The United States government began issuing patents during George Washington’s presidency. On June 19, 2018, the 10 millionth utility patent was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
1. President Washington called on Congress to create a patent system.
After months of back and forth between the House of Representatives and Senate, legislation was finally agreed upon. On April 10, 1790, Washington signed the Patent Act of 1790 into law.
2. The Patent Act of 1790 established a system to grant patents.
A Patent Board was created, headed by the Secretary of State. The other members were the Secretary of War and the Attorney General. This group reviewed each proposal and had the sole authority to grant patents. Their decision could not be appealed. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was the first patent examiner. Henry Knox, Secretary of War, and Edmund Randolph, Attorney General, made up the rest of the first Patent Board.3
From left: George Washington, Henry Knox, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Randolph.
Washington and His Cabinet, Currier & Ives, Library of Congress.
3. The Act outlined the requirements and fees necessary to submit a patent.
First, each inventor had to submit to the Secretary of State “a specification in writing, containing a description” of their creation. The Patent Board needed to fully understand each invention they evaluated. The act also required a model be submitted, along with the description, if the invention could be represented with one.4
Finally, a list of fees was included in the Act. “For receiving and filing the petition, fifty cents; for filing specifications, per copy-sheet containing one hundred words, ten cents; for making out patent, two dollars; for affixing great seal, one dollar; for indorsing the day of delivering the same to the patentee; including all intermediate services, twenty cents.”5 In total it cost about $4 to $5 per patent.6
Draft of the Senate version of the Patents Act, March 11, 1790. Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives.
4. The President of the United States signed every patent.
The Patent Act of 1790 required each patent “to bear teste by the President of the United States.”7 Congress expected Washington to sign every patent for it to become official. Throughout his presidency, there were more than 150 patents granted.8 While very few patents survive from Washington’s time, it seems he signed each.
All the Patents from Washington's Presidency
5. Patents were not numbered.
Unlike today, patents were not given a unique number. Instead, they were filed based on the date granted. Under the Patent Act of 1836 new patents were numbered, starting with one. All of the patents granted before 1836 were assigned an “x” and a number based on the order they had been granted.
Patent X4, Francis Baily, 1/29/1791, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
6. The first patent was granted on July 31, 1790.
Samuel Hopkins received the first patent for a new process to make potash and pearl ash.
Hopkins “discovered an Improvement, not known or used before, such Discovery, in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process; that is to say, in the making of Pearl ash 1st by burning the raw Ashes in a Furnace, 2d by dissolving and boiling them when so burnt in Water, 3rd by drawing off and settling the Ley, and 4th by boiling the Ley into Salts which then are the true Pearl ash; and also in the making of Pot ash by fluxing the Pearl ash so made as aforesaid; which Operation of burning the raw Ashes in a Furnace, preparatory to their Dissolution and boiling in Water, is new, leaves little Residuum; and produces a much greater Quantity of Salt”.9
7. The second patent was for a method to manufacture candles.
The second patent was issued to Joseph Stacey Sampson on August 6, 1790. Little else is known about it because a fire destroyed the record.
Samuel Hopkins's patent, 7/31/1790, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
8. Washington used the third patent at Mount Vernon.
The third patent was granted to Oliver Evans on December 18, 1790 for a new method of manufacturing flour and meal. The system worked so well that in 1791 Washington purchased a license and upgraded his gristmill to the Evans system. There was another Evans mill near Washington’s estate, so sent his millwright, William Ball, to inspect it. Then two of Evans’s brothers came to Mount Vernon to oversee the installation of the new mill.
Evans’s system moved grain and flour through all the steps in the milling process by mechanical means and required much less labor than a traditional mill. The system also improved the quality and quantity of flour that could be produced, making Washington’s mill more profitable than ever before.
Today, visitors to Mount Vernon can explore a fully functioning reconstruction of the Evans mill.
The hopper boy is a machine used to cool and dry hot meal received from the millstones through a raking motion. MVLA.
See our working mill at Mount Vernon in action
9. Samuel Mullikin of Philadelphia received four of the first ten patents.
On March 11, 1791, Samuel Mullikin was granted patents seven through ten. He created three machines: “for threshing grain and corn”, “cutting and polshing marble”, and “raising a nap on cloths”. He also received a patent for “breaking and swingling hemp”.10 Little else is known about these patents since they were lost in a fire.
10. In 1836 a fire destroyed all of the Patent Office’s records.
In July 1836, Congress signed a bill which updated the now outdated patent system. The president was no longer required to sign each patent, patents received a unique identifying number, and funds were approved for the construction of a new fireproof build. Having granted almost 10,000 patents the Patent Office had outgrown its space and Congress wanted to ensure the safety of the documents and models.11 While construction was underway on the new building disaster struck.
On the night of December 14, 1836, a fire broke out in the building all of the patent records and models were housed in. By the time the fire was finally put out, every patent and model was lost.12 In January 1837, patentees were asked to return their patents for copying to create a new official record. However, less than 3,000 of the originals were ever returned.13
Print of the Blodget's Hotel from c1820s. From 1802 to 1836 the U.S. Patent Office was housed in this building. Library of Congress.
Chauncy Hall, Diving Dress, Patented 12/24/1810, The original drawing for this patent was destroyed by a fire in the Patent Office in 1836. This drawing is a restoration created in 1837 or shortly thereafter. National Archives.
President Washington's First Term as President
Washington spend most of his first term defining his role and literally setting up the government.
Learn moreNotes
- United States Constitution, Article I https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/articl….
- From George Washington to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 8 January 1790, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, {wwwroot}education/primary-sources/state-of-the-union-address.
- The U.S. Patent System Celebrates 212 Years, United States Patent and Trademark Office, April 9, 2002, https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/us-patent-system-celebrates….
- Patent Act of 1790.
- Patent Act of 1790.
- The U.S. Patent System Celebrates 212 Years, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
- Patent Act of 1790.
- Compilation of patents before 1836 by Jim Shaw.
- Samuel Hopkins, The making of pot ash and pearl ashes, US patent X1, 7/31/1790, https://patents.google.com/patent/USX1.
- Patent History Materials Index – List of all U.S. Patents and Patentees 1790-1829, University of New Hampshire School of Law, https://ipmall.law.unh.edu/content/patent-history-materials-index-list-….
- Kenneth Dobyns, The Patent Office Pony: A History of the Early Patent Office, Sergeant Kirkland’s Press, 1994 http://www.myoutbox.net/popch16.htm.
- Dobyns, http://www.myoutbox.net/popch17.htm.
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Information: Pre-1872 Patent Information, Berkeley Library University of California, http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/USPatents/Pre1872.