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Multiple patenteeIn 1791, Samuel Mulliken of Philadelphia, Penn. became the first person to receive more than one U.S. patent. The Secretary of State issued him the first patent on a threshing machine for corn and grain, being the seventh in the records of the office. On the same day he was granted three more letters patent: for breaking and swingling hemp; for cutting and polishing marble; and to raise the nap on cloths. Although his threshing machine was too complicated to work efficiently, no other inventors made significant improvements until 1820. The Patent Office records concerning these patents were destroyed in the 1836 fire. Most were not reconstructed, and the full patents are not now available in the Patent Office records.« |
