How many patents were awarded to Robert Goddard?
Robert Goddard is credited with 214 patents, of which 131 were filed after his death. In 1951 Mrs. Goddard and the Guggenheim Foundation, which had helped fund Dr. Goddard’s research, filed a joint claim against the U.S. government for infringing upon his patents. In June of 1960 they were given a $1,000,000 settlement, at that time the largest patent settlement that the government had ever given. The settlement award was based mainly on the infringement of three patents. The first was Number 2,395,113, which is a “method for feeding combustion liquids to rocket apparatus,” which utilized turbines, pumps, and a gas generator. The second and third were Numbers 2,397,657 and 2,397,659, which both were for the “control mechanism for a rocket apparatus.” The one dealt with using an outside starting device and the latter dealt with self-starting devices for intermittent operation and seals for fuel pumps.
