What was the first thing ever patented?
353614
(excerpted from source below)\n\nSamuel Hopkins, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [Pittsford, Vermont], received Patent No. 1 on July 31, 1790, for an improvement "in the making Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." The patent was signed by President George Washington, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Only two other patents were granted that year, one for a new candle-making process and the other the flour-milling machinery of Oliver Evans.
440705
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa080499.htm click d link to find what u r looking for.
675236
Indoor plumbing, the transistor (without which there would be no digital electronics), plastics.  I would agree with the "wheel" answer, except that it came around long before the engineering profession and was probably invented by some caveman.  You could also include scientific principles that have been discovered and subsequently led to great engineering feats.  For instance, Maxwell's Laws of Electromagnetism (the principle on which all wireless devices work), Bernoulli's Principle (the basis for airplane wing design) and so on.
177533
The Chinese are most famous for inventing the following 4 things, known as "China's 4 Great Inventions":\n- Paper\n- Printing\n- The compass\n- Gunpowder\n\nHowever, the Chinese are also credited with having invented:\n- Fireworks\n- Drums\n- The binary system\n- The decimal system\n- Paint\n- Porcelain\n- Lacquer\n- The umbrella (parasol)\n- Kites\n- Rice wine (made from fermented rice)\n- The bow & arrow\n- The plough\n- The abacus\n- Zero "0"\n- Iron casting\n- The suspension bridge\n- Ice cream\n- Spaghetti\n- The lock (on ships)\n- Mahjong\n- Chopsticks\n- The first earthquake sensor
483550
The earliest washing "machine" was the scrub board invented in 1797. American, James King patented the first washing machine to use a drum in 1851, the drum made King's machine resemble a modern machine, however it was still hand powered. \n\nIn 1858, Hamilton Smith patented the rotary washing machine. \n\nIn 1874, William Blackstone of Indiana built a birthday present for his wife. It was a machine which removed and washed away dirt from clothes. The first washing machines designed for use in the home. \n\nhttp://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blwashingmachines.htm
1112501
Clock: inventor: In c.3500 BC, the gnomon—the first clock—is invented, probably in Egypt. It consists of a vertical stick or pillar inserted in the ground, the length of its shadow giving an idea of the time.
70438
None, Zero was invented by Indian Mathematician Aryabhata and later Brahmagupta developed its concept
972155
There is no such term recognized as an "innovative patent."  Patents are awarded to inventors to protect their inventions.  Patents can be awarded to truly new inventions that have never before been seen or thought of.  This type of invention is rare, and is commonly referred to as a "pioneering invention."  Most inventions are improvements on other inventions, or perhaps a previously unknown combination of one or more known inventions.\n\nTo explain a little more, a patent is a proprietary right granted by the Federal government to an inventor. There are three types of patents available in the United States: (1) a utility patent, which covers the functional aspects of products and processes; (2) a design patent, which covers the ornamental design of useful objects; and (3) a plant patent, which covers a new variety of living plant. Each type of patent confers "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or importing the invention into the United States. It is important to note, however, that patents do not protect ideas, but rather protect inventions and methods that exhibit patentable subject matter. \n\nThe Legislative History of the 1952 Patent Act inform us that Congress intended the patentable subject matter referred to in Title 35, Section 101 to "include anything under the sun that is made by man." Given that Congress intended everything made through human intervention to be patentable it is sometimes more helpful when discussing patentable subject matter to search for that which cannot be patented. In this regard the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly and consistently stated that there are only three categories of subject matter for which one may not obtain patent protection: (1) laws of nature; (2) natural phenomena; and (3) abstract ideas.\n\nToday, at least in the United States, there are few questions with respect to patentable subject matter. From time to time the United States Patent Office does attempt to breathe new life into rejections for want of patentable subject matter, but ultimately the legislative history and the guidance of the Supreme Court is clear. With this in mind, for better or for worse, in the United States virtually everything is patentable, including computer software, living organisims and business methods.
1109270
Once upon a time there was no zero. Of course people knew if they had nothing, but there was no mathematical notation for it. Zero was independently invented only three times.\n\nThe first recorded zero is attributed to the Babylonians in the 3rd century BC. A long period followed when no one else used a zero place holder. But then the Mayans, halfway around the world in Central America, independently invented zero in the fourth century CE. The final independent invention of zero in India was long debated by scholars, but seems to be set around the middle of the fifth century. It spread to Cambodia around the end of the 7th century. From India it moved into China and then to the Islamic countries. Zero finally reached western Europe in the 12th century.
87084
Charles Babbage is credited as the inventor of the first computer due to the invention of his difference engine machine in 1840.
1022722
Patents are a very ancient idea, originally a form of monopoly on the making of certain items or inventions, often granted by a monarch and enforced in many places by systems like guilds.  Those patents were often practically perpetual and enabled whatever favorites of authority held them to amass large fortunes, which were duly taxed by the sovereign.  During the European Enlightenment, patents came to be viewed by some as a tool of despotism and an impediment to scientific progress, because it starved the public domain.  When the Constitution was written, this sovereign authority was vested in the Congress of the federal government with the purpose of promoting "the useful arts" by providing patent protection -- but only for a limited time.  The Constitution is supposed to guarantee Americans a bountiful public domain, while giving individual inventors incentive in the form of temporary, conditional monopolies.  For example, by keeping patents public record, the inventor who gains his brief monopoly must disclose the invention's details to the world, enabling future inventors to learn from his innovations.  There is a whole little fact-o-rama for you over at the website of the US Patent and Trademark office: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/kids/kidprimer.html .  You'll notice that it has an entry for the first U.S. patent, which went to Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia, known I believe as Filthadelphia until his important contribution to the soapmaking process, patent 1790.
537144
In China, were everything was invented  of course .  Dont believe it?  Just ask them  :D
748527
heh, that was actually the very first question i ever posted!\n\nhow about that!
285630
I believe the answer is patent.  This is the first process you must go through in order to claim that it is your sole idea.
200740
Although Alexander Bell is credited, he is the first one to patent it.  Antonio Meucci is probably the one who should take the credit for the invention.\n\nThe following is a brief summary of the history of the invention of the telephone:\n\n1849 Antonio Meucci, an Italian living in Havana, demonstrates a device later called a telephone. (The demonstration involves direct electrical connections to people.) \n1854 Charles Bourseul publishes a description of a make-break telephone transmitter and receiver but does not construct a working instrument. \n1854 Meucci demonstrates an electric telephone in New York. [1] \n1860 Johann Philipp Reis demonstrates a make-break transmitter after the design of Bourseul. \n1860 Meucci supposedly demonstrates his telephone on Staten Island. \n1861 Reis manages to transfer voice electrically over a distance of 340 feet, see Reis' telephone. \n1871 Meucci files a patent caveat (a statement of intention to patent). \n1872 Elisha Gray founds Western Electric Manufacturing Company. \nJuly 1873 Thomas Alva Edison notes variable resistance in carbon grains due to pressure, but shelves the discovery. \n1874 Gray demonstrates his liquid transmitter telephone at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church. \n2 June 1875 Alexander Graham Bell first transmits voice. \n1 July 1875 Bell first uses a bi-directional capable telephone (Both the transmitter and the receiver were identical membrane instruments.) \n14 February 1876 Bell files his first patent on the telephone. \nTwo hours later Gray files his patent caveat. \n30 January 1877 Bell patents the electro-dynamic transmitter, receiver telephone.
253125
Thats a what came first chicken or egg question. some things we may no ever know.
808253
Try this website for information on Benjamin Franklin's inventions:\n\n\nhttp://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/franklin.htm