Lt. (later Brig. General) Edmund Rice

He was a combat veteran of the Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in repelling Pickett's Charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

In 1896, Rice developed and patented the individual shelter half, which is the "pup tent" used by U.S. infantrymen during both the First and Second World Wars (and countless Boy Scouts for decades afterwards). However, the Army did not adopt Rice's design in order to avoid paying him royalties.

In what can only be described as a scurvy trick, the Army had another officer file a patent on a copycat design and adopted that. After Rice's death in 1906, the Army began modifying the copies to make them essentially identical to Rice's original design, then proceeded to produce 368,000 shelter halves during the First World War. Rice's wife, Elizabeth, sued the government for patent infringement and the court awarded her the full royalties that Rice had originally asked, 22.9 cents per half, a tidy sum in 1918.