Ralph Waldo Emerson didn’t say it!
“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door” is a phrase attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson in the late nineteenth century. The phrase is actually a misquotation of the statement:
If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.
In 1889, seven years after Emerson’s death, came the invention of the current standard of mousetraps. That same year Emerson was quoted as saying:
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbour…”
The phrase has turned into a metaphor about the power of innovation, and is frequently taken literally, with more than 4,400 patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for new mousetraps, with thousands more unsuccessful applicants, making them the “most frequently invented device in U.S. history”.
Source: Wikipedia
The world isn’t beating a path to Tony Carr’s door but sales of MouseMesh indicate that many people are buying MouseMesh Air Brick Vent Covers, invented by Tony. The main reason is that MouseMesh is a humane mouse (and rat) deterrent, designed to keep your home pest-free.
Compare MouseMesh with non-humane pest control devices.
