The First U.S. Patent
What do soap, glass, and the first United States patent have in common? The answer is potash, a material that manufacturers used in making both soap and glass.
On July 31, 1790, inventor Samuel Hopkins received the first patent issued by the United States government. His invention was an improvement to a process for making potash and pearl ash, a refined form of potash. Both were useful materials in the eighteenth century, when people made many products by hand or in small workshops.
Potash could be obtained from the ashes of burned plants, especially wood. It contained substances that were useful in manufacturing. Hopkins’s patent concerned a better way to make potash and pearl ash; it did not mean that he had invented potash itself.
A patent is a government grant that gives an inventor certain rights over an invention for a limited time. In return, the inventor describes the invention so that others can learn how it works. A patent does not automatically mean an invention is useful or safe in every situation, and its rights do not last forever.
- manufacturers:
- People or businesses that make products.
- process:
- A series of actions used to make or do something.
- substances:
- Kinds of material that things are made of.
- rights:
- Things a person is legally allowed to have or do.
- automatically:
- Without needing anything else to happen.
- federal:
- Having to do with a country’s national government.
- document:
- A written record that gives information or evidence.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the main idea of the passage, and which two details support it?
- 2How were soap and glass connected to the first U.S. patent?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“The First U.S. Patent” is a explanatory article reading passage about Patents, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 2 minutes to read (274 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.