If you don't, the interesting thing is that "people have been trying to do this since 1914"!!! and there are various versions developed over time that evolved with the tires.

Here is a patent that describes the example I cited in the previous post. This is from 2003.. and here are some latest ones from 2005!! This last one looks close to what the Sienna has for an onboard system!

The learning?

Lot more tire pressure patents from Taiwan than US in recent years.

Things have evolved from a little stick that you insert in the valve stem, to the same thing built into the air inflation system to permanent visual indicators and onboard computerized systems that monitor pressure irrespective of the vehicle being stationary or moving...

Taiwanese govt. seems to be pushing their dudes to come up with a nice solution.

Chances are, none of these dudes are millionaires. They are all salaried employees like yours truly who got another patent award displayed on their cubicle wall!

I now know a lot more about tire pressure sensors, than I cared to know a few hours ago!

You have been bored with an information overload, when all you wanted to see or read about was the cute things the little ones say or do. Well, there is always tomorrow and I did post this earlier!

Here's to all the wannabe millionaries sitting in those tiny cubicles, coming up with ideas that change the world, one step at a time!

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