This collection contains 36 incoming letters that Thomas P. Jones received while working as a patent examiner and patent solicitor for the United States Patent Office, as well as 1 letter he wrote and 2 receipts. The letters concern patents or patent applications, and several include technical drawings and explanatory information about the inventions.
The correspondence includes letters about pending applications and changes to recently granted patents, as well as other official business.
The inventions described in detail are
- A machine for making nets, by George M. Gibbes
- A method for using paddlewheels below water (illustrated), by George M. Gibbes
- A method for paving streets (illustrated), by Antoine Würmser and Alphonse Minard
- A method to regulate the supply of water from pumps to steam engine boilers (illustrated), by John Cochrane
- An "endless chain" (illustrated), by George Merrick
- An invention to free locomotives from the danger of fires caused by sparks, by John S. Lafitte
Mahlon Gregg included an updated technical drawing for an unidentified invention. Other authors commented on the state of their applications and other aspects of the official patenting process. Thomas P. Jones wrote a letter to J. Eckstein & Company about the proper attribution for one of their patents, and wrote a receipt for an item from the American Art Union, later returned with a note from the recipient. Two receipts are addressed to Thomas P. Jones for the cost of transferring several patents and for his membership in the American Art Union.
Thomas P. Jones was born in Herefordshire, England, in 1774, and emigrated to the United States before 1796. Trained as a physician, he became a popular lecturer and delivered speeches on a variety of scientific topics. In 1814, he joined the faculty of the College of William and Mary, and in 1824 he helped found the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jones became a professor of mechanics at the college and published The Franklin Journal and American Mechanics' Magazine (later known as Journal of the Franklin Institute. Jones joined the United States Patent Office as its interim head in 1828, and later worked as a patent examiner and patent solicitor. He also served as the chair of the chemistry department at Columbian College (now part of George Washington University). He and his wife had two children. Thomas P. Jones died on March 11, 1848.