and the process for reviewing applications advanced slowly as each application required thorough and careful inspection. Obtaining a patent The act was intended to grant patents only to the "useful Arts," which was usually the work of skilled workers and artisans, especially in the fields of engineering and manufacturing. Obtaining a patent required first completing an examination, but this examination requirement was later dropped with the passing of the Patent Act of 1793. The inventor was required to submit "a specification...containing a description...not only distinguish[ing] the invention...but also to enable" a person knowledgeable of the art to use the invention for its intended purpose. This specification was made in writing and included a drawing and model if possible. Applicants were not required to give an oath. Infringement Cases of infringement were dealt with by a jury, which assessed the damages made and appropriate punishment. The person who infringed, if found guilty, was made to hand over all of the infringing devices to the owner of the patent. Patents could be repealed by a district court within one year after it was granted if found to be infringing. However, if one was to bring her or his case to trial and lose, she or he would have to pay all costs. Several infringement suits involving the patents granted under this act occurred between 1790 and 1793, which are detailed by an act passed on June 7, 1974. In the event that a patent was found to be unjustly repealed, all suits, actions, processes and proceedings under the act of 1790 that had been set aside, suspended or abated by original reason for why it should be repealed could be given back as if the act had not been repealed. Patents passed under the act Fifty-seven patents were granted during the three years the 1790 Patent Act existed. Three of these patents were granted in 1790, thirty-three in 1791, eleven in 1792, and ten in 1793 before February, which is when the following patent act was adopted. There is little available information regarding the subject matter of these patents, because all of these records along with other documents of the Patent Office were destroyed in the Patent Office Fire of 1836. The first patent was granted on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins for his invention of "Making Pot and Pearl Ashes." Potash was used as an ingredient in several fields of