The search for lost X-patents

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The search for lost X-patents

Guest blog by Adam Bisno, USPTO Historian 

Blodgett’s Hotel, which never did function as a hotel, became the headquarters of the U.S. Patent Office and the General Post Office in 1810. (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress)

In December 1836, a catastrophic fire at the United States Patent Office destroyed records of American innovation kept since the earliest days of the Republic. We call patents from this era (1790-1836) “X-patents” not because they’re shrouded in mystery (although they are) but because they predate the numbering system now in use.  

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