First Patent Granted in the United States
The first patent granted in the United States of America was 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. Here's the story of the first patent, as told by Henry M. Paynter of the University of Texas.
The patent grant you see reproduced above was the first one issued by the United States, to Samuel Hopkins* of Pittsford, Vermont in 1790. Two other patents were granted that year: one for a special process of making candles and one for improved flour milling machinery. The Hopkins patent was for an "Improvement, not known before such Discovery, in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new apparatus and Process", and was granted for a term of fourteen years. The name potash refers to several potassium salts, mild alkalis, which were derived from the ashes of timber or other plants. It was also known in a caustic form when mixed with lime. In reacting with fats or oils, potash produced a soft soap. It was an essential ingredient in the manufacture of glass, alum (salts of aluminum--used chiefly in medicine), and saltpeter (an important ingredient in gun powder). Potash also played an important role in bleaching, mining, metallurgy, and other industrial interests. Its many applications served as an indication of the emerging chemical industry in the nineteenth century. In the summer of 1956, the Vermont Historic Sites Commission erected a marker at the former residence of Samuel Hopkins.* The original patent granted to him still exists in the collections of the Chicago Historical Society.
Source: inventors.about.com
*Note: It now appears that Samuel Hopkins was not the same Samuel Hopkins who was granted the first patent.
According to the USPTO, the first patent for the new millennium was issued on January 4, 2000, to Leonard Siprut from San Diego for a multiple component headgear system. Patent No. 6,009,555 is a sun visor/eye shield for surfers, kayakers, bikers, and athletes in other extreme sports. In contrast, the first patent issued in 1900 was to Louis Allard, of Utah, for an early version of the washing machine.
Props to the first searcher who finds the Allard patent from early 1900 and posts a link to it in the comments below!
