The Curious World of Patent Models May 9, 2010

America's incredible success is primarily due to the dreams and inventions of its many citizens. Few people realize however, that from the time the U.S. Patent Office was formed by Thomas Jefferson in 1790 and throughout the industrial revolution, inventors were required to submit a working, scale model of their invention when applying for a patent. On view at LASM will be 50 original models selected from the holdings of The Rothschild Collection, the world's largest gathering of viewable U.S. Patent Models. These wonderful and fascinating original antiques are stunning, intricately crafted miniatures. Only one model exists for each invention, complete with its hand-written original tag. Dating from 1860 to 1902, the models represent many inventions common today.