X-Patent

On July 31, 1790, inventor Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont became the first person to be issued a patent in the United States.

The Patent Office was the only major government building to survive the British invasion of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812.

He persuaded British officers that they would be destroying the shared intellectual record of mankind if the patents were burned.

The United States Congress immediately passed a law to aid re-issuing of the missing patents after the fire.

[4] Of the 14 found, 10 were granted to Samuel Morey including the first known patent for an internal combustion engine.