From Mary Bellis,
Your Guide to Inventors.
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On March 6, 1646, Joseph Jenkes received the first mechanical patent in North America. Issued by the General Court of Massachusetts, it protected his mill for manufacturing scythes. That was the prelude to the U.S. Patent System which has helped give birth to major industries that have transformed the way we live.

On April 10, 1790, President George Washington signed the bill which laid the foundations of the modern American patent system. Since that time, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has recorded and protected the electric lamp of Thomas Edison, the telephone of Alexander Graham Bell, the flying machine of the Wright Brothers, and the inventions of hundreds of thousands of other inventors.

The patent system has protected inventors by giving them an opportunity to profit from their labors, and it has benefited society by systematically recording new inventions and releasing them to the public after the inventors' limited rights have expired.

United States Patent and Trademark Office

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is one of the most unusual branches of the U.S. Government. Its examining staff of about 2,000 is trained in all branches of science and examines thoroughly every application to determine whether a patent may be granted--a task, in these days, involving the most exhaustive research. Not only must the examiners search United States and foreign patents to learn if a similar patent has been issued, but they must study scientific books and publications to discover whether the idea has ever been described. Previous publications, invention, or use prevents a patent being issued.

In addition to issuing patents, the Patent and Trademark Office has, since 1870, been in charge of registering trademarks, the business community's most valuable asset. More than 1,400,000 trademarks have been issued.

In its earlier days, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had on various occasions the responsibility for administering copyright matters, a task that since 1870 has been administered by the Library of Congress; collecting and publishing agricultural information; and even collecting meteorological data. For some years, it was the custodian not only of the famous old Patent Office models--the delight of every visitor to Washington for many years--but of the Declaration of Independence, and other historical documents and relics.

By publishing and distributing copies of every U.S. patent, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has made available to the public the world's greatest scientific and mechanical library.