March 18, 2003 (New York) - Toymaker Rick Hartman's Motorized Ice Cream Cone has turned up in some pretty "cool" places.

It's appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Discovery Channel, and now in a new collection of the World's Weirdest Gadgets published by Scholastic Books as part of the "Ripley's Believe it or Not" series.

Included along with legendary innovations like the Popsicle and Sony's robotic dog AIBO, Hartman's mechanized ice cream twirling machine seems at home in a book aimed at sparking the creative imaginations of young inventors.

"Get ready to believe your eyes!" the back jacket declares. "Ripley's has discovered the world's most unbelievable inventions and the extraordinary people who brought their unusual ideas to life."

Ripley's World's Weirdest Gadgets is available in paperback online at Amazon.com.