Details
ADAMS, John. Partly printed document signed ("John Adams") as President, countersigned by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, and Attorney General Charles Lee, Philadelphia, 24 March 1798. Folio (14 x 11¾ in.), PRINTED ON PARCHMENT, accomplished in the hand of a clerk, large papered seal of the United States at left-hand margin, anchoring blue silk ribbons neatly drawn through the first sheet to link with attached schedule. -- MCKEAN, Robert. Manuscript schedule, describing his invention in exhaustive detail, Bordenton [New Jersey], 7 March 1798. 2 pages, on parchment, in a neat clerk's hand.
A PATENT FOR A STEAM-POWERED SAW. Adams grants a patent to Robert McKean of New Jersey for "the application of Steam Engines to the purpose of sawing and manufacting of all kinds of lumber," and certifies that his "improvement has not been known or used before." McKean testifies that he is "the true inventor or discoverer" and his payment of the standard fee ($30.00) is acknowledged. He is accordingly granted exclusive right to the invention for a period of 14 years. The present is one of a number of patents destroyed in an 1836 fire in the Federal Patent Office. This detailed record may be the only surviving documentation of McKean's steam-powered saw mill. RARE: according to Patent Office records, only some 30 patents were granted in the year 1798; only two signed by Adams during his Presidency are recorded at auction in ABPC since 1975.
A PATENT FOR A STEAM-POWERED SAW. Adams grants a patent to Robert McKean of New Jersey for "the application of Steam Engines to the purpose of sawing and manufacting of all kinds of lumber," and certifies that his "improvement has not been known or used before." McKean testifies that he is "the true inventor or discoverer" and his payment of the standard fee ($30.00) is acknowledged. He is accordingly granted exclusive right to the invention for a period of 14 years. The present is one of a number of patents destroyed in an 1836 fire in the Federal Patent Office. This detailed record may be the only surviving documentation of McKean's steam-powered saw mill. RARE: according to Patent Office records, only some 30 patents were granted in the year 1798; only two signed by Adams during his Presidency are recorded at auction in ABPC since 1975.