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Patent Legislation and Reform

 Sub-Series — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSP 2, Series 3, Sub-Series 3

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Benjamin F. Miessner papers document the working career and interests of the American inventor. It includes a large collection of patents awarded to Miessner or assigned to his company, Miessner Inventions, Inc., as well as various North American and European patents researched by Miessner; lab notebooks, blueprints, sketches, graphs, photographs, and other items documenting the experiments conducted by Miessner and his employees; correspondence between Miessner and various individuals and companies, primarily on the subject of licensing or producing Miessner’s inventions, writing articles for periodicals, or handling legal matters; legal documents related to Miessner’s inventions and litigations, including patent applications, contracts, and court cases; and various books, serials, lectures, and other publications written or collected by Miessner.

Also included in the collection are items related to Miessner’s early career in the United States (US) Navy, documents related to his involvement in US patent legislation and reform, and documentation of Miessner’s long standing feud with fellow inventor John Hay Hammond, Jr., including a series of legal disputes and various letters and publications refuting each other's claims.

A small number of personal documents also appear in the collection, including newspaper articles Miessner collected about himself, two dozen scrapbooks, and records of his charitable activities.

Dates

  • 1906 - 1978

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Collection material is primarily in English. German, French, Spanish, Swedish, and Serbian are also present.

Access Information

Collection is open for research use.

Extent

From the Collection: 43.00 Cubic Feet

From the Collection: 42 cubic foot boxes, 1 oversize box other_unmapped

From the Collection: 0.00 Linear Feet

From the Collection: 16.00 cubic_foot_boxes

From the Collection: 0.00 Linear Feet