1836 U.S. Patent Office fire

In 1810, Congress authorized the purchase of the unfinished Blodgett's Hotel from its builder to house the Post and Patent offices. Congress was aware of the fire risk. During an event of the War of 1812, Superintendent Dr. William Thornton convinced officers of the British expeditionary force to spare the Patent Office as they burned most government buildings in the city. The complete firehouse equipped with the fire engine was just down the street. Although equipped with a forcing pump and with riveted leather hose 1,000 feet (300 m) long (all purchased 16 years earlier by Act of Congress), there were no firefighters available. The entire library of books were lost except one that an employee just happened to have secretly taken home to read, which was Volume 6 of Repertory of Arts & Manufactures (1794). ==Aftermath==

constructed after the 1836 Great Fire Congress investigated the fire immediately, suspecting arson. The Post Office Department at the time was already under investigation for allegedly awarding dishonest mail contracts. It was first thought that perhaps the fire was set to destroy evidence. It turned out that the Post Office Department had saved all their documents. Investigators concluded that someone had stored hot ashes in a box in the basement. The live embers then ignited the firewood; no one was identified as having caused the fire. The Patent Office was moved to the old City Hall, at the time the District Courthouse. The fire occurred when the Patent Act of 1836 was being put into place, which required that patent applications be examined before being granted. All patents from prior to the fire were listed later as X-Patents by the office. The March 3, 1837 Act made provisions to restore the models and drawings lost in the 1836 fire. An amount of $100,000 was appropriated as a budget. Around 9,957 patent records and some 7,000 invention models were lost. One method of restoration was by getting back a duplicate from the original inventor. By 1849 the restoration process was discontinued and it was determined that $88,237.32 had been spent from the budget allowed. Of the estimated 9,957, only 2,845 patent records were restored. Congress solicited for the restoration of the lost patents and appropriated monies for this purpose. It is difficult for modern researchers to find those patents because many of the related documents were burned. The Patent Office through the Patent Act of 1836 became its own organization under the United States Department of State. Henry Leavitt Ellsworth became its first Commissioner in 1835. He immediately began construction of a new fire-proof building, ==See also==