However, decades later, who invented the "life jacket" caused controversy. After investigation, there is no record of Totti inventing a life jacket in the patent records. However, a man named Peter Marcus registered a patent for life jacket at 1928, and his design is very similar to that of military life jackets in World War II.
There is a patent record in the archives. Marcus is the inventor?
Life jacket is a kind of life jacket similar to inflatable vest worn by pilots when flying at sea. As an inventor, Totti has always been praised by people. Of course, nothing is more grateful to him than George H.W. Bush.
Until March this year, after the death of 89-year-old Totti, people still praised his invention in the obituary and thanked him for everything he did to save the life of the future president.
But then, the documents released by the government show that Peter Marcus has obtained this patent right at 1928. That is, a few years before Totti began to design life jackets, Marcus began to study and improve life jackets with the military. Marcus died on 1973.
Marcus' son, Alvin from Los Angeles, provided several supporting documents to the Associated Press reporter. According to the document, on192865438+February1kloc-0/day, Marcus' "inflatable lifesaving appliance" was patented with the patent number 16947 14. At that time, Totti was about 1 1 years old.
Subsequently, the Associated Press reporter found in the military-related records of the National Archives that starting from 1930, the naval military began to manufacture life jackets designed by Marcus.
Totti accepted the praise story and wrote it into the congressional record.
According to Russell hinkley, executor and mechanic of Totti's will, Totti said that when he was a teenager, he sold his life jacket to the then US War Department for $65,438 +0.500.
"(He) never said he was an inventor. He has always called himself a co-inventor, "hinkley told The Associated Press, who has worked with Totti for decades. "He made a contribution in this respect (in the design of life jackets). However, Peter Marcus is the inventor. "
Totti holds patents for hundreds of inventions, including automatic plucking machines and breathing straws used in surgery. Over the years, when others praised him for inventing the life-saving vest, Totti obviously never denied it.
1995, American Rank magazine also wrote an article praising totti. Last year, Dennis Cardosa, a Republican from California, also praised him for saving the future president's life. Cardosa even put Totti's story in the congressional record.
Life jackets are constantly improving. The reporter failed to find the inventor.
Before Totti's obituary was published, Alvin said that he had never heard of Totti, let alone the fact that Totti sold life jackets to the military. "Selling $65,438+0,500 is a joke." He said. According to him, his father Marcus received thousands of dollars in royalties from two authorized rubber companies. However, he also admitted that Totti may have made some improvements to the design of life jackets.
In order to find out this matter, The New York Times hired Steven Lieberman, a professional patent lawyer, to check the patent records, but there is no record of Totti inventing a life jacket. The life jacket designed by Marcus is most similar to the life jacket used by the military in patent records.
In fact, people have been constantly improving life jackets before World War II. Long before Marcus registered the patent, someone had obtained a similar patent right. Therefore, the life jackets used by the army during World War II may also come from others.