A great decoration for your office, and home, you won't need white-out to fix this 1938 typewriter patent, elegantly printed on canvas with archival ink. The appearance of the patent has been restored and digitally enhanced.

"This invention relates to improvements in typewriters and more particularly to a typewriter of such character that speed and volume of work are of secondary importance, but with which cost and educational value are of prime importance. . . . One of the objects of the invention is to provide a typewriter which may be manufactured at relatively small cost due to the fact that many moving parts of conventional typewriters are eliminated."--Joseph Lee Sweeney. Filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office May 13, 1938.

For great gift ideas, check out our typewriter socks and Tom Hanks’ Uncommon Type.

The patent act of 1790 established the rules for submitting a patent application. Each application had to be submitted with specifications, a patent drawing, and if possible a model of the invention. Eventually, models were no longer required.

The National Archives holds nearly three million patent case files from 1836-1956.