Details
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, President. Partly printed document signed ("G: Washington") as President, A PATENT, countersigned by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and Attorney General Charles Lee, Philadelphia, 12 December 1796. 2 pages, folio, 358 x 305 mm. (14 x 12 in.), (page 2 the description of the patent) ON PARCHMENT large papered Great Seal of the United States at left center, anchoring original pale blue silk ribbons with which the two sheets were formerly attached, two small stains to extreme left-hand margin.
A PATENT FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENT
George Chandler of Maryland, who "has invented a new and useful improvement in making nails," has affirmed "that he is the true discoverer or inventor," has paid the required fee and submitted a petition requesting patent protection. He is granted "the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using, and vending to others...the said improvement..." In 1790 the power to grant patents was vested in the Secretary of State "an already overworked gentleman" (David Freeman Hawke, Nuts and Bolts of the Past: A History of American Technology, p.25). All patent grants were to be signed by the President. During his tenure as Secretary of State (from September 1789) Thomas Jefferson scrutinized each patent application so carefully that a scant 36 were approved before he left office in January 1794. In 1793 the law was liberalized, and in June 1794 Timothy Pickering (1745-1829) became Secretary of State. While patents were granted with greater frequency during Pickering's tenure, original patent grants signed by Washington, Adams and Jefferson are increasingly rare.
A PATENT FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENT
George Chandler of Maryland, who "has invented a new and useful improvement in making nails," has affirmed "that he is the true discoverer or inventor," has paid the required fee and submitted a petition requesting patent protection. He is granted "the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using, and vending to others...the said improvement..." In 1790 the power to grant patents was vested in the Secretary of State "an already overworked gentleman" (David Freeman Hawke, Nuts and Bolts of the Past: A History of American Technology, p.25). All patent grants were to be signed by the President. During his tenure as Secretary of State (from September 1789) Thomas Jefferson scrutinized each patent application so carefully that a scant 36 were approved before he left office in January 1794. In 1793 the law was liberalized, and in June 1794 Timothy Pickering (1745-1829) became Secretary of State. While patents were granted with greater frequency during Pickering's tenure, original patent grants signed by Washington, Adams and Jefferson are increasingly rare.