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.
Confederate Patent Office
The first patent was issued to James H. Van Houten of Savannah, Georgia on August 1, 1861 for a "breech-loading gun".