Kaleidoscope Patents
The first kaleidoscope patent was UK4136. It was by Sir David Brewster for the Kaleidoscope in 1817.
Here is a list of the important US kaleidoscope patents in date order starting with the oldest.
Click on the patent number to view the US patent. Click on the Inventor to view the patent via Google Patents (an excellent viewing tool for patents).
| Number | Inventor | Description | Date |
| 66,134 | John Earnshaw | Improvement in Kaleidoscopes | 6/25/1867 |
| 105,218 | Matthias Keller | Improvement in Kaleidoscopes | 7/12/1870 |
| 132,978 | James Pool | Improvement in Telescopic Kaleidoscopes | 11/12/1872 |
| 143,271 | Charles G. Bush | Improvement in Objects for Kaleidoscopes | 9/30/1873 |
| RE5,649 | Charles G. Bush | Reissue: Improvement in Kaleidoscopes | 11/11/1873 |
| 151,005 | Charles G. Bush | Improvement in Kaleidoscopes | 5/19/1874 |
| 151,006 | Charles G. Bush | Improvement Object-Boxes for Kaleidoscopes | 5/19/1874 |
| 156,875 | Charles G. Bush | Improvement in Kaleidoscope-Stands | 11/17/1874 |
| 174,690 | Robert F. Macy | Improvement in Kaleidoscopes-Polyangular | 3/14/1876 |
| 314,586 | Robert Leach | Kaleidoscope | 3/31/1885 |
| 631,550 | George Wale | "Symmetroscope" | 8/22/1899 |
| 754,143 | Thomas R. Johnson | Illuminated Kaleidoscope | 3/8/1904 |
| 877,645 | John R. Hare | Kaleidoscope | 1/28/1908 |
| 1,010,808 | John C. Scheufler | Kaleidoscope | 12/5/1911 |
| 1,078,008 | Turney G. Stough | Kaleidoscope | 11/11/1913 |
| 1,518,204 | Addison S. Husted | Tapered Kaleidoscope | 12/9/1924 |
| D90,185 | Hans J. Andresen | Design for a Kaleidoscope | 6/27/1933 |
| 2,066,548 | Charles W. Thompson | Kaleidoscope | 1/5/1937 |
| 2,423,371 | Eduardo Carranza | Polartoscope | 7/1/1947 |
| 2,447,623 | Roscoe Zemelman - Steven Manufacturing | Steven "Plastic Kaleidoscope" | 8/24/1948 |
| 2,454,577 | Desmond E. Smith | Kaleidoscope | 11/23/1948 |
| 2,991,689 | Beverly W. Taylor - Steven Manufacturing | "Steven Deluxe Kaleidoscope" | 7/11/1961 |
| 3,096,681 | John Lyon Burnside, III | Kaleidoscopic Viewer | 7/9/1963 |
| 3,099,933 | Hilman Weiner | "Space Orb - Eye in the Sky" | 8/6/1963 |
| 3,131,593 | Harlow B. Grow | Kaleidoscope | 5/5/1964 |
| 3,160,056 | Beverly W. Taylor - Steven Manufacturing | Kaleidoscopes | 12/8/1964 |
| 3,383,150 | Edgar A. Powers | Kaleidoscopic Viewing Device | 5/14/1968 |
| 3,674,333 | Mark Mandel | Rainbow Kaleidoscope | 7/4/1972 |
| 3,756,685 | Robert Forsee - Steven Manufacturing | "Wonder Wheel" | 5/14/1973 |
| 3,841,730 | Judith Karelitz | "Karascope" / "Karascope 2" | 5/14/1974 |
| D234,863 | Judith Karelitz | Kaleidoscope | 1975 |
| 3,930,711 | Charles W. Powell | Special Effects Lens | 1/6/1976 |
| 4,077,706 | Marshall J. Yaeger | Projecting Kaleidoscope | 3/7/1978 |
| 4,205,893 | Beverly W. Taylor - Steven Manufacturing | "Fireball" | 6/3/1980 |
| 4,231,634 | Jeanne A. Gantz & David W. Kelso | Optical Image Multiplying Device | 11/4/1980 |
| 4,232,932 | Stephen K. Atwater & Joseph Wolfson | Kaleidoscopic Toy | 11/11/1980 |
| D264,856 | John R. Nottingham & John W. Spirk, Jr. | "Odyssey Kaleidoscope" | 6/8/1982 |
| D271,032 | Carolyn Bennett - C Bennett Scopes | "Crystal Vision Teleidoscope" | 10/18/1983 |
| 4,494,820 | Ronald R. Klawitter - Steven Manufacturing | "I'm a Clown - Twist my Nose" | 1/22/1985 |
| D288,700 | David Kalish - Chromoscopes | Kaleidoscope | 3/10/1987 |
| 4,653,843 | Judith Karelitz | Image Producing Device | 3/31/1987 |
| 4,733,960 | Carolyn Bennett - C Bennett Scopes | "Scopelens" | 3/29/1988 |
| 4,740,046 | Patrick MacCarthy | Liquid kaleidoscope | 4/26/1988 |
| 4,776,653 | Deborah S. Kaplan | Amusement Device with Kaleidoscopic Viewer | 10/1/1988 |
| D307,162 | William M. Hanlon III | "Holoscope" | 4/10/1990 |
| D307,607 | Carolyn Bennett - C Bennett Scopes | "Luna" | 5/1/1990 |
| 5,020,870 | Steven J. Gray - Gray & Gray Woodwrights | "Parasol" - Binocular Kaleidoscope | 6/4/1991 |
| 5,029,954 | Mark Eilrich & Cozy Baker - WildeWood | "Illusion" Kaleidoscope | 7/9/1991 |
| 5,172,270 | Adam Peiperl | Invertible Display with a Kaleidoscope | 12/15/1992 |
| 5,241,418 | Donald A. Doak - HomeStone | "Kaleidosphere" | 8/31/1993 |
| 5,379,156 | Eric Van Cort - Van Court Instruments, Inc. | "Private Eye" - Optical Viewing Device | 1/3/1995 |
| 5,469,297 | Dorothea Marshall, Ethan Allen | Kaleidoscope Kit | 11/21/1995 |
| 5,475,532 | Juan Sandoval & Javier Bracho | Infinite Space Kaleidoscope | 12/12/1995 |
| 5,532,877 | Juan Sandoval | Infinite kaleidoscopes | 7/2/1996 |
| 5,855,520 | Dean L. Gitter & Kenneth B. Graham | Optical Entertainment-Kaatskill Kaleidoscope | 1/5/1999 |
| 6,089,722 | Donald A. Doak - HomeStone | "Pandora's Box" and "Pandora's World" | 1/18/2000 |
| 6,305,808 | Hirotomo Ochi | Kaleidoscope | 10/23/2001 |
| 6,332,686 | Yuriko Yoda - Crystal Garden Shirogane | "Butterfly Box" | 12/25/2001 |
| 6,336,725 | Vincent P. Cianfichi Jr. | Torus Image-Producing Kaleidoscope | 1/8/2002 |
| 6,422,705 | Andrew Leary - Scopes New Zealand | "Bubble Scope" | 7/23/2002 |
| 6,769,780 | Carolyn Bennett - C Bennett Scopes | "Pop-Up Kaleidoscope" | 8/3/2004 |
| 7,207,682 | Peter Stephens | Kaleidoscope Devices | 4/24/2007 |
| 7,370,971 | Patricia L. Peffer & George B. Waites | Wall or Ceiling Mounted Kaleidoscope | 5/13/2008 |
Patents beginning with a "RE" are called a reissue patent They are issued to correct an error in an already issued utility, design, or plant patent, it does not affect the period of protection offered by the original patent.
Patents beginning with a "D" are called design patents. A design patent is a patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional item. A US design patent covers the ornamental design for an object having practical utility. An object with a design that is substantially similar to the design claimed in a design patent cannot be made, used, copied or imported into the United States. The copy does not have to be exact for the patent to be infringed. It only has to be substantially similar.