Well, here it is the end of July, so I though it might be a good day to talk about patents, since the U.S. Patent Office opened its doors on this date in 1790.
The United States issues patents by the millions and seems like every year they issue more than the previous year.
The first patent issued — although it wasn’t patent number one, was issued on the Patent Office’s opening day on July 31, 1790. It was issued to Samuel Hopkins for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer. President George Washington signed the first patent.
If you were paying attention, even though Samuel Hopkins was issued the first patent, it wasn’t number one. Patent records prior to 1836 were unnumbered and could be accessed only by the name of the patentee and date of the patent. From 1790 to 1836, 9,957 patents were issued without a number. To make matters worse, on December 15th of 1836, most of the patent records were destroyed by a fire. Inventors had to provide proof of their patents, or create new patent documents under oath with their original drawings and specifications. These “restored” patents were given a number that ended with “X.”
U.S. patent No. 1 was issued to John Ruggles for a traction wheel for steam locomotives.
The one millionth patent wasn’t issued until 1911 — to Francis H. Holton, for a tubeless vehicle tire.
The granting of patents was made a function of the Federal Government by Article I, Section 8 of the constitution, that states….”To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries….”
Over the years, the name and agency responsible for issuing patents has changed hands. Since 1925, the responsibility has been under the Department of Commerce. In 1975, the name of the Patent Office was changed to the Patent and Trademark Office.
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