What Patent Models Can Tell Us About American History

In 2022, Hagley Museum and Library, a Smithsonian Affiliate, opened Nation of Inventors—a unique exhibition that brings to life diverse stories of American innovators using 19th century patent models. Discover how Hagley, a museum traditionally dedicated to telling the story of Delaware’s industrial history, became the steward of the largest private collection of patent models—and how they use these objects to inspire people to be innovative in their own lives.   

In May, a group of Hagley staff headed to Washington, D.C. with a mission: exchanging experiences caring for and interpreting patent models.  The Smithsonian’s collection of 19th century patent models is extensive.  In fact, numbering 10,000+ patent models, the Smithsonian’s is the only patent model collection larger than Hagley’s. With such a massive collection it makes sense that the Smithsonian patent model collection is divided among different museums and departments depending on the industry the patent model represents. For example, Smithsonian curators working with the Textile Collection are responsible for more than one thousand textile and sewing machine patent models. The Division of Home and Community Life at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, by comparison, uses patent models to interpret the many ways inventors improved upon the school desk in the 19th century. Though Hagley’s team are intimately familiar with patent models, the behind-the-scenes collections tours organized through the Smithsonian Affiliations office was a thrilling experience for which Hagley staff remain deeply grateful.

The first stop on Hagley’s visit to the Smithsonian was the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  These museums are housed in the building that was once the site of the United States Patent Office, built with funds appropriated by Congress in 1836. Before portraits, landscapes, and mixed medias abounded the space, the Greek Revival building was bustling with U.S. Patent Office employees, inventors, and their enigmatic patent models.

For 80 years, from 1790 to 1870, the United States Patent Office required patent-seekers to submit small-scale models of their inventions along with detailed specifications and drawings as part of the patent application process. If a patent was granted, the patent model would be affixed with a three-inch by three-inch paper tag, tied on securely with an actual piece of government red tape.  

The patent tags contained the patent number assigned to the invention, the date the patent was granted,  and the names of the invention and inventor(s). Inventors’ models were put on display at the Patent Office, and the public was encouraged to spend time perusing the newest inventions of the day.  Much like Hagley’s Nation of Inventors, these models were displayed in the 19th century Patent Office, in part, to inspire would-be inventors to develop, patent, and manufacture their own improvements and innovations.

In 1874, Keim’s Illustrated Guide to the Museum of Models was published by De Benneville Randolph Keim. Open every day except Sundays and holidays, Keim describes the Museum of Models as “without a rival in the world, and speaks more for the intellectual energy and originality of our citizens, than volumes of written history.” In fact, the United States was the only country to ever require patent models from its patent seekers. Keim felt it necessary to let his readers know of the truly astonishing number of models on display: 150,000(!), citing an increase of about 250 models a week. When adding rejected and unclaimed models onsite, the Patent Office housed, by the 1870s, nearly 200,000 patent models in all.

One can imagine the claustrophobia felt by patent examiners in office spaces filled with countless applications and endless correspondence in addition to the hundreds of thousands of patent models occupying all available shelf space.  (Modern museum professionals can certainly relate.)  But, as the 19th century progressed, so too did the number of inventors vying for patents. Patent applications, and their associated patent models, required the care and attention of a large staff. Room for Patent Office workers and incoming patent models was quickly running out.

Sadly, a devastating fire broke out on the first floor of the west wing of the Patent Office on September 24, 1877, destroying tens of thousands of patent models.  Luckily, 27,000 were saved from the flames. Considered to be such important examples of American ingenuity, Congress appropriated $45,000 (millions of dollars in today’s money) for the reconstruction of destroyed models.

By century’s end, the patent model requirement had become so impractical that patent model requirement was dropped—deeming that models were only required if specifically requested by the Commissioner of Patents. Then, in 1893, the decision was made to permanently move the patent models to offsite storage to make room for more patent clerks and examiners.

There the patent models sat until, in 1908, Congress decided to dispose of them altogether. Rather than sell the models wholesale, the Smithsonian was given the opportunity to take first pick for their collection. Thousands of models were added to the Smithsonian’s collections, while others were either returned to inventors’ families or sold. Over the course of the 20th century, most models wound up in the hands of private collectors.

In 1961, Hagley Museum and Library acquired about 800 patent models from private collector E. Tunnicliff Fox. At first, Hagley’s main interest in patent models stemmed from the desire to acquire patent models for inventions by members of the du Pont family. The 19th century black powder (explosives and gunpowder) factory on the Brandywine River, established by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont in 1802, is the core of Hagley Museum’s 235-acre site. The first du Pont patent—and Improvement in Graining Mills—was granted in 1803.  The search for du Pont patent models was—and remains—part of an effort to connect the specific innovation stories of the historic black powder factory with broader narratives of American innovation in the 19th century. Unfortunately, du Pont patent models have yet to be found, and Hagley is still on the lookout. Nevertheless, Hagley was bitten by the patent model bug and was enthralled by these uniquely American objects.

In 2015, Hagley acquired a collection of patent models from another private collector—Alan Rothschild. Together with his wife Ann, Alan dreamed of creating a patent model museum of his own, putting on permanent public display once again those unique examples of American ingenuity. Alan and Ann’s collection of 4,000 patent models found a new home at Hagley Museum and Library where the total number of patent models now exceeds 5,000.  The Rothschild Collection formed the nucleus for the collections on view in Nation of Inventors.

Hagley’s mission is to “inspire people to be innovative in their own lives through investigation and exploration of our historical collections, original DuPont powder yards, and online resources.” Through its patent model collection, Hagley empowers museum visitors of all ages to recognize the innovative spirit within each of us. A key fact in Hagley’s approach to interpretation of patent models is that most 19th-century inventors were everyday people from all walks of life. Despite the persistent image of the “Great Inventor”—men like Edison and Westinghouse with hundreds of patents to their names—roughly 80% of patentees in 19th century America had only one or two patents.  Women, immigrants, people of color, and people with disabilities all made up the landscape of America’s industrial and creative success—and are all reflected in the patent model collections at Hagley and at the Smithsonian.

As Chris Cascio, Hagley’s Alan W. Rothschild Assistant Curator of Patent Models puts it, “What I find most fascinating about the patent model collection is its potential to tell so many stories about the inventors, their inventions, and the progress of American industrialization and consumer culture. Thanks to online resources, with only the basic information on the patent specification such as their name and where they are living, I can learn so much about lives, their work, and their families. These are real people like you and me who came up with new and unique solutions to everyday problems. Though few of these inventions ever made it beyond the inventor’s imagination, they embody the American experience during the nineteenth century when everyone from professionally trained engineers to self-taught tinkerers laboring in their barns or workshops sought ways to make lives better and safer for everyone.”

Hagley’s patent models have travelled far beyond the museum’s home base on the Brandywine River. In 2018, in partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing, Hagley made history with a co-curated exhibition, Spirit of Invention, in which 60 U.S. patent models were displayed alongside Chinese inventions. In 2021 and 2022, 17 Hagley patent models were on view in Patent Models: A Celebration of American innovation in the new Design and Innovation Building at UC San Diego.  And, in 2022, a group of 49 models were on display at the Philadelphia International Airport as part of their curated Exhibitions Program.

More recently, a dozen of Hagley’s patent models are on loan to the Tellus Science Museum, also a Smithsonian Affiliate, in Cartersville, Georgia, for their exhibition Patents: The Engine of Invention, on view now through July 27, 2025. Rebecca Melsheimer, Curatorial Assistant at Tellus Science Museum, describes the impact an exhibition containing patent models can have,

“It’s not something you really think about, but patents have played a big role in the advancement of science and engineering in the US. I didn’t know a lot about patents before I started working on our exhibit, but there’s a really fascinating history to them. … I was so excited to find this physical representation of people’s ideas and hard work. Hagley’s collection contains inventions from all kinds of people – women, immigrants, educated people and those with no formal education – so it’s a great record of the inventors as well.”

The exhibition and citywide program series No Prior Art: Illustrations of Invention opened at the Los Angeles Public Library on September 14, 2024. Part of the Getty Foundation’s regionwide PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative, the exhibition will showcase nearly two dozen of Hagley’s patent models. Todd Lerew, Director of Special Projects for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, says, “This project explores the impossibly broad and endlessly fascinating subject of invention as a common thread between the fields of art and science, and celebrates the Library's role as a resource for inventors and makers of all kinds. It will highlight a range of intriguing and important stories of invention from Los Angeles and beyond, from newly commissioned contemporary art to fascinating historic artifacts. We are more than thrilled to partner with Hagley Museum and Library to feature nearly two dozen patent models, each one a stunning example of applied artistry and a rare tactile glimpse into the concerns of Americans in the mid to late 19th century. This display focuses on early inventions from California, as well as women inventors – this from a time when intellectual property was the only form of property that women or people of color could legally own. Regardless of the field of invention, these incredible patent models continue to resonate by symbolizing the drive to solve problems creatively and can inspire us to consider how we might realize critical improvements we can envision in the world today."

From inside the minds of diverse innovators and the shelves of the Patent Office’s treasured displays to being resurrected from storage, U.S. patent models have already lived a long and storied life. And yet, their story is far from being over. Hagley Museum and Library is committed to sharing these extraordinary objects with the world so that everyone can be inspired to be innovative in their own lives.

From coast to coast, look for these miniature models of innovation near you! 

If you’re interested in learning more about Hagley’s patent models, visit hagley.org/patent models or email [email protected].