Estimating patents' financial gain can be difficult, but they are often foundational building blocks toward broader commercial success. This is true of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who received U.S. Patent No. 8,225,376 for "Dynamically generating a privacy summary." This patent, filed July 25, 2006, may not have remunerated Zuckerberg directly, but it was a crucial step toward establishing Facebook, the linchpin of his billion-dollar fortune.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos has filed numerous patents, for outlandish things like airbags on smartphones and beyond. However, in 1999 the online retailer patented its more straightforward one-click buying process, enabling users to buy products without re-entering personal data. Bezos was already worth around $7.8 billion at the time, but by the time the patent expired in 2017, the mogul's fortune had multiplied to reach $72.8 billion. Again, the patent's role in this can only be estimated, but the exclusive convenience it provided Amazon was unquestionably good for business.

However, the value of some other patents are much clearer to assess, especially when they are related to inventors such as George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, Lonnie Johnson, and Chester Carlson, whose innovations shook up industries, workforces, and their bank accounts. Here are 10 patents that made their founders rich.