Mark Twain: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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Twain patented three inventions, including an "Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments" (to replace [[suspenders]]) and a history trivia game.<ref name=USPTO>{{cite web |url=http://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/mark-twain-granted-his-first-patent-december-19-1871 |title=Mark Twain Granted His First Patent on December 19, 1871 |publisher=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] |date=December 18, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last=J. Niemann | first=Paul | title=Invention Mysteries (Invention Mysteries Series) | date= November 2004| publisher=Horsefeathers Publishing Company | location= | isbn=0-9748041-0-X | pages=53–54 | url=https://books.google.com/?id=TFjBk0tn9A4C&pg=PA52}}</ref> Most commercially successful was a self-pasting scrapbook; a dried adhesive on the pages needed only to be moistened before use.<ref name=USPTO/> Over 25,000 were sold.<ref name=USPTO/>

Twain's novel ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]'' (1889) features a [[time travel]]er from the contemporary U.S., using his knowledge of science to introduce modern technology to [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] England. This type of storylinehistorical manipulation became a common featuretrope of the sciencespeculative fiction subgenreas [[alternate history|alternate histories]].

In 1909, [[Thomas Edison]] visited Twain at his home in [[Redding, Connecticut]] and filmed him. Part of the footage was used in ''The Prince and the Pauper'' (1909), a two-reel short film. It is said to be the only known existing film footage of Twain.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Only Footage of Mark Twain in Existence - Smithsonian.com|date=|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/arts-culture/the-only-footage-of-mark-twain-in-existence/|accessdate=2017-01-13}}</ref>

===Financial troubles===