In celebration of the New York Academy of Medicine’s #ColorOurCollections campaign this week, many museums, libraries, and archives hopped on the adult coloring bandwagon and created coloring books to share on Twitter. We’ve been participating by posting various images throughout the week for people to color, from Rosie the Riveter to the Faulkner murals. Now … Continue reading #ColorOurCollections
Stay cool out there this summer! Apparatus for Treating Air – Willis H. Carrier, 09/1904 – 01/02/1906. National Archives Identifier 7268013
Today marks the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. To commemorate this anniversary, this month’s patent is Andrew Higgins’s landing boat. It is dated February 15, 1944, less than four months before D-Day. LCVPs--or Higgins boats, as they are now commonly known --transported troops from the 1st Infantry onto Omaha Beach. They could each carry … Continue reading Patent of the Month: Higgins boats
During World War II, the South Side of Chicago was home to one of the largest war plants in the country, used by Dodge-Chrysler to build bomber plane engines. After the war, Preston Tucker leased two of the buildings to build his “Torpedo” car. This site is now the home of the National Archives at … Continue reading Patent of the Month: Tucker “Torpedo” Patent Drawing, 06/14/1949
When I was a kid growing up in Beverly, MA, every morning I would walk by the site of the cotton mill visited by George Washington. That mill, the Beverly Cotton Manufactory, even predated Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which was patented 220 years ago today! Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin Patent Drawing, 03/14/1794 From Records of the … Continue reading Patent of the Month: Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
Stills similar to the one represented in this drawing were used to make distilled liquors and were commonly used in America during the early 19th-century. And their "descendants" are still being found in the mountains of rural America! A preview of an exhibit planned for 2015 here at the National Archives: “Spirited Republic.” Eli Barnum … Continue reading Patent of the Month: Still Design, 1808
Happy Holidays! Illuminating-Devices for Christmas Trees, Patent 194421, August 21, 1877. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. National Archives and Records Administration (Page 1) Illuminating-Devices for Christmas Trees, Patent 194421, August 21, 1877. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. National Archives and Records Administration (Page 2) Illuminating-Devices for Christmas Trees, Patent 194421, August 21, 1877. … Continue reading Patent of the Month: Illuminating-Devices for Christmas Trees
The National Archives contains many archival gems. To share some of my favorites, I am starting a new feature for the blog, Patent of the Month. Eye Protector for Chickens Eye Protector for Chickens, Patent 730918, June 16, 1903. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. National Archives and Records Administration (Page 2) Eye Protector … Continue reading Patent of the Month
