Inventions are derived from creativity, hard work, and knowledge, but it doesn’t derive out of thin air. In most cases, inventors have a source of inspiration to come up with their idea, and it’s only noticed once there is a worldwide impact.

Inspiration can be deep-rooted as the upbringing of the inventor, but it isn’t uncommon for it to come from their line of work. If you aspire to one day produce a patented invention, here are some real examples of how some were inspired:

Not an invention, but a discovery

It may be romanticized that inventions are just randomly stumbled upon during daily life by someone exceptionally brilliant. In reality, there have been many inventions that are from pure research and development with a general predetermined goal. Research even be sponsored by a company, in which the idea will be fleshed out into a product or an upgrade of a product.

Thomas Edison believed in the mantra: “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”.
Following that mantra, he claims the discovery of his phonograph is a discovery rather than an invention. Same with the light bulb; he trialed 1000 different element types before discovering the right one.

Slanket to Snuggie

The Snuggie is one of the few infomercials that affected pop culture, and millions have been sold internationally. While it seems like a quick but whacky idea, it isn’t exactly an original.

Scott Boilen, the man behind Snuggie, claims his idea was inspired by the Slanket years prior. While it’s not a copy, the Slanket was the first to implement a blanket with sleeves, and the appearance is quite different from the bathrobe-like creation.

This just shows that all product ideas are not necessarily unique inventions, even if the major difference were made to the end product.

Science Fiction

Some inventors had taken ideas found in novels and found a way to apply it in real life. While some may have been coincidental, there are clear accounts of it being derived from fiction.

Simon Lake had been quite captivated with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a novel from the late nineteenth century. From that, he had created diving equipment and the first working submarine, similar to what was described in the novel.

Another example would be the novel The World Set Free, which depicted artificial atomic energy that would eventually set off a world war. Leo Szilard was quite inspired by this book in the 1930s, and he had later gone on to figuring out how to start atomic chain reactions. World events surrounding nuclear energy also seemed quite similar to what happened in the book.

A more well-known example would be the Star Trek communicator that would later inspire the creation of cellphones. Martin Cooper, the director of research and development at Motorola, credited the TV show in the 1970s. Nowadays, cellphones have gone beyond the capabilities imagined back then, even in science fiction shows.