Harry Houdini is remembered as one of the most celebrated magicians and escape artists in history. Less widely known is his identity as an inventor \u2014 a dimension of his career that found formal expression in a United States patent.<\/p>\n
Houdini began his magic career in 1891 with traditional card tricks before transitioning to escape acts that would define his fame. His Handcuff Escape Act attracted the attention of manager Martin Beck, who arranged tours including a European circuit, earning Houdini the title of “Handcuff King”. He continued to develop the form, freeing himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes and straitjackets. As imitators multiplied, he introduced a new act involving escape from a locked, water-filled milk can. In 1912, he unveiled what would become his most celebrated routine \u2014 the Chinese Water Torture Cell \u2014 which he performed for the remainder of his career.<\/p>\n
On the 30th<\/sup> of June, 1917, Houdini filed a patent application titled “Diver’s Suit” with the United States Patent Office. The invention was designed to allow a diver to exit his suit while underwater in an emergency situation. The suit comprised an upper half and a lower half joined by a locking mechanism at the centre, and was intended to counteract underwater pressure \u2014 the same pressure that posed a fatal risk to divers in certain circumstances. The design drew directly on Houdini’s mastery of escapology, adapting that skill for the benefit of those who lacked it. The patent was granted on the 1st<\/sup> of March, 1921 and assigned the number 1370316 (US).<\/p>\n The patent illustrates how a performer’s practical skill can translate into a formal technological contribution, and serves as a reminder that inventors do not always emerge from conventional technical backgrounds.<\/p>\n Disclaimer: This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The post explores Harry Houdini\u2019s journey from a magician performing card tricks to a celebrated escape artist and inventor. It also discusses his patented diver suit, reflecting his impact on magic and escapology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":61,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14],"tags":[6829,6828,6831,73,6826,6827,12801],"class_list":["post-6157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-patents","tag-diver-suit-patent","tag-escapology","tag-famous-magicians","tag-harry-houdini","tag-magic-history","tag-magician-inventor","tag-us-patent-1370316"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6157"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149696,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6157\/revisions\/149696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}