The first patent granted in North America, was issued by the General Court of Massachusetts, to Joseph Jenkes, March 6, 1646, for an engine. He owned a company that made scythes and he operated out of a water mill.  Guess it was some kind of an engine driven by water. <br />
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Joseph Jenkes, of Hounslow, County Middlesex, England, settled at Lynn, Mass., in 1643, where he died in 1683, aged 81 years.<br />
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He also made the dies for coining the first money and also built the first fire engine in America.<br />
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One of my very few claims to fame is that I have a patent, it was filed on my behalf by Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach.