Joseph Enterprises, Inc is a

gadget A gadget is a mechanical device or any ingenious article. Gadgets are sometimes referred to as '' gizmos''. History The etymology of the word is disputed. The word first appears as reference to an 18th-century tool in glassmaking that was develo ...

company which is owned by Joseph Pedott and based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Two of their most popular products are

The Clapper The Clapper is a sound-activated electrical switch, sold since 1984 by San Francisco, California based Joseph Enterprises, Inc. Joseph Pedott marketed the clapper with the slogan "Clap On! Clap Off! The Clapper!". The Clapper plugs into a U.S.- ...

and the

Chia Pet Chia Pets are American styled terracotta figurines used to sprout chia, where the chia sprouts grow within a couple of weeks to resemble the animal's fur or hair. Moistened chia seeds (''Salvia hispanica'') are applied to a grooved terracotta ...

History

Joseph Enterprises was founded in California in 1981 by Joseph Pedott. The Clapper, whose slogan is "Clap On! Clap Off!", was first sold to the public on September 1, 1985. A

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

was filed on the brand name "Clapper" with the

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

on July 9, 1986. A design patent was applied for on November 13, 1985, which was issued as D299127 on December 27, 1988. The apparatus was used for activating

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

es in response to different acoustic signals. The Chia Pet was first introduced on September 8, 1977, and although its name is

ed, the Chia Pet is not a patented invention. The first Chia Pet, "Chia Guy" was marketed and distributed in 1977. The first widely marketed Chia Pet, the

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * Ra ...

, was marketed and distributed in 1982 although the trademark was not applied for until 1998. Products marketed by Joseph Enterprises tend to be advertised on television during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

shopping season, and therefore they are marketed as gifts.

References

External links

Joseph Enterprises, Inc homepage

Companies based in California {{US-manufacturing-company-stub