What was the first patented invention?
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.
Timeline of United States inventions (before 1890)
A slot machine is a casino gambling machine. Due to the vast number of possible wins with the original poker card based game, it proved practically impossible to come up with a way to make a machine capable of making an automatic pay-out for all possible winning combinations. The first "one-armed bandit" was invented in 1887 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California who devised a simple automatic mechanism with three spinning reels containing a total of five symbols – horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell, which also gave the machine its name.
William Murdoch
Another discovery, and the first for which Murdoch took out a patent, was that of
This patent was filed in 1791 and although it was not developed at the time this can be seen as the first step in the development of aniline dyes and coatings.
Samuel Hopkins (inventor)
Samuel Hopkins (December 9, 1743 – 1818) was an American inventor from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, On July 31, 1790, he was granted the first U.S. patent, under the new U.S. patent statute just signed into law by President Washington on April 10, 1790. Hopkins had petitioned for a patent on an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process."
History of United States patent law
This first general patent act of the state of South Carolina is titled "An Act for the Encouragement of Arts and Sciences." Although most of its terms concerned the protection of copyrights, it also included the following provision: "The Inventors of useful machines shall have a like exclusive privilege of making or vending their machines for the like term of 14 years, under the same privileges and restrictions hereby granted to, and imposed on, the authors of books."
Land patent
The first United States land patent was issued on March 4, 1788, to John Martin. That patent reserves to the United States one third of all gold, silver, lead and copper within the claimed land.
Usage restrictions (e.g., oil and mineral rights, roadways, ditches and canals) placed on the land are spelled out in the patent. Such private property rights can also be thereafter negotiated in accord with the terms of private contracts. The rights inherent in patented land are carried from heir to heir, heir to assignee, or assignee to assignee, and cannot be changed except by private contract (warranty deed, quitclaim deed, etc.). In most cases, the law of a particular piece of patented land will be governed by the Congressional Act or treaty under which it was acquired, or by terms spelled out in the patent. For example, in the United States the laws governing the land may involve the Homestead Act or reservations placed on the face of the patent, or the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which governs certain jurisdictional dicta relating to large amounts of land in California and adjoining territories.
Thomas Fowler (inventor)
Fowler patented the thermosiphon in 1828 (British patent number 5711). It was the first convective heating system. A system based on his design was installed at Bicton, part of the Rolle Estate and received great acclaim in the "Gardener's Magazine" of 1829. Unfortunately due to innate flaws in the patent system of the time (under which a new version of a design with minimal changes was not covered by the original patent), the thermosiphon was copied by numerous other manufacturers and Fowler did not have sufficient funds to conduct legal proceedings.
Patent Act of 1790
Fifty-seven patents were granted during the three years the 1790 Patent Act existed. Three of these patents were granted in 1790, thirty-three in 1791, eleven in 1792, and ten in 1793 before February, which is when the following patent act was adopted. There is little available information regarding the subject matter of these patents, because all of these records along with other documents of the Patent Office were destroyed in the Patent Office Fire of 1836. The first patent was granted on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins for his invention of "Making Pot and Pearl Ashes." Potash was used as an ingredient in several fields of manufacturing, such as making glass and soap, dying cloth, and producing both saltpeter and gunpowder. Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont is generally misunderstood to be the recipient of this first patent, but the actual recipient was a different Samuel Hopkins from a town north of Baltimore, Maryland. Hopkins left behind a series of manuscripts describing the utility of his discovery of Potash, which is derived from a crude form of potassium carbonate and may be deemed as one of America's first chemicals to become widely used in industrial fields. The third patent was granted to a man named Oliver Evans on December 18, 1790. This patent involved about five individual inventions all related to the manufacture of flour. The fourth patent was granted on January 29, 1791, to Francis Bailey for inventing punches for types; it is the first patent whose existing copy remains in the Patent Office archives. The document is signed by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Randolph. It contains only the grant and does not detail any specific aspects of the invention and its usage.
Patent roll
Letters patent were also issued to grant monopolies over particular industries to individuals with new techniques, and these grants were likewise copied onto the patent rolls. The system became subject to abuse in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, and was eventually regulated by the Statute of Monopolies of 1624, the first statutory expression of English patent law. In 1853, responsibility for patents of invention was transferred to the newly established Patent Office, and they ceased to be registered on the patent rolls.
William Fothergill Cooke
Wheatstone and Cooke's first patent was taken out within a month and was "for improvements in giving signals and sounding alarms in distant places by means of electric currents transmitted through electric circuits". Cooke now tested the invention, with the London and Blackwall Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway, and the Great Western Railway companies, successively allowing the use of their lines for the experiment. A five needle model of telegraph was given up as too expensive. In 1838 an improvement reduced the number of needles to two, and a patent for this was taken out by Cooke and Wheatstone.
Patent
The first Patent Act of the U.S. Congress was passed on April 10, 1790, titled "An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts". The first patent was granted on July 31, 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for a method of producing potash (potassium carbonate). A revised patent law was passed in 1793, and in 1836 a major revision to the patent law was passed. The 1836 law instituted a significantly more rigorous application process, including the establishment of an examination system. Between 1790 and 1836 about ten thousand patents were granted. By the Civil War about 80,000 patents had been granted.
Alexander Bain (inventor)
Bain's first patent was dated 11 January 1841, and was in the names of John Barwise, chronometer maker, and Alexander Bain, mechanist. It describes his electric clock which uses a pendulum kept moving by electromagnetic impulses. He improved on this in later patents, including a proposal to derive the required electricity from an "earth battery", which consisted of plates of zinc and copper buried in the ground.
Australian patent law
Section 51(xviii) of the Constitution of Australia gave the new federal parliament the right to legislate with regard to "copyrights, patents of invention and designs, and trade marks". The first federal legislation dealing with patents was the "Patents Act 1903", passed by the first Deakin Government. The act transferred the administration of the state patents acts to the federal government with effect from 1 June 1904, and established the Australian Patent Office (APO). The first patent was filed with the office on 13 February 1904. The APO is the direct predecessor of IP Australia, the current Australian government agency responsible for patents. The original 1903 act has been replaced on two occasions – the Menzies Government's "Patents Act 1952" and the Hawke Government's "Patents Act 1990".
Lemuel Wellman Wright
Lemuel Wellman Wright was an inventor who was active in the early 19th century. Biographical material on Wright is scant, and even his exact name is unclear: the name Lemuel Wellman Wright is recorded in the British patent index for the patents listed below, but some texts use Lemuel Willman Wright to refer to the author of the same patents. There are contemporary references to an American from Massachusetts, Lemuel William Wright, who patented machinery and created a factory to make pins in London. The patent subject index lists the author of a patent for making pins in 1824 as Lemuel Wellman Wright (patent number 4955 of 1824), and has no other similar names recorded related to pins, so unless the patent office publication is in error, all these references appear to be to the same inventor.
John J. Loud
Trained as a lawyer at Harvard College, Loud worked at the Union National Bank in Weymouth, Massachusetts as a cashier. He was also active in his community as a member of his church, a trustee of many local organizations, and as a member of local historical societies. Loud invented and obtained a patent for what is considered to be the first ballpoint pen in 1888; however his invention was not commercialized and the patent would eventually lapse. The modern ballpoint pen would be patented later in 1938 by László Bíró, 22 years after Loud's death.
The Barbed Wire Patent
Lucien B. Smith had first invented a basic form of barbed wire in 1867 and received the patent for it. Therefore, at the time he had exclusive rights to produce and sell his product. In 1874, after Glidden made his changes, he was issued a statement denying him a new patent on the grounds that his invention simply was not a novelty. His patent claim was for:
The Patenting and Trademark office denied his application believing that the process was already widely known common knowledge and not novel enough to be distinguished from earlier patents.
United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co.
Thomas Edison developed and patented the first commercial motion picture camera and player (projector) in the United States (in Europe a handful of inventors had already developed and patented similar but different technology), and others followed in his steps, leading to extensive rivalry and patent litigation. In December 1908, Thomas Edison formed a combination of his Edison Manufacturing Company and nine other owners of film-related patents: the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), also known as the Motion Picture Patents Trust or the Edison Trust. The Trust controlled major patents dominating motion picture technology, including patents covering film stock, cameras, and projectors—including the so-called Latham loop patent (U.S. Pat. No. 707,934), a key feature of virtually all motion picture cameras then in use. Using the combined patent rights, the MPPC was able to exact high fees from their competitors for their use of film stock, cameras, and projectors. "The MPPC quickly became a force to be reckoned with, frequently and strenuously asserting its patent rights against independent movie producers through litigation." Between 1909 and 1918, MPCC brought about 40 patent infringement suits against competitors to maintain its control over the industry.
History of Connecticut industry
The "'history of Connecticut Industry" is a major part of the history of Connecticut. Between the birth of the U.S. patent system in 1790 and 1930, Connecticut had more patents issued per capita than any other state; in the 19th century, when the U.S. as a whole was issued one patent per three thousand population, Connecticut inventors were issued one patent for every 700–1000 residents. Connecticut's first recorded invention was a lapidary machine, by Abel Buell of Killingworth, in 1765.
Nathan Ames
Nathan Ames (November 17, 1826 in Roxbury, New Hampshire – August 17, 1865 in Saugus, Massachusetts) was a patent solicitor who held the first patent in the United States for an escalator-like machine. The patent (#25,076) was granted on August 9, 1859, for an invention he called "Revolving Stairs". The escalator had steps mounted on a continuous belt or chain. He also patented machines for improvement in polishing leather during the time when Lynn's shoemaking industry was one of the largest in the world. Another one of his patents was for a polygraph, an early copying machine that operated by using pens connected by wires. Another patent he held was for an improved grater.
Intellectual property in Romania
The first patent granted to a Romanian was in France in 1827 and the first Romanian patent was granted by a royal decree in 1864, during the period when Alexandru Ioan Cuza was prince of both Moldavia and Wallachia, uniting the two by a dynastic union. In 1879, the first trademark law was promulgated, making Romania the seventh country to enact such a law. In 1906, the first patent law was promulgated and the Romanian Office for Industrial Property (now the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks, OSIM) was founded.
Pin-back button
Benjamin S. Whitehead patented the first innovation to the design in 1893 by inserting a sheet of transparent film made of celluloid over a photograph mounted on a badge to protect the image from scratches and abrasion. Whitehead had patents for various designs of ornamental badges and medallions previously, patented as early as 1892. Another patent was issued to Whitehead & Hoag on for a "Badge Pin or Button" which used a metal pin anchored to the back of the button to fasten the badge.
My present invention has reference to improvements in badges for use as lapel pins or buttons, or other like uses, and has for its primary object to provide ... a novel means for connecting the ornamental shell or button to the bar or pin for securing the badge to the lapel of the coat.
Tattoo machine
The predecessor to the tattoo machine was the electric pen invented by Thomas Alva Edison and patented under the title "Stencil-Pens" in Newark, New Jersey, United States in 1876. It was originally intended to be used as a duplicating device, but in 1891, Samuel O'Reilly discovered that Edison's machine could be modified and used to introduce ink into the skin, and later patented a tube and needle system to provide an ink reservoir.
Cornelis Corneliszoon van Uitgeest
In addition to inventing the sawmill, Cornelis Corneliszoon van Uitgeest also held various other mill-related patents, including an early version of a centrifugal pump. He was not the first Dutchman to be granted a patent for a windmill. Cornelis Dircksz Muys, an engineer of Delft, was granted a patent for a small windmill in 1589. He later became known for his patent of a small dredger mill on a raft that was successful until the introduction of the steam engine. The first patent registered altogether was in 1584 by Simon Stevin for an unspecified form of water mill (probably to pump water out of a polder). Stevin's later patents were all based on mill technology, and he described his requests with mathematical explanations. He was granted nine patents in 1589, including one for the ""molengang"", which enabled the use of a stepped series of water mills to be used for creating polders. It was this invention that enabled the creation of the Beemster. Cornelisz van Uitgeest probably knew both of these men personally and he certainly knew their work.
Telephone
In 1876, Scottish emigrant Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice. This instrument was further developed by many others. The telephone was the first device in history that enabled people to talk directly with each other across large distances. Telephones rapidly became indispensable to businesses, government and households and are today some of the most widely used small appliances.
Alexander T. Brown
Brown and Stillman are well known for their invention of the pneumatic tire for vehicles, patented on December 20, 1892. The tire was manufactured at the Hartford Rubber Works in Hartford, Connecticut in 1895. In July of that year, auto manufacturer, Charles Duryea used the Brown-Stillman tires on his "motorized wagon" and won the $5,000 first prize in the automobile race which was reported as the first automobile race held in the United States. Duryea "covered the distance in 7 hours, 53 minutes at an average speed of .
Thomas Edison
Nearly all of Edison's patents were utility patents, which were protected for a 17-year period and included inventions or processes that are electrical, mechanical, or chemical in nature. About a dozen were design patents, which protect an ornamental design for up to a 14-year period. As in most patents, the inventions he described were improvements over prior art. The phonograph patent, in contrast, was unprecedented as describing the first device to record and reproduce sounds.
Laser
Gould's notes included possible applications for a laser, such as spectrometry, interferometry, radar, and nuclear fusion. He continued developing the idea, and filed a patent application in April 1959. The U.S. Patent Office denied his application, and awarded a patent to Bell Labs, in 1960. That provoked a twenty-eight-year lawsuit, featuring scientific prestige and money as the stakes. Gould won his first minor patent in 1977, yet it was not until 1987 that he won the first significant patent lawsuit victory, when a Federal judge ordered the U.S. Patent Office to issue patents to Gould for the optically pumped and the gas discharge laser devices. The question of just how to assign credit for inventing the laser remains unresolved by historians.
Fluorescent lamp
While the Hull patent gave GE a basis for claiming legal rights over the fluorescent lamp, a few months after the lamp went into production the firm learned of a U.S. patent application that had been filed in 1927 for the aforementioned "metal vapor lamp" invented in Germany by Meyer, Spanner, and Germer. The patent application indicated that the lamp had been created as a superior means of producing ultraviolet light, but the application also contained a few statements referring to fluorescent illumination. Efforts to obtain a U.S. patent had met with numerous delays, but were it to be granted, the patent might have caused serious difficulties for GE. At first, GE sought to block the issuance of a patent by claiming that priority should go to one of their employees, Leroy J. Buttolph, who according to their claim had invented a fluorescent lamp in 1919 and whose patent application was still pending. GE also had filed a patent application in 1936 in Inman’s name to cover the “improvements” wrought by his group. In 1939 GE decided that the claim of Meyer, Spanner, and Germer had some merit, and that in any event a long interference procedure was not in their best interest. They therefore dropped the Buttolph claim and paid $180,000 to acquire the Meyer, et al. application, which at that point was owned by a firm known as Electrons, Inc. The patent was duly awarded in December 1939. This patent, along with the Hull patent, put GE on what seemed to be firm legal ground, although it faced years of legal challenges from Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., which claimed infringement on patents that it held.
United States
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone. Thomas Edison's research laboratory, one of the first of its kind, developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. The latter led to emergence of the worldwide entertainment industry. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized the assembly line. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.
Inventor's notebook
A patent grants its owner(s) the right to sue those who manufacture and market products or services that infringe on the claims declared in the patent. Typically, governments award patents on either a "first to file" or "first to invent" basis. Therefore, it is important to keep and maintain records that help establish who is first to invent a particular invention.
Linus Yale Jr.
Yale had many inventions to his name throughout his career, thoroughly revolutionizing the locks industry and improving the security of financial institutions. Drawing on the principles first put to use in large wooden locks built by ancient Egyptians, Yale patented a pin tumbler lock for use in banks in 1851; he patented his pin tumbler lock for use in doors in 1863; in 1865 he patented the pin tumbler padlock, which are still widely used today. Yale's model of the padlock was smaller, sturdier, more reliable, and innovative, proving to be a distinction among locks of his day.In 1851 Yale invented what he referred to as the "Yale Magic Infallible Bank Lock", for safes and vaults. This design allowed the owner to change its combination and would also allow the key to secure the lock while being hidden away from the exterior of the door by a hardened steel plate, which covered the key-hole behind it.
Evans v. Eaton (1818)
As all patents at the time had 14-year terms, his patent lapsed in 1804, and the invention entered the public domain. Immediately upon the expiration of his patent, he sought a private bill that would allow him to renew it, the first such request ever made. He was unsuccessful until 1808, when the Tenth Congress passed a law authorizing the Secretary of State to grant him a new patent on the same terms as the original one. Evans obtained his new patent the day after the law took effect.
History of AC power plugs and sockets
The earliest American patent application for an earthed plug appears to be 11 January 1915 by George P. Knapp, on behalf of the Harvey Hubbell company. This patent covers the use of an earthing pin which extends further than the other two contacts to ensure that it is engaged first. Knapp's design was obsoleted in the US before the modern NEMA designations, but is still used in some other countries including China, Argentina and Australia. The configuration of the socket was not operable with existing two-contact unearthed plugs. Other earthed sockets that are widely used in the US today are operable with unearthed plugs. It is sometimes claimed (e.g., in Illumin) that the modern American version of the earthed plug, was invented by Philip F. Labre who was issued a US patent for an earthed socket and plug in 1928. However, Labre's design is no more similar to the modern version than Knapp's earlier design.
Candido Jacuzzi
The patent for the first portable Jacuzzi was filed in 1963, Patent and also for the first self-contained Jacuzzi Whirlpool filed in 1964 and marketed in 1968 as the first Hydrotherapy Tub states Candido Jacuzzi as the inventor. However, after Jacuzzi was bought out in the late 1970s by Kiddie, they hired Roy Jacuzzi, who quickly began to falsify reports that he invented the Jacuzzi. During this time, the Jacuzzi company website's history was modified, changed and Roy Jacuzzi started to be viewed as the inventor. After 30 years, and with a new President in charge, the original patent was certified to Jacuzzi Corporation in Chino, CA.
Windscreen wiper
The first designs for the windscreen wiper are credited to Polish concert pianist Józef Hofmann, and Mills Munitions, Birmingham who also claimed to have been the first to patent windscreen wipers in England.
At least three inventors patented windscreen cleaning devices at around the same time in 1903; Mary Anderson, Robert Douglass, and John Apjohn. In April 1911, a patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Sloan & Lloyd Barnes, patent agents of Liverpool, England, for Gladstone Adams of Whitley Bay.
American inventor Mary Anderson is popularly credited with devising the first operational windshield wiper in 1903. In Anderson's patent, she called her invention a "window cleaning device" for electric cars and other vehicles. Operated via a lever from inside a vehicle, her version of windshield wipers closely resembles the windshield wiper found on many early car models. Anderson had a model of her design manufactured, then filed a patent (US 743,801) on June 18, 1903 that was issued to her by the US Patent Office on November 10, 1903.
A similar device is recorded 3 months prior to Anderson's patent, with Robert A Douglass filing a patent for a "locomotive-cab-window cleaner" on 12 March 1903.
Irish born inventor James Henry Apjohn (1845–1914) patented an "Apparatus for Cleaning Carriage, Motor Car and other Windows" which was stated to use either brushes or wipers and could be either motor driven or hand driven. The brushes or wipers were intended to clean either both up and down or in just one direction on a vertical window. Apjohn's invention had a priority date in the UK of 9 October 1903.
James Henry Greathead
Barlow was certainly the first to patent, in 1864, a shield capable of motion in one piece, and surrounded by a thin cylinder of iron... to build, in successive rings, a cast iron tunnel... this was in 1864 and in 1868 he provisionally patented a shield... neither of these designs took practical form and, in 1869 Greathead in England and Beach in New York actually built and used shields having many features in common with Barlow's patents but differing from each other in details.
Puckle gun
The Puckle gun (also known as the "Defence gun") was a primitive crew-served, manually-operated flintlock revolver patented in 1718 by James Puckle (1667–1724) a British inventor, lawyer and writer. It was one of the earliest weapons to be referred to as a "machine gun", being called such in a 1722 shipping manifest, though its operation does not match the modern use of the term. However, the Puckle gun was never used during any combat operation or war. Production was highly limited and may have been as few as two guns.
History of tattooing
In 1891, New York tattooer Samuel O'Reilly patented the first electric tattoo machine, a modification of Thomas Edison's electric pen.
The earliest appearance of tattoos on women during this period were in the circus in the late 19th century. These "Tattooed Ladies" were covered — with the exception of their faces, hands, necks, and other readily visible areas — with various images inked into their skin. In order to lure the crowd, the earliest ladies, like Betty Broadbent and Nora Hildebrandt told tales of captivity; they usually claimed to have been taken hostage by Native Americans that tattooed them as a form of torture. However, by the late 1920s the sideshow industry was slowing and by the late 1990s the last tattooed lady was out of business.
Glossary of patent law terms
Patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office between July 1790 (when the first U.S. patent was issued) and July 1836.
Aileron
Others who were previously thought to have been the first to introduce ailerons included:
Regardless of the 1868 Boulton patent and the extensive prior art created by multiple other experimenters, the Wright Brothers' Ohio patent attorney Henry Toulmin filed an expansive patent application, and on May 22, 1906, they were granted U.S. Patent 821393. The patent's importance lay in its claim of a new and useful method of "controlling" an airplane. The patent application included the claim for the lateral control of aircraft flight that was not limited to wing warping, but through any manipulation of the "...angular relations of the lateral margins of the airplanes [wings]... varied in opposite directions". Thus the patent explicitly stated that other methods besides wing-warping could be used for adjusting the outer portions of an airplane's wings to different angles on its right and left sides to achieve lateral roll control. Curiously, John J. Montgomery was granted U.S. Patent 831173 at nearly the same time for his methods of wing warping. Both the Wright Brothers patent and Montgomery's patent were reviewed and approved by the same patent examiner at the United States Patent Office, William Townsend. At the time Townsend indicated that both methods of wing warping were invented independently and were sufficiently different to each justify their own patent award.
History of United States patent law
In America in the early colonial period, there were no general laws providing for the issuing of patents. However, people who invented new products could appeal to the colonial governments, which could grant them the exclusive commercial right to the products. The earliest of such rights granted in the colonies was in the state of Massachusetts in 1641. The Massachusetts General Court gave Samuel Winslow an exclusive right to utilize a new process of making salt for 10 years. The case is unofficially known of as the first "patent" in America.
Patent
The English legal system became the foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand and Australia. In the Thirteen Colonies, inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colony's legislature. In 1641, Samuel Winslow was granted the first patent in North America by the Massachusetts General Court for a new process for making salt.
The modern French patent system was created during the Revolution in 1791. Patents were granted without examination since inventor's right was considered as a natural one. Patent costs were very high (from 500 to 1,500 francs). Importation patents protected new devices coming from foreign countries. The patent law was revised in 1844 - patent cost was lowered and importation patents were abolished.
Joseph Day (inventor)
The first American patent was taken out in 1894, and by 1906, a dozen American companies had taken licences. One of these, Palmers of Connecticut, managed by entrepreneur Julius Briner, had produced over 60,000 two-stroke engines before 1912.
Many of these early engines found their way into motorcycles, or onto the back of boats.
Elisha Gray
Although Gray had abandoned his caveat, Gray applied for a patent for the same invention in late 1877. This put him in a second interference with Bell's patents. The Patent Office determined, "while Gray was undoubtedly the first to conceive of and disclose the [variable resistance] invention, as in his caveat of February 14, 1876, his failure to take any action amounting to completion until others had demonstrated the utility of the invention deprives him of the right to have it considered." Gray challenged Bell's patent anyway, and after two years of litigation, Bell was awarded rights to the invention, and as a result, Bell is credited as the inventor.
Rudolph A. Seiden
Rudolph Seiden had the first patent for the manufacture of tempered glass.
Vriesendorp &amp; Gaade
The Netherlands have known patents for a long period of time. As early as the Middle Ages patents were granted at regular times and famous names can be found among the patentees, like Leeghwater, Huygens, De Keyser, Stevin and Drebbel. In 1817 a Patents Act came into force under King William I. Under this Act the Firm of Vriesendorp & Gaade was engaged in applying for patents.
The Firm of Vriesendorp & Gaade filed the first patent application in which they acted as representatives on September 27, 1833. The patent in question was granted by the King on November 9, 1833 under the Dutch Patent Act of 1817 It concerned a so-called patent of importation granted to F.M.N. van Aken, who had become familiar with an apparatus for refining sugar and distilling spirits in France described in a French patent which was applied for on 4 February 1833. Ever since the name of the Firm of Vriesendorp & Gaade has been mentioned in the patent records as a patent agent office.
Mary Kenner
She invented the sanitary belt with moisture-proof napkin pocket. The sanitary napkin wasn't used until 1956, thirty years after she had first invented it. The company that first showed interest in her invention rejected it after they discovered that she was an African American woman. Between 1956 and 1987 she received five patents for her household and personal item creations. She invented a bathroom tissue holder which she patented with patent number , on October 19, 1982. and a back washer mounted on the shower or bathtub wall, which she patented in 1987. She also patented the carrier attachment for an invalid walker in 1959.
Salvator Dormus pistol
The Salvator-Dormus pistol was the earliest-patented semi-automatic pistol. It was patented on 11 July 1891 by Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria and Count . As the first of its kind, it was designed without the benefit of experience with earlier models. Various modifications were made with approximately twenty prototypes before thirty pistols of a workable design were submitted for Austrian military trials in 1896. This 8mm blowback pistol loaded through the top and had a hinged magazine door on the butt. The pistol had a separate bolt release and safety. The production delay between patent and military trials allowed comparison with other self-loading pistols, and the Salvator Dormus was considered inferior to its competition. The designers abandoned this project; and few pistols survive.
Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be awarded a patent for the electric telephone by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in March 1876. The Bell patents were forensically victorious and commercially decisive. That first patent by Bell was the "master patent" of the telephone, from which other patents for electric telephone devices and features flowed.
Erik Rotheim
The patent was sold to an American company for .
Commercial exploitation of the patent was not significant until it was introduced in the United States in the 1940s. 
Improvements to the underlying principle of the spray head by Americans Lyle D. Goodhue and William N. Sullivan allowed the technology to be further adapted, first with the Aerosol bomb for insect control, and later in various other applications. In 1949, Robert Abplanalp files the first aerosol valve patent which was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1953.
Norway Post celebrated Rotheim's invention by issuing a commemorative stamp in 1998.
Timeline of United States inventions (1946–1991)
A timeline of United States inventions (1946–1991) encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the era of the Cold War, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Copyright protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the "original" invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
In 1641, the first patent in North America was issued to Samuel Winslow by the General Court of Massachusetts for a new method of making salt. On April 10, 1790, President George Washington signed the Patent Act of 1790 (1 Stat. 109) into law which proclaimed that patents were to be authorized for "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement therein not before known or used." On July 31, 1790, Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont became the first person in the United States to file and to be granted a patent for an improved method of "Making Pot and Pearl Ashes." The Patent Act of 1836 (Ch. 357, 5 Stat. 117) further clarified United States patent law to the extent of establishing a patent office where patent applications are filed, processed, and granted, contingent upon the language and scope of the claimant's invention, for a patent term of 14 years with an extension of up to an additional 7 years. However, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994 (URAA) changed the patent term in the United States to a total of 20 years, effective for patent applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, thus bringing United States patent law further into conformity with international patent law. The modern-day provisions of the law applied to inventions are laid out in Title 35 of the United States Code (Ch. 950, sec. 1, 66 Stat. 792).
Lloyd Groff Copeman
His first successful patented inventions, patented in 1909, were an electrothermostatic heat regulator for more effective control of stove and toaster heating elements and a thermostat for high-tension power cables.
Before this, while working for the Washington Electric Company in 1906, Copeman developed a design for an electric version of the gas stoves which had been available in Britain and the USA for several decades. Development of the idea took several years, but in 1912 the Copeman Electric Stove Company was formed in the city of Flint, Michigan to produce the Copeman Electric Stove (also marketed as the "fireless cooker"). Westinghouse Electric Corporation bought the company in 1917, moved production to Mansfield, Ohio, and continued to develop and improve the stove.
From 1913, another of Copeman's inventions, a toaster with automatic bread turner, was also produced by the Copeman Electric Stove Company. Electric toasters were a recent invention at that time - the first commercially successful version was patented in July 1909 - and the bread had to be turned manually once the first side had been toasted. During a shopping trip, Copeman's wife Hazel gave them the idea for a toaster which turned the bread without manual intervention, and in 1914 a patent for what Copeman called the Automatic Toaster was filed in Hazel's name. Five other toaster-related patents were granted to both Lloyd and Hazel during the same year. The invention of the pop-up toaster in 1926 superseded Copeman's innovations, however.
A company called Copeman Laboratories Company had been established in Flint, Michigan during the year 1918 to allow Copeman to dedicate his time to inventing, although he also spent a lot of time at his farm in Farmer's Creek, where he would lock himself in the basement - sometimes for up to a week, with his wife bringing him meals on a tray - and develop new ideas and products. Examples of his work at this time, which met with varying success, included injecting chickens with solutions to make their meat taste like beef; pioneering experiments in the development of latex; the Copeman Lubri-Cap, grease-filled paper cups for lubricating wheel bearings (the patent for this product was
Patent Act (Canada)
The first patent in Canada was granted by the legislature of Quebec in 1791. No official patent act followed until about 30 years later when Upper and Lower Canada enacted patent acts in the 1820s. The provinces of Canada held responsibility for patents within their boundaries
Moixa
Moixa has a long history of innovation. Its first patent was a foldable computer keyboard for use with PDA devices.
Parker Pen Company
George Safford Parker, the founder, had previously been a sales agent for the John Holland Gold Pen Company. He received his first fountain pen related patent in 1889. In 1894 Parker received a patent on his "Lucky Curve" fountain pen feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen barrel when the pen was not in use. The company's first successful pen, released in 1899, was the Parker Jointless. The Lucky Curve feed was used in various forms until 1928.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, before the development of the ballpoint pen, Parker was either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales. In 1931 Parker created Quink (quick drying ink), which eliminated the need for blotting. In 1941 the company developed the most widely used model of fountain pen in history (over $400 million worth of sales in its 30-year history), the Parker 51. Manufacturing facilities were set up over the years in Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Mexico, USA, Pakistan, India, Germany (Osmia-Parker), Brazil and Argentina.
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.
Sarah E. Goode
Sarah Elisabeth Goode (1855 – April 8, 1905) was an entrepreneur and inventor. She was the first African-American woman to receive a United States patent, which she received in 1885. The first African-American woman to receive a patent was Judy W. Reed on September 23, 1884, but Reed only signed her patent with her mark (an X) and not her signature.
U.S. Patent No. 1
The first actual U.S. patent was issued on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins for manufacture of potash. The game's cover art states that "But if you have a time machine, it doesn't really matter who invented it first. All that matters is who gets to the Patent Office first." However, prior to the 2011 America Invents Act, the United States was the sole country with a "first to invent" rule. Unfortunately, proving prior conception when time travel is involved may present difficulties to the inventor.
Abraham Lincoln's patent
The invention stemmed from Lincoln's experiences ferrying travelers and carrying freight on the Great Lakes and some midwestern rivers. In 1860, Lincoln wrote his autobiography and recounted that while in his late teens he took a flatboat down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers from his home in Indiana to New Orleans while employed as a hired hand. The son of the boat owner kept him company and the two went out on this new undertaking without any other helpers.
Automatic soap dispenser
The idea for the first dispenser was submitted by Guey-Chaun Shiau to be patented in 1989. The patent was under the name, "Automatic Cleaning-liquid Dispensing Device". The patent was issued in 1991. The patented device was under the following description:
"An automatic cleaning-fluid dispensing device includes: a containing structure for containing cleaning fluid; a sensing device disposed on a base member being installed in the lower portion of said containing structure wherein said base member is provided with an outlet, a sensing circuit disposed on a circuit board, a motor arrangement electrically connected to the sensing circuit, an outlet for passing a light source of the sensing circuit therefrom so as to detect the presence of an external object closing on the light source; and a dispensing mechanism, which is composed of a push structure functionally connected with the driving motor and a pumping structure operatively engaged with the push structure, installed on the base member in connection with the sensing device; whereby when an external object closes to the sensing device, a given amount of the contained cleaning fluid in the containing structure will be automatically supplied for cleaning purposes.".
X-Patent
The X-Patents are all the patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office from July 1790 (when the first U.S. patent was issued), to July 1836. The actual number is unknown, but the best estimate is 9,957. The records were burned in a fire, in December 1836, while in temporary storage. No copies or rosters were maintained by the government at the time, leaving only the inventors' copies to reconstruct the collection.
Patent medicine
Within the English-speaking world, patent medicines are as old as journalism. "Anderson's Pills" were first made in England in the 1630s; the recipe was allegedly learned in Venice by a Scot who claimed to be physician to King Charles I. Daffy's Elixir was invented about 1647 and remained popular in Britain and the USA until the late 19th century. The use of "letters patent" to obtain exclusive marketing rights to certain labelled formulas and their marketing fueled the circulation of early newspapers. The use of invented names began early. In 1726 a patent was also granted to the makers of Dr Bateman's Pectoral Drops; at least on the documents that survive, there was no Dr. Bateman. This was the enterprise of a Benjamin Okell and a group of promoters who owned a warehouse and a print shop to promote the product.
Ukelin
The history of the ukelin is hard to trace, since there were several instruments resembling the ukelin that were produced in the 1920s. Paul F. Richter filed the first known ukelin patent in December 1924, it was granted in April 1926. The Phonoharp Company, which merged with Oscar Schmidt, Inc. the same year, began producing ukelins in 1926. However, an instrument greatly resembling the ukelin had had its patent filed in 1923, a year before Richter filed his; yet the patent, filed by John Large, was not granted until after Richter's patent had already been given. Another similar instrument had a patent filed by Walter Schmidt in 1925. Because of these patents filed one after the other it is unclear who really invented the first ukelin.
Patent war
Patent wars are not a new phenomenon. In the Wright brothers patent war, the Wright brothers, attributed with the invention of the airplane, sought to prevent competitors from manufacturing airplanes through litigation, stifling the development of the American airline industry. Alexander Graham Bell, credited with inventing the telephone, was dragged into a patent war against his rivals, which involved, in just 11 years, 600 lawsuits. One notable case was Bell's lawsuit against Western Union. Western Union was backed by Elisha Gray, also credited with inventing the telephone.
Wright brothers patent war
The Wright brothers patent war centers on the patent they received for their method of an airplane's flight control. The Wright brothers were two Americans who are widely credited with inventing and building the world's first flyable airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903.
Lester Wire
Eight years after Wire's invention, in Detroit in 1920, a detective named William Potts introduced the amber light and a series of electrical controls that would ultimately resulted in the automatic traffic light. Potts did not apply for a patent, but the first inventor to do so was Garret Morgan, who patented his invention of the traffic light with a STOP, GO and a third position for pedestrians. Morgan eventually sold his patent to General Electric where it was mass-produced.
Airbrush
The first airbrush, depending on the definition, was patented in 1876 (Patent Number 182,389) by Francis Edgar Stanley of Newton, Massachusetts. This worked akin to a diffuser / atomiser and did not have a continuous air supply. Stanley and his twin brother later invented a process for continuously coating photographic plates (Stanley Dry Plate Company) but are perhaps best known for their Stanley Steamer. No artistic images that used this 'paint distributor / atomiser' exist or are as yet known.
Timeline of United States inventions (before 1890)
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere. The first ballpoint pen is the creation of American leather tanner John Loud of Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1888 which contained a reservoir for ink and a roller ball to mark up his leather hides. Despite Loud being the inventor of the ballpoint pen, it wasn't a practical success since the ink often leaked or clogged up. Loud took out a patent (British patent #15630) in the United Kingdom on October 30, 1888. However, it wasn't until 1935 when Hungarian newspaper editor László Bíró offered an improved version of the ballpoint pen that left paper smudge-free.
Wright brothers patent war
There are conflicting claims over who first invented the aileron as a method for lateral flight control. In 1868, before the advent of powered, heavier-than-air aircraft — and within eleven years distant in time from the birth of all three of the involved parties in the American lawsuit — English inventor Matthew Piers Watt Boulton first patented ailerons. Boulton's patent, No. 392, awarded in 1868 some 40 years before ailerons were 'reinvented', became forgotten until the aileron was in general use. Aviation historian Charles Gibbs-Smith stated that if Boulton's ailerons had been revealed at the time of the Wright Brothers' patent filings, the brothers might not have been able to claim priority of invention for lateral control of flying machines. U.S. District Judge John R. Hazel, who heard the Wright lawsuit against Curtiss, found to the contrary, ruling in 1913 that Boulton's "assertions and suggestions were altogether too conjectural to teach others how to reduce them to practice, and therefore his patent is not anticipatory."
Ballpoint pen
The first patent for a ballpoint pen was issued on 30 October 1888 to John J. Loud, who was attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write "on rough surfaces-such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles" which then-common fountain pens could not. Loud's pen had a small rotating steel ball, held in place by a socket. Although it could be used to mark rough surfaces such as leather, as Loud intended, it proved to be too coarse for letter-writing. With no commercial viability, its potential went unexploited and the patent eventually lapsed.
Joseph Friedman
By the age of fourteen, had conceptualized his first invention, the lighted pencil, which he deemed the "pencilite," and was attempting to market his idea. Over the course of his inventing career, he would experiment with ideas ranging from writing implements to engine improvements, and household products to sound and optic experiments. He was issued nine U.S. patents and held patents in Great Britain, Australia and Canada. His first patent was issued for improvements to the fountain pen on April 18, 1922. This was also the first invention that he successfully sold, to the Sheaffer Pen Company in the mid-1930s.
Automated teller machine
The idea of a PIN stored on the card was developed by a group of engineers working at Smiths Group on the Chubb MD2 in 1965 and which has been credited to James Goodfellow (patent GB1197183 filed on 2 May 1966 with Anthony Davies). The essence of this system was that it enabled the verification of the customer with the debited account without human intervention. This patent is also the earliest instance of a complete "currency dispenser system" in the patent record. This patent was filed on 5 March 1968 in the US (US 3543904) and granted on 1 December 1970. It had a profound influence on the industry as a whole. Not only did future entrants into the cash dispenser market such as NCR Corporation and IBM licence Goodfellow's PIN system, but a number of later patents reference this patent as "Prior Art Device".
Herbert A. Winkelmann
Winkelmann's first patent, with co-inventor Harold Gray, was obtained in 1921 during his employment with B. F. Goodrich. He was later employed by Philadelphia Rubber Works, Marbon Corp. and by Dryden Rubber Company.
History of patent law
This legal system became the foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand and Australia. In the Thirteen Colonies, inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colony's legislature. In 1641, Samuel Winslow was granted the first patent in North America by the Massachusetts General Court for a new process for making salt.
Chester Carlson
Having learned about the value of patents in his early career as a patent clerk and attorney, Carlson patented his developments every step along the way. He filed his first preliminary patent application on October 18, 1937.
John Ruggles
During his tenure in Congress, Ruggles had served as chairman of the Committee on Patents and Patent Office (25th Congress), and in 1836 framed the bill for the reorganization of the United States Patent Office. He was known for his interest in inventions and patents, and because of his legislative accomplishments in this area he has become known as the "Father of the U.S. Patent Office". Ruggles also was an inventor and the patent-holder of , issued July 13, 1836. His invention was a type of train wheel designed to reduce the adverse effects of the weather on the track. This was not the first patent ever from the USPTO; the previous patents were destroyed by fire and afterwards called the X-Patents, and new patents afterwards were numbered from 1 again. Ruggles received the first patent granted under the new system; Samuel Hopkins received the first X-Patent.
History of patent law
The first Italian patent was awarded by the Republic of Florence in 1421. The Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi received a three-year patent for a barge with hoisting gear, that carried marble along the Arno River in 1421.
Gordon Gould
Gould's first laser patent was awarded in 1968, covering an obscure application—generating X-rays using a laser. The technology was of little value, but the patent contained all the disclosures of his original 1959 application, which had previously been secret. This allowed the patent office greater leeway to reject patent applications that conflicted with Gould's pending patents. Meanwhile, the patent hearings, court cases, and appeals on the most significant patent applications continued, with many other inventors attempting to claim precedence for various laser technologies. The question of just how to assign credit for inventing the laser remains unresolved by historians.
Mousetrap
The trap that is credited as the first patented lethal mousetrap was a set of spring-loaded, cast-iron jaws dubbed "Royal No. 1". It was patented on 4 November 1879 by James M. Keep of New York, US patent 221,320. From the patent description, it is clear that this is not the "first" mousetrap of this type, but the patent is for this simplified, easy to manufacture, design. It is the industrial age development of the deadfall trap, but relying on the force of a wound spring rather than gravity.
Timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945)
From 1836 to 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a total of 7,861,317 patents relating to several well-known inventions appearing throughout the timeline below. Some examples of patented inventions between the years 1890 and 1945 include John Froelich's tractor (1892), Ransom Eli Olds' assembly line (1901), Willis Carrier's air-conditioning (1902), the Wright Brothers' airplane (1903), and Robert H. Goddard's liquid-fuel rocket (1926).
Venetian Patent Statute
The Venetian Patent Statute of March 19, 1474, established in the Republic of Venice the first statutory patent system in Europe, and may be deemed to be the earliest codified patent system in the world. The Statute is written in old Venetian dialect. It provided that patents might be granted for "any new and ingenious device, not previously made", provided it was useful. By and large, these principles still remain the basic principles of patent law.
Hannah Slater
Hannah Slater (née Wilkinson, 1774 - 1812) was an early American pioneer and inventor. Some sources state that she was the first American woman to receive a patent, however others state that Mary Kies, in 1809, was the first.
Abraham Lincoln's patent
Abraham Lincoln's patent relates to an invention to lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a river. It is the only United States patent ever registered to a President of the United States. Lincoln conceived the idea of inventing a mechanism that would lift a boat over shoals and obstructions when on two different occasions the boat on which he traveled got hung up on obstructions. The original documentation of this patent was rediscovered in 1997.
Timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945)
A timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945) encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Progressive Era to the end of World War II, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Copyright protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the "original" invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
In 1641, the first patent in North America was issued to Samuel Winslow by the General Court of Massachusetts for a new method of making salt. On April 10, 1790, President George Washington signed the Patent Act of 1790 (1 Stat. 109) into law which proclaimed that patents were to be authorized for "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement therein not before known or used." On July 31, 1790, Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became the first person in the United States to file and to be granted a patent under the new U.S. patent statute. The Patent Act of 1836 (Ch. 357, 5 Stat. 117) further clarified United States patent law to the extent of establishing a patent office where patent applications are filed, processed, and granted, contingent upon the language and scope of the claimant's invention, for a patent term of 14 years with an extension of up to an additional 7 years.
Abraham Lincoln's patent
Lincoln admired the patent law system because of the reciprocal benefits it furnished both the inventor and society. In 1859 he noted that the patent system ". . . has secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things." He described the discovery of America as the most important development "in the world's history," followed second by the technology of printing and third by patent laws. Lincoln was himself a patent lawyer.
John J. Loud
Keenly interested in inventing, on October 30, 1888, Loud obtained the first patent (US #392,046) for a ballpoint pen when attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write on leather products, which then-common fountain pens could not. Loud's pen had a small rotating steel ball, held in place by a socket. In the patent, he noted:
Nathan Stubblefield
Despite very limited finances, in his spare time Stubblefield worked on developing a series of inventions. His first patent, , was issued on November 3, 1885, for a tool for lighting coal oil lamps without having to remove the glass chimney.
Science and invention in Birmingham
1779: James Watt patents a copying press or 'letter copying machine' to deal with the mass of paper work at his business; he also invents an ink to work with it. This is the first widely used copy machine for offices and is a commercial success, being used for over a century. This letter copying press is considered to be the original photocopier.
1781: James Watt markets his rotary-motion steam engine. The earlier steam engine's vertical movement was ideal for operating water pumps but the new engine can be adapted to drive all sorts of machinery. Richard Arkwright pioneers its use in his cotton mills and within 15 years there are 500+ Boulton & Watt steam engines in British factories and mines. Boulton also arranges, in 1775, an Act of Parliament extending the term of Watt's 1769 patent to 1799.
Charles Redheffer
On July 11, 1820, the U.S. Patent Office granted a patent to Charles Redheffer (or Charles Redheiffer) for a device listed as "machinery for the purpose of gaining power". (Unfortunately, all patents up to 1836 were lost in the 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire. If recovered, it would be X-Patent X3,215.)
Business method patent
Patents have been granted in the United States on methods for doing business since the US patent system was established in 1790. The first financial patent was granted on March 19, 1799, to Jacob Perkins of Massachusetts for an invention for "Detecting Counterfeit Notes." All details of Mr. Perkins' invention, which presumably was a device or process in the printing art, were lost in the great Patent Office fire of 1836. Its existence is only known from other sources.
The first financial patent for which any detailed written description survives was to a printing method entitled "A Mode of Preventing Counterfeiting" granted to John Kneass on April 28, 1815. The first fifty years of the U.S. Patent Office saw the granting of forty-one financial patents in the arts of bank notes (2 patents), bills of credit (1), bills of exchange (1), check blanks (4); detecting and preventing counterfeiting (10), coin counting (1), interest calculation tables (5), and lotteries (17).
History of patent law
In England, grants in the form of letters patent were issued by the sovereign to inventors who petitioned and were approved: a grant of 1331 to John Kempe and his Company is the earliest authenticated instance of a royal grant made with the avowed purpose of instructing the English in a new industry. These letters patent provided the recipient with a monopoly to produce particular goods or provide particular services. Another early example of such letters patent was a grant by Henry VI in 1449 to John of Utynam, a Flemish man, for a twenty-year monopoly for his invention.
Patent Act of 1790
The Patent Act of 1790 () was the first patent statute passed by the federal government of the United States. It was enacted on April 10, 1790, about one year after the constitution was ratified and a new government was organized. The law was concise, defining the subject matter of a U.S. patent as "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement there on not before known or used." It granted the applicant the "sole and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using and vending to others to be used" of his invention.
Oscar Wirkkala
His first patent was granted in 1917, and was for a four-drum donkey engine used in his high lead logging system. In the following years, several of his patented devices were manufactured, under the Wirkkala brand, at the Willapa Harbor Iron Works in South Bend. A few of his patented inventions were still in manufacture well into the second half of the 20th century. Wirkkala sued his own patent attorney for patent infringement on the choker hook, and after several years of litigation the suit was decided in Wirkkala's favor. Later, Wirkkala developed and patented a marine propeller. In the course of his career he patented at least 18 different inventions.
Harvey Hubbell
Hubbell received at least 45 patents, most of which were for electric products. The pull-chain electrical light socket was patented in 1896, and his most famous invention, the U.S. electrical power plug, in 1904. It brought the convenience of portable electrical devices, already enjoyed in Great Britain since the early 1880s, to the U.S. Hubbell was also granted a patent in 1916 for a three-bladed power plug, which Australian regulators and electrical accessory manufacturers adopted as the standard for that country in the 1930s. It was also adopted in New Zealand, Argentina and, with a minor variation, China.
List of patent claim types
Markush claims were named after Eugene Markush, the first inventor to use them successfully in a U.S. patent (see, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 1,506,316, 1,982,681, 1,986,276, and 2,014,143), in the 1920s to 1940s. See "Ex parte Markush".
Evans v. Eaton (1822)
As all patents at the time had 14-year terms, his patent lapsed in 1804, and the invention entered the public domain. Immediately upon the expiration of his patent, he sought a private bill that would allow him to renew it, the first such request ever made. He was unsuccessful until 1808, when the Tenth Congress passed a law authorizing the Secretary of State to grant him a new patent on the same terms as the original one. Evans obtained his new patent the day after the law took effect.
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".
Second Industrial Revolution
German inventor Karl Benz patented the world's first automobile in 1886. It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones) with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle. It was the first automobile entirely designed as such to generate its own power, not simply a motorized-stage coach or horse carriage.
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.
William Gillette
It was not the first patent which he had applied for and received. In 1883, he filed the first of four patent requests with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a Time-Stamp "as stamps upon the upper surface of papers a dial and one or more dial-pointers, representing the time of day at which the papers stamped by it were respectively so stamped." All four requests were granted.
Petrache Poenaru
While a student in Paris, Petrache Poenaru invented the world's first fountain pen, an invention for which the French Government issued a patent on 25 May 1827.