A patent model was a scratch-built miniature no larger than 12" by 12" that showed how an invention works. It was one of the most interesting early features of the United States patent system.
Since most early inventors were ordinary people without technological or legal training, it was difficult for them to submit formal patent applications which require the novel features of an invention to be described using words and a number of diagrams. Actually, the patent system then was very crude by today's standards. It was a good idea for these amateur inventors to submit a model with a brief explanation or drawing of it.
Patent models were required from 1790 to 1880. The Congress of the U.S. abolished the legal requirement for them in 1870. However, the U.S. Patent Office kept this requirement until 1880. Some inventors still willingly submited models at the turn of the 20th century.
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