#28: Moistening Adhesive Coating

This one is good:

“Apparatus for moistening adhesive coatings on postage material and the like which includes an enclosure having a container of liquid therein. A plunger is provided to lift an absorbent applicator from the liquid and pass the applicator through an opening in the side of the enclosure. A closure member for the opening is opened in response to the applicator movement. The applicator may be in the form of a human tongue and the closure may be in the form of a human lip.”

And here is the official claim:

1. An apparatus for moistening adhesive coatings on postage material and the like, comprising:

(a) an enclosure member;
(b) an open top liquid container disposed within said enclosure member;
(c) a spring biased linkage member pivotally mounted within the enclosure member and biased to a predetermined position;
(d) a moistening member pivotally mounted to the linkage member, said moistening member being movable from a first position in which it is disposed within the open top liquid container to a second position in which it is extended outwardly from the enclosure member;
(e) a plunger reciprocally movable within the enclosure member, said plunger engaging the linkage member for applying a force thereto non-coincident with the linkage member's pivotal axis to overcome its spring bias; and
(f) a reciprocally movable closure member, said closure member being movable from a first position to a second position in response to a force transmitted by said moistening member for selectively closing and exposing of an opening in said enclosure member, said moistening member extending through said opening when said closure member is in its second position.


2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said plunger engages said moistening member to effectuate pivotal movement of the moistening member relative to the linkage member.

3. An apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein open top liquid container is slidable into and out of said enclosure member.

4. An apparatus as recited in claim 3 wherein said moistening member includes an absorbant sponge-like material capable of absorbing and maintaining moisture.

5. An apparatus as recited in claim 4 wherein said moistening member has a configuration resembling that of a human tongue.

6. An apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein said closure member has a configuration resembling a human lip.

7. An apparatus as recited in claim 6 further including a lip configuration on said enclosure member disposed immediately beneath said closure member.

Basically, Donald Poynter from Cincinnati, Ohio Poynter wanted to come up with a solution to the problem many experience when they have to lick the adhesive coating on a postage stamp and cringe at its unpleasant taste. According to his claim many others avoid or object to licking stamps for reasons of “health and sanitation or personal propensities.” Therefore Donald came up with a solution and that is a novelty plunger device that can moisten the adhesive coatings for the individual. 

Donald filed the patent in 1980 and received his patent in 1981! First of all, super fast turn over, sounds like the patent system may have processed patents faster however this definitely had its drawbacks considering someone got a patent on the process of licking a postage stamp!

So….

Useful: Sure

Novel: Definitely not!

Non-obvious: Others definitely could have come up with this, I have definitely used a slightly damp kitchen sponge to get a stamp on an envelope.