Patent model
On July 31, 1790 inventor Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont became the first person to be issued a patent in the United States. His patented invention was an improvement in the "making of Pot Ash by a new apparatus & process." These earliest patent law required that a working model of each invention be produced in miniature.
Solomon Lee Van Meter Jr.
In 1910, Van Meter became the inventor of the first successful backpack parachute and filed for a patent on March 27, 1911. On July 25, 1916, he was granted patents on "inventions for saving the lives of aviators by the use of parachutes." including the Aviatory Life Buoy, Patent # 1,192,479. Van Meter joined the United States Army in 1917 in the wake of World War I. He, and two other students in his class, were commissioned to First Lieutenant of the Marine Corps Aviation. A model of his invention was built at Wright Field in 1918. After its successful testing, the United States Army allowed the Irving Air Chute Company to build parachutes for government use. In the meantime, Van Meter was assigned to McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, where he was sent to improve his invention. Lt. Van Meter tested his invention himself on June 14, 1926 at West Point Academy.