First U.S. Patent - Samuel Hopkins' Apparatus for Making Pot Ash and Pearl Ash
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Design Entrepreneurship and Innovation General Engineering, Engineering Science |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - General |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | AbsoluteAstronomy.com |
| Description: | Samuel Hopkins ( December 9, 1743 – 1818 ) was an American United States The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., and America, is a country in North America.... inventor Inventor An inventor is a person who creates new inventions, typically technical devices such as mechanical, electrical or software devices or methods.... from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, colloquially referred to as Philly, and known as The City of Brotherly Love is the fifth most populous city in the United States and the largest in population and area in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.... . On July 31, 1790 he was granted the first U.S. patent Patent A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee for a Term of patent in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter which is novelty , inventiv... , under the new U.S. patent statute just signed into law by President Washington on April 10, 1790. Hopkins had petitioned for a patent on an improvement "in the making of Pot ash Potash Potash is an impure form of potassium carbonate mixed with other potassium salts. Potash has been used since Ancient history in the manufacture of glass and soap and as a fertilizer.... and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." The statute did not create a Patent Office United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification.... . Instead a committee of the Secretary of State Secretary of State In several countries, Secretary of State is a senior government position. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the government.... , Secretary of War United States Secretary of War The Secretary of War was a member of the President of the United States United States Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration.... and the Attorney General Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General or Attorney-General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for publ... were authorized to make a decision on the merit of a properly documented petition. The 1790 U.S. Census listed Hopkins' occupation as "Pott Ash Maker". The city directories of the period listed him as a "pot-ash maker" and a "pot-ash manufacturer". Around 1800, for financial reasons, he and his wife moved to Rahway, New Jersey Rahway, New Jersey Rahway is a city in southern Union County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area, being fifteen miles southwest of Manhattan, New York and five miles west of Staten Island, New York.... , to live with their daughter Sarah and son-in-law, William Shotwell. They returned to Philadelphia, before Hopkins' death in 1818." |
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| Use of Resource: | Digital copy of signatures from the original patent is also available on this site. |
| Difficulty: | Very Easy |
| Interactivity Level: | Very Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 1998 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Samuel_Hopkins_(inventor) |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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