This work profiles a little more than 100 patents granted by the U.S. Patent Office, from those that have transformed our lives, such as the internal combustion engine and the artificial heart, to those that are relatively less revolutionary, such as the Chia Pet and the lava lamp. Each entry provides a brief description of what the invention does, describes historical background, explains how the invention works, and includes a representative quote from the inventor's patent application and an illustration. Other examples of patents profiled include air conditioning, the smoke detector, the escapable coffin, the jukebox, the cotton gin, and the automated teller machine. Also included are inventor profiles of Thomas Edison, Alessandra Volta, Dean Kamen, and Nikola Tesla. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)