An Encapsulation of United States Patent History
Article 1, Section 8, clause 8:
The Congress shall have power … to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
The Patent Act of 1790 was passed with an initial three-person tribunal including the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the Secretary of War. The first US patent was granted to Samuel Hopkins, a resident of Vermont for "Improvement, not known before such Discovery, in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." The following are photographs of the original document and the resting place of Samuel Hopkins.
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