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1790: Samuel Hopkins, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ,
received Patent No. 1 on July 31, 1790, for an improvement "in the
making Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." The patent
was signed by President George Washington, Attorney General Edmund
Randolph, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Only two other
patents were granted that year, one for a new candle-making process and
the other the flour-milling machinery of Oliver Evans. |
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1836:
Sen.
John Ruggles of Maine receives a patent for a “locomotive
steam-engine for rail and other
roads.” |
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1840:
Samuel Morse receives a patent for the telegraph.
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1849:
Abraham Lincoln, then a congressman from
Illinois, receives a patent for a “device for buoying vessels
over shoals.” He remains the only U. S. president to
receive a patent. |
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1868:
Christopher Sholes receives a patent for a typewriter. |
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1871:
Samuel Clements (Mark Twain) receives a patent for an
improvement in "adjustable and detachable straps
for garments.” |
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1873:
Louis Pasteur of Paris receives a patent for
“improvements in the process of making beer.” |
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1878:
Thomas Edison receives a patent for a “phonograph or
speaking machine.” |
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1880:
Thomas
Edison receives a patent for “an electric lamp for giving
light by incandescence.” |
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1885:
Sarah Goode is one of the first black women to obtain a
patent, for a “folding cabinet bed.” |
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1893:
Whitcomb
Judson receives a patent for a zipper |
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1906:
Orville and
Wilbur Wright receive a patent for certain “new and
useful improvement in flying machines.” |
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1921:
Harry
Houdini receives a patent for his “driver’s suit.” |
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1923:
Garrett
Morgan receives a patent for his "traffic signal." |
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1930:
Albert
Einstein receives, with his co-inventor, a patent for “an
apparatus for producing refrigeration.” |
1988:
The
first animal patent is issued to Harvard University,
covering a mouse that is designed to radically improve
the
process of
detecting cancer-reproducing substances. |
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