Jerome H. Lemelson is one of the century’s five most prolific inventors, Lemelson received an average of one patent a month for more than 40 years. The holder of more than 550 patents, Lemelson and his remarkably creative intellect touched almost ever facet of our every day lives.
Automated manufacturing systems and bar code readers, automatic teller machines and cordless phones, cassette players and camcorders, fax machines and personal computers—even crying baby dolls derived from Lemelson’s innovations. A universal robot that could measure, weld, rivet, transport and even inspect for quality control utilized a new technology: machine vision. This was his breakthrough invention and the one of which he was most proud, despite the hundreds of others he produced during his 45-year career.
Biography
Born July 18, 1923 on Staten Island in New York City. He showed talent for inventing at a young age and first invented a lighted tongue depressor that he made for his father, a physician. After high school he attended New York University (NYU), but his education was interrupted by World War II. He left school to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a designer of weapons and other systems. Graduated from NYU in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering and two master’s degrees, one in aeronautical and one in industrial engineering.
After graduation, Lemelson worked as an engineer for several companies, including an aircraft manufacturer, a metal refiner, and a weather balloon company. In his spare time, he continued inventing things and applying for patents. He was awarded his first patent in 1953 for a toy cap, a variation of the propeller beanie.
By 1958 Lemelson quit his job and became a full-time inventor and wife (Dorothy) supported the family with her salary well into the mid-1960s. Lemelson became one of the few people able to make a living as an independent inventor. He never specialized in a single field, but constantly looked for innovative ways to solve problems in many different areas. He was known for waking up in the middle of the night with a solution to a problem that had been on his mind, but he would also come up with ideas unrelated to anything he had ever done before.
Patent Infringement Law Suits
His first experience with patent infringement left him stunned, and ultimately led to his crusade to defend the rights of independent inventors against corporate giants. After conceiving an idea for a cut-out face mask that could be printed on the back of a cereal box, he filed for a patent and then took the concept to a major cereal manufacturer. The company rejected his idea, but about three years later began packaging its cereal boxes with a mask on the back. Lemelson filed suit but the case was dismissed from court and dismissed again on an appeal. It was to be the first of many courtroom battles.
As his list of inventions grew, Lemelson found himself spending more and more time defending patents in courts. He was involved in more than 20 cases, and he lost more times than he won.
In the 1960s, Lemelson began to win licensing offers for his industrial ideas, including an automated warehouse system. In 1974, he licensed to Sony the audio cassette drive mechanism that made possible the Walkman®. In 1977, ironically, his first patent application for the camcorder was rejected: the examiner considered portable video recorders an impossibility! In 1981, IBM bought about 20 Lemelson patents for data and word processing systems.
He devoted much of his life to championing the rights of the independent inventor, because above all he wanted to ensure that the United States thrived in a high-tech, global marketplace.
Lemelson Foundation
In his philanthropy, as in his professional work, Lemelson was devoted to invention. In the 1990s he and Dorothy established the Lemelson Foundation which began funding new programs that promote invention and entrepreneurship. The Lemelson-MIT Prize Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was established. Each year the program gives out several awards, including the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, presented to an outstanding American inventor-innovator. Lemelson also donated money to create the Lemelson National Program in Invention at Hampshire College in Massachusetts and at the University of Nevada, Reno. Another important legacy is the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, which was created through a $10 million gift to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
It has donated or committed more than $130 million in support of its mission in the U.S. and developing countries.
Dorothy Ginsberg Lemelson
Chairman of the Lemelson Foundation, which she founded with her husband, Jerry, one of the world’s most prolific inventors, Dorothy Ginsberg Lemelson is today fostering the couple’s dream of encouraging and supporting America’s next generation of inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Dorothy was a successful interior designer and owner of Dorothy Ginsberg Associates in New Jersey. The mother of two sons, Eric and Rob, she supported her family financially while her husband worked as an independent inventor from their home.
Dorothy began dating Jerry in 1953 when they were reintroduced 15 years after their first meeting as children on the Staten Island Ferry. At the age of 12, Dorothy recalls thinking, “I’m going to marry him.” And marry him she did, in 1954. Four years later, Jerry quit his job as an engineer to dedicate 100 percent of his professional time and intention on invention. Their son Eric was born in 1959; Rob was born two years later.
The Lemelson Foundation Inventor Support Programs
The Lemelson-MIT Program each year recognizes outstanding inventors with awards: the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, the $100,000 Award for Sustainability, and the $30,000 Student Prize.
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