What was the first patented invention?
History of patent law
The first Patent Act of the U.S. Congress was passed on April 10, 1790, titled "An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts."[19] The first patent was granted on July 31, 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for a method of producing potash (potassium carbonate).
George Washington (inventor)
George Washington held over two dozen patents, in the fields of hydrocarbon lamps, cameras, and food processing. He was not the first to invent an instant coffee process, David Strang in New Zealand had the first patent in 1890 (Number 3518) for instant or soluble coffee and was sold under the name Strangs Coffee, another was chemist Satori Kato's work was a precursor, among others, but Washington's invention was the first effort that led to large scale commercial manufacture. There is some suggestion that he was inspired by seeing dried powder on the edge of a silver coffee pot while in Guatemala. Federico Lehnhoff Wyld, a German-Guatemalan doctor, along with Eduardo T. Cabarrus, also developed an instant coffee process about this time, which he later marketed in Europe; as Wyld was Washington's personal physician, there is some suggestion that their discoveries were not independent.