Arthur Paul Pedrick (1918 – 1976) was a prolific British inventor who filed for 162 United Kingdom patents between 1962 and his death. His inventions were notable for their humour and almost complete lack of practical applicability.

Source: Arthur Paul Pedrick – Wikipedia

In fact, his patent applications and inventions were often considered spoofs on the patent system itself, an organization he had been employed by for fourteen years. Yet, as Niels Stevnsborg notes in his biographical article on Pedrick, AP Pedrick was often ahead of his time (2011) and his inventions have resurfaced again and again in prior art searches of modern patents and have been built upon by modern inventors. 

One of the most fascinating to me, even though I have not yet gotten my hands on it, is GB1280928, a voice recognition translation and patent search apparatus that operates via satellite connection to WIPO.  Obviously designed to alleviate the prior art search, that Pedrick alluded lead to his ‘nervous breakdown’ and dismissal from his job at the patent office, such a system turned to other forms of law, or all forms of law, would be amazingly useful.  After all, even with electronic translation engines today, language is still a sometimes insurmountable obstacle to understanding.

Also of note from my perspective, that is, one obsessed with retro futurism and the odd designs of cities to solve problems instead of organically growing from demand based population interaction, are:

• B63B35/44 Floating cities for relieving population pressures on the land masses
• E04H1/00 Swinging, or suspended, multi-deck cities 

References:

Stevnsborg, Niels (2011) Arther Paul Pedrick: the Man Behind the Patents. World Patent Information. 33: 371-382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wpi.2011.07.004