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.
Japan Patent Office
The first patent was granted to Hotta Zuisho (堀田 瑞松), a lacquerware craftsman, on August 14, 1885. The patent granted to him was for an anticorrosive paint containing lacquer, which effectively protected ship bottoms from corrosion.