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During the Seventeenth Century it was customary for the Colonies to grant its citizens protection for discoveries and inventions. The first patent of which there is any record was issued by the colony of Massachusetts Bay, to Samuel Winslow, on April 2, I64I, for the manufacture of salt. It was not until after the adoption of the Constitution that efforts were made to establish a general patent law. President Washington urged the enactment of such a law in his first Annual Address to Congress on January 8, 179o, when he said: "I cannot forbear intimating to you the expediency of giving effectual encouragement, as well to the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad as to the exertion of skill and genius at home."
The bill which had been introduced in the previous year was enacted in amended form on April IO, 179o. At the time of this enactment Thomas Jefferson was Secretary of State and by virtue of his office became Keeper of Patents. It may be interesting to note that Mr. Jefferson was an inventor of repute. He is credited with having devised a swivel chair, a collapsible camp stool and a pedometer. He invented a machine for treating hemp and made an improvement in plows for which he received recognition abroad.
More than thirty years passed before The Franklin Institute was founded and it was two years more before THE FRANKLIN JOURNAL made its appearance under the editorial management of Dr. Thomas P. Jones. Dr. Jones, an Englishman by birth, American from choice, had a penchant for anything that related to inventions or patents and he was constantly alert for any material which might in any way refer to this subject. He carried on a spirited correspondence with Dr. William Thornton, first Superintendent of the Patent Office, who was appointed in I802.
In the second issue of THE FRANKLIN JOURNAL, for February 1826, Dr. Jones devotes eight pages to a review of English patents which had only recently been granted. He also devotes some space to the activities of the French Patent Office.
The first mention of patents granted in the United States appears in the issue for May I826. From this time on each issue contains data relating to recent patents, extracts from the claims, and criticisms by the editor. This data was supplied from time to time through the JOURNAL while Dr. Jones was editor and provides more information than is available in the early Patent Office records.
Claims of patents granted prior to the year I843 were not published by the patent office but may be found in many instances in TKE JOURNAL of the Institute.
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