These were collected in the course of other research by Azeen Ghorayshi and put online as a slide show by Mother Jones magazine link here.

My favorite is #6 in the slides called "method of concealing partial baldness" patented on May 10, 1977. Here is the illustration for the patent which should have been denied on the grounds that it was already in wide use among the balding. .

Really makes me feel confident of the wisdom and judgment of the patent office and it has been that way for years and years. What happened to good sense.

I have met hundreds, if not thousands, of bald people in my life. I have seen comb-overs, but I have never met one that used a technique similar to the that claimed in the patent, 4,022,227. How many have you met, John Bennett?

While the technique is interesting and one I have never seen before, there are several problems with the technique. First, the way the claims are written the hair would not stay in place. So the patent is hardly practical. Second, it would like even worse than a comb-over. Third, it has no business value because you would never find the people doing this since this technique is something individuals would practice. On the other hand, people invest in stupid stuff all the time and spend far more money doing than a few hundred dollars on a patent, so I guess if their goal is to get a useless patent, then they succeeded.

actually this is probably the best patent ever! It will prevent anyone from using it!!! guys really need to be stopped from using a comb over!

AdmFubar:

I think you are correct. Seriously, simple comb-overs are bad enough. A three direction comb-over not only sounds impractical, it sounds ridiculous.