Makezine has a nice Presidents’ Day entry celebrating Thomas Jefferson as an inventor and maker. Among the inventions called out:
“Moldboard of least resistance” – using math, Jefferson designed a better plow to lift and turn over sod more effectively – this new plow had a huge impact and instead of patenting the invention, Jefferson gave it away it – to be “solely used for the good of the people and not for the advancement of the inventor, Jefferson encouraged public use of this easily duplicated invention”.
