manufacturing, such as making glass and soap, dying cloth, and producing both saltpeter and gunpowder. Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont is generally misunderstood to be the recipient of this first patent, but the actual recipient was a different Samuel Hopkins from a town north of Baltimore, Maryland. Hopkins left behind a series of manuscripts describing the utility of his discovery of Potash, which is derived from a crude form of potassium carbonate and may be deemed as one of America's first chemicals to become widely used in industrial fields. The third patent was granted to a man named Oliver Evans on December 18, 1790. This patent involved about five individual inventions all related to the manufacture of flour. The fourth patent was granted on January 29, 1791, to Francis Bailey for inventing punches for types; it is the first patent whose existing copy remains in the Patent Office archives. The document is signed by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Randolph. It contains only the grant and does not detail any specific aspects of the invention and its usage. Reasons for amending the act The 1790 Patent Act was amended for several reasons. The examination process required an unreasonable amount of time and soon became criticized by those in charge of administering it, the most vocal member being Thomas Jefferson. Inventors also believed that "patents were too difficult to obtain" under the act. Congress removed the examination process three years after the 1790 Patent Act was passed, and inventions no longer needed to be deemed as "sufficiently useful and important" to be granted a patent. The new act transformed the process of granting patents from initially requiring strict examination by high government officials to requiring no examination at all. See also United States patent law Patent Act of 1836 1877 U.S. Patent Office fire References Further reading External links Patent Act of 1790, Ch. 7, 1 Stat. 109-112 (April 10, 1790) The First United States Patent Statute United States federal patent legislation Acts of the 1st United States Congress History of patent law