The ‘double dog,’ a medical hot dog roller, and other patents filed in the name of progress

Do your hot dogs seem old-fashioned? Out of date? On this Independence Day, The Atlantic wants you to know that our national innovators have been working hard to improve on this American adaptation of a German creation. And what have our fine inventors filed patents for this year? You’ll find an improved recipe for sweet onion sauce, a “double dog” that can hold a hot dog inside another hot dog, and an “inflatable decorative receptacle” that can be used to in frankfurter advertising. Lest you think we’ve moved solely into the realm of the frivolous, keep an eye out for the final invention: a method of coating a medical implant that uses “a hot dog roller such as the Lil’ Diggity Hot Dog Roller or Hot Diggity Hot Dog Roller available from Gold Medal Products, Cincinnati, Ohio.”