The Museum of Science & History on the Southbank is showing “The Curious World of Patent Models” in the museum’s third-floor Loft Gallery.
The exhibit comprises 58 working scale models submitted to the U.S. Patent Office between 1852 and 1902. The objects are the authentic models, including the information tags penned by the inventors.
The U.S. Patent Office was created when Congress enacted the Patent Act of 1790. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox and U.S. Attorney General Edmund Randolph were appointed to the Patent Commission. Until 1870, a working model no more than 12 square inches in dimension was required to be submitted with every patent application.
The traveling exhibit is part of the Rothschild Patent Model Collection. Located in Cazenovia, N.Y., the exhibit includes 4,000 models and is the largest privately owned viewable collection of patent models in the world.
The objects range from the mundane to the exotic, including a pipe wrench design that hasn’t changed much since 1872 and a model of a method to improve the process of manufacturing vegetable fiber to imitate hair.
“The Curious World of Patent Models” is scheduled to be exhibited through Sept. 28. For more information about programs offered at the museum, visit themosh.org.
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