Inventions

Smithsonian magazine for October 2022 had an article about United States Patents.

Prior to December 1836, patents for every invention registered with the U. S. Patent Office since 1790 were held in Blodget's Hotel where it shared space with the Post Office.  Around 10,000 patents were on file.

However, on December 15th, a massive fire consumed almost all of the records.  After the fire, the newly formed U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) tried to recover the information on the burned records.  They were only able to reconstruct around 2,800 records.

Recently, USPTO has revved up its search for the missing records.  They have been somewhat successful and can be followed by visiting the museum at Annapolis,  Maryland, where two original steamboat applications they found are available for inspection.

USPTO suspects that some folks might have copies of patent applications framed on their living room walls, or hidden in family-matter trunks.  Maybe you have some.

Early in the twentieth Century, my grandfather Arthur Vaughan and his brother Charles Vaughan submitted an invention application for a patent.  It was for a shoe brush "with a built-in dauber."

Back then, men opted to brush and shine their boots and shoes on a regular basis.  They would scrub the leather with a brush after a rag had been dipped in a polish solution.  This meant that a man would have to drop the brush while daubing.  The Vaughan Brothers thought this was a waste of energy, so they just stuck a "dauber" on the end of a brush.  No stopping everything to find that daubing rag.

I doubt that the product made any money, but I used their prototype on my shoes when Miss Savage required us boys to wear white shirts and ties and wear shiny shoes in fourth grade.

                          

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