Inventing Ideas by B. Zorina Khan;

Author:B. Zorina Khan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Premium
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Patents, Prizes, and Technological Change

The early industrial period in the United States amounted to an age of patented ideas, where inventors who devised patentable inventions were quick to secure property rights in their discoveries, and many exchanged patent rights in extensive markets in invention. At the same time, more decentralized institutions were founded to offer encouragement to inventors and to promote all the different stages of science and technology, from knowledge creation to the diffusion and commercialization of inventive ideas. As the manufacturing sector grew in economic importance and new discoveries captured (indeed, often captivated) popular interest, specialized industrial exhibitions developed to display mechanical inventions and the output from factories.

The American Institute of New York was one of the most significant “encouragement” institutions of the day. The institute was founded in 1828, with the objective of “encouraging and promoting domestic industry in this State, and the United States, in Agriculture, Commerce, Manufacturing and the Arts, and any improvements made therein, by bestowing rewards and other benefits on those who shall make such improvements, or excel in any of the said branches.”13 The institute was acknowledged to be successful in promoting both local and national economic development, and the New York state legislature voted in 1841 to award an annual sum to subsidize the efforts of the organization. Artisans, engineers, scientists, manufacturers, and honorary members such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster joined with others motivated by the common goal of boosting American innovation and output. The organization also represented the interests of inventors and manufacturing firms in the political arena, lobbying for tariff protection, internal improvements like the Erie Canal, and patent reforms.

A major stated objective of all participants was to enhance economic development through the diffusion of technical knowledge and other “useful information”:

The American Institute, located as it is in the metropolis of the Union, and embracing the great objects contained in its charter, we believe affords greater facilities for observation, enquiry, comparison, and the diffusion of important facts, pertaining to the industrial pursuits of men, than any similar association within our knowledge. It was the pioneer in the great movement of association for disseminating useful information, and practically illustrating the productions of agriculture, manufactures, and the handicraft of the mechanic.14

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