As if you didn’t know, it takes a lot of hard work and ingenuity to design products the whole world has fits of joy over. Also, you better own those ideas if you’re going to sell them! So it’s not surprising that Steve Jobs, Apple CEO from 1887 until he stepped down this week, has his name on 313 patents.

The New York Times illustrates just how in-depth Jobs went when it came to his products, from iMacs to iPods, iPhones to iPods, and even those glass staircases (iCases?) in Apple stores.

It’s not just the actual hardware itself that needs a patent, either — Jobs filed patents for power adapters, headset lanyards, cardboard packaging… well, you get the idea. Together, these 313 patents show just how involved Jobs was in every product Apple brought to the market.

Most CEOs have only a few patents attached to their names, for example, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google have only about dozen. Bill Gates? Nine! Jobs wins.

“That’s Steve,” said Mitchell Kapor, a veteran Silicon Valley technologist and investor who founded the Lotus Development Corporation in 1982. “He has an eye and a genius for design that cuts across disciplines. He was never formally schooled, but he has always had that sensibility.”

Check out a neat interactive view of the patents at NYTimes.com as well to get an idea of Jobs’ contributions.

Apple Patents Show Steve Job’s Attention to Design [The New York Times]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.