3 ms·

US inventor finally granted patent for snowman construction

• btn 15y ago
  Of course, you have to do a little bit more than roll together some snow into the shape of a snowman to infringe (it definitely doesn't cover "snowmen and snowwomen as a whole"). The patent actually covers an internal skeleton of spheres that snow can be layered on top of. The spheres must be lighter than the snow and coated in some sort of adhesive that attracts snow by means of a static electric charge from an attached Van de Graaff generator. The amount of research the inventor claims to have put into this is absurd, but quite entertaining to read. Of course, all of the problems of making snow men/women is part of what makes it fun. Getting a whole group of people around and working together. Being outside in the snow for hours. And, yes, having a doofy lop-sided snow man does have some charm. And, even if you don't have enough snow, who cares anyway. That may be true. But we are living in the 21st century now. We have created the Internet. China is getting ready to send a person to the moon. And we invented silly putty, perhaps one of the all-time greatest inventions a big kid ever invented. Can't somebody build a better snow man?