The US Patent and Trademark Office has been in existence since 1790, when it granted the first patent to one Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia for "making pot and pearl ashes", which was a cleaning formula used in soapmaking. Over the past 215 years, millions of patents have been issued, and this creative site provides the original images from some of the original patent applications. Intended as a showplace for interesting examples of industrial design, the site brings together patents from the 1920s to the 1950s. The patents can be browsed by type as well, including architectural renderings, illustrations of proposed cars, toys, and numerous others. It is quite interesting to wander through this site and imagine what Jerome Watt might have been thinking in 1932 when he patented a building design that looks suspiciously like some type of irate porcine Pilgrim. Finally, visitors may also leave comments on each patent, if they are so inclined.
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