Alan Rothschild is passionate about the miniature scale models that were once a requirement for any inventor seeking a patent. There are more patent models on display at the Rothschild Model Museum (www.patentmodel.org), than at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. His love for these historically significant relics is so strong that he transformed the second floor of the lakefront home that he shares with his wife, Ann, in the quaint, Upstate New York village of Cazenovia into a museum. “Exploring the museum with Alan is comparable to earning an honorary degree in 19th century American innovation,” said Jon Brodsky, a childhood friend of Rothschild’s, and now the Marshall & Sterling agent who insures the collection. “Rothschild can pick up any of the pieces in his museum and give a synopsis of its history.”

Several of the models in the collection predate the patent numbering system that debuted in 1836. From 1790 to 1880, to gain a patent, people were required to submit a working model of their invention to the U.S. Patent office. Models were usually limited to no larger than 12 square inches and were accompanied with paperwork and diagrams explaining the invention’s purpose, construction and operation. More than 200,000 models were submitted during this time. Fires at the patent office in 1863 and 1877 destroyed tens of thousands of them, and eventually the agency was strapped for space and Congress ordered the remaining patent models to be sold in 1925.

The Smithsonian acquired some of the models. Others were returned to the inventors’ families or destroyed. The remaining lot was sold to Sir Henry Wellcome, founder of the Glaxo Wellcome pharmaceutical company (which is now called GlaxoSmithKline), who intended to establish a patent model museum but was forced to abandon those plans after the 1929 stock market crash. In subsequent years, private collectors bought the models. Cliff Petersen was one of them; he bought 35,000 models. In the early 1990’s Rothschild bought Petersen’s personal collection which by that time numbered 4,000 models. Over time Rothschild has added other collections, including all 82 models from a patent museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Many of the models could easily be mistaken for collectible miniatures. Most were made by model-making shops for which patent work became a cottage industry. Some models can be perceived not only as artifacts from the history of technology, but also as timely-wrought examples of folk art.

“You can put almost all inventions into two categories – simple inventions by a lay person, and more technical inventions that have to do with industry,” Rothschild said. “All of these models are one-of-a-kind. Invention is what made this country what it is today. Since all of these models revolve around the Industrial Revolution, there’s tremendous history to all of them”.

Some made their sole mark on history as intriguing pieces of art with an unknown fate, such as T.F. Engelbrecht’s 1863 model of an all-brass artificial leg that was marketed to maimed Civil War veterans, and Thaddeus H. Spears’s intricate wooden contraption called “A Machine For Making Toy Torpedoes.”

T.F. Engelbrecht’s 1863 model of an all-brass artificial leg that was marketed to maimed Civil War veterans
Photo courtesy Rothschild Patent Model Collection

Some models seem impractical, like the array of marine safety devices introduced long before the Titanic sank. Josiah Foster of Sandwich, Mass. received a patent for an elegant velvet sofa that transformed into an emergency lifeboat with oars. One of Rothschild’s favorites is the life-preserving stateroom for navigable vessels created in 1858, by Henry Hallock of Brookhaven, N.Y. Reminiscent of a prop from “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.” It was designed to sit on the deck and float if the ship sank.

Left: 1869 J.B. Woolsley Washing Machine. Bloomfield, Iowa
Right: Josiah Foster’s velvet sofa for a cruise ship transformed into an emergency lifeboat with oars (when folded in half the velvet interior of the boat becomes a sofa)
Photos courtesy Rothschild Patent Model Collection

Other models in the collection resulted in inventions that revolutionized their respective industry, like a slab of hardened vulcanized rubber made by, Nelson Goodyear in 1851, and a mass of gears and numbered buttons that composed the ticket printing and recording machine of 1878; a forerunner to the cash register.

Patent #226,827 was issued to Moses Bensinger and Benjamin F. Goodrich in 1880. Bensinger was president of the Brunswick Co., regarded as the leader in the American billiard industry and Goodrich was founder of the B.F. Goodrich Co., one of the world’s most prominent rubber product manufacturers. Their patent for a vulcanized rubber cushion for billiard tables was adopted as an industry standard that is still in use today.

Just as the Goodrich is associated with rubber, the Steinway family is linked with piano building. Patent #204,111 was issued to C.F. Theodore Steinway of New York City in 1878 for “Improvement in Capodastro Frames for Piano-Fortes.” Simply put, the innovation nearly doubled the string tension, which helped with the tuning. The capodastro bar is still part of every Steinway grand piano and has been copied by practically every other piano maker since the patent expired.

There are models at the museum which illustrate the evolution of how inventors worked to simplify household chores. During the 1800’s, washing clothes was a time consuming and backbreaking task. Hundreds of patents were issued for washing machines during the 19th century, but most were never produced. The earliest of these imitated the motion of the human hand on a washboard, rubbing clothes between two surfaces, each ribbed like a washboard. Of the several washing machines in Rothschild’s collection, the one devised in 1869 by J.B. Woolsley of Bloomfield, Iowa, is the most noteworthy, Rothschild says.

“It was designed to agitate the clothes. It was also equipped with a firebox under the tub to heat the water, and with a flue (or pipe) which was hooked to the chimney in the house to serve as a vent,” Rothschild explained. “It may have been the first washing machine that could heat the water inside the tub. “Out of all the washing machines in my collection, Woolsley’s patent is the one that is most reflective of what we have today,” he added. “It is similar to the modern day washing machine, except that it is not powered by electricity.”

In the early 19th century, the patent papers issued to the inventor were signed by the President, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General; the staircase leading to Rothschild’s museum is adorned with display boxes containing models and their corresponding papers signed by prominent historical figures like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Most models are a fraction of the inventions’ actual size. Not all, though; the smallest item in Rothschild’s collection is a safety pin that is actual size. Like all models, the patent number and description is attached to the pin with a piece of red fabric. “This,” Rothschild says, ‘is where the expression Government Red Tape was born.”

Rothschild first turned his attention to patent models after seeing a small display at an antiques show. “I had never seen them and I was fascinated,” he said. “I started researching their history and bought a few here and there. Then I purchased Cliff Petersen’s personal collection and over the years I have added more from other private collectors.” Today, some of Rothschild’s collection is showcased at Disneyland Paris and at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

Marshall and Sterling agent Jon Brodsky(left) and collector Alan Rothschild in the museum built in Rothschild’s home in Cazenovia, NY. Between them is a patent model of an electromagnetic motor invented in 1874 by Charles Gaume of Brooklyn, NY.
Photo courtesy Rothschild Patent Model Collection

Rothschild is committed to preserving patent models, educating the public about their historical significance, and inspiring future inventors to continue America’s legacy of innovation. “I want to help motivate people in our country to keep being inventive,” he said. The museum is open by appointment (museum@patentmodel.org).