1836 Patent Office fire (nonfiction)

Blodget's Hotel, site of the 1835 Patent Office fire.

The December 15, 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire was the first of several disastrous fires the U.S. Patent Office has had in its history. An initial investigation considered the possibility of arson due to suspected corruption in the Post Office, which shared the same building, but it was later ruled out. The cause was ultimately determined to be accidental. This event is considered to be a turning point in the history of the Patent Office.

The fire broke out at 3 a.m. on December 15. At that time the Patent Office was located in Blodget's Hotel, as was the fire department and the post office. Patent Office employees stored firewood in the basement of the hotel, near where postal employees disposed of the hot ashes from their fires. Sometime after midnight that morning the hot ashes ignited the firewood.

Local fire suppression efforts were incapable of preventing the damage due to lack of fire personnel and old equipment.

All 10,000 patents and several thousand related patent models were destroyed. Many patent documents and models from the preceding three decades were irretrievably lost.

The lost items included 168 folio volumes of records, 26 large portfolios of some nine thousand drawings, related descriptive patent documents, and miscellaneous paperwork. The 7,000 lost models included those of various textile manufacturing processes and several models of steam-powered machinery for propelling boats (including Robert Fulton's original bound folio of full-color patent drawings, done in his own hand). The Patent Office's own model-cases, press and seals, desks, book-cases and office furniture were also destroyed.

The entirety of the library was lost, excepting only "one book, volume VI of the Repertory of Arts and Manufactures (now in the Scientific Library of the Office), which an employee of the office happened to have taken to his home," against the office's rules. John Ruggles, chairman of the Senate investigating committee, wrote that the lost materials "not only embraced the whole history of American invention for half a century, but were the monuments of property of vast amount, (including) 'the largest and most interesting collection of models in the world.'"

Congress investigated the fire immediately, suspecting arson. At the time of the fire the Post Office Department was under investigation for awarding dishonest mail contracts. It was first thought that perhaps the fire was set to destroy evidence. However, it turned out that the Post Office Department had saved all their documents. Investigators concluded that someone had stored hot ashes in a box in the basement. The live embers then ignited the firewood; no one was ever identified as having caused the fire. The Patent Office was moved to the old City Hall, at the time the District Courthouse.

All patents from prior to the fire are listed today as X-Patents by the office. There are estimated to be 9,957, of which only 2,845 have been restored. Congress solicited for the restoration of the lost patents and appropriated monies for this purpose. It is difficult for modern researchers to find those patents.

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Robert Fulton (nonfiction)

External links:

• 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire @ Wikipedia