Weird Patents

"The common house spider is often trapped within a bath or basin. This is mainly due to a spiders inability to negotiate or scale the smooth inner countours of a conventional bath or basin." The solution? A spider ladder as patented in 1994. The ladder is made of metal or plastic to prevent spiders from hiding under the ladder. It is attached with a suction cup. Source

Here is an electric tablecloth designed in 1992 to keep insects from crawling onto food. "The current passing through the insect's body is sufficient to produce a sensation which will discourage further travel across the edge of the cloth. A consumer who may come into contact with the strips will usually not feel the current and, even if the consumer is wet, the current will produce only a slight tingling sensation." Source

From what I understand this 2006 device uses water as a conductor and uses electricity on the phrenic and vagus nerves to cure hiccups. The patent details a history of hiccups. "Hiccups lasting up to 48 hours are classified as 'bouts.' Hiccups lasting longer than 48 hours are called 'persistent.' Those lasting longer than a month are called 'intractable.'" One reason drinking water is a traditional cure for hiccups is that it stimulates the vagus nerve on the drinker's mouth. Source

Have you ever wondered how to swing on a swing? Well this patent will explain how to swing from side to side and in an oval shape. "Another improvement on the swinging method described above is the induction into the side-to-side swinging movement of a component of forward-and-back motion. That is, by skillful manipulation of the body, the present inventor has found it possible to add a relatively minor component of forward-and-back motion to the side-to-side swinging motion, resulting in a swinging path that is generally shaped like an oval."