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Monday, October 7, 2024 |
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Smithsonian welcomes papers of the late Jerome H. Lemelson |
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Lemelson believed that education was key to helping the US regain its place at the top of innovation and creativity in the world. In 1993, he and his wife Dorothy started the Lemelson Foundation to support educational initiatives to attract young people to science and invention. © Smithsonian Institution.
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WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonians National Museum of American History has accepted the donation of the papers of the late inventor Jerome H. Lemelson, a gift from the Dorothy Lemelson Trust. The Jerome H. Lemelson Papers, spanning 19432003, consist of 363 cubic feet of papers documenting Lemelsons inventions, his creative process, the patent process and the legal process by which he secured his rights. Lemelsons patents cover a wide range of topicstoys, medicine and technology. In addition to documenting Lemelsons inventions, the papers also document his work defending the rights of independent inventors by working to reform patent law and the legal system. The collection includes invention notebooks, patents, patent applications, correspondence, subject reference files, licensing agreements, patent litigation files, newspaper clippings, sketches, ephemera and audio-visual materials.
The invention notebooks form the core of the collection, providing detailed descriptions of possible new inventions and ideas spanning 46 years. Lemelsons notebooks contain notes about meetings with colleagues, variations on patent ideas, outlines of patent specifications and related sketches. Notebook entries are often dated and signed by Lemelson and witnesses to whom he disclosed his ideas. The notebooks present a comprehensive overview of his ideas and are significant to understanding his creative process and how his ideas changed or did not change over time.
We are deeply honored to receive the Jerome H. Lemelson Papers, a collection that encapsulates the boundless creativity and ingenuity of one of America's most prolific inventors, said Anthea M. Hartig, the museums Elizabeth MacMillian Director. This archive not only documents the vast range of Lemelson's inventions but also provides invaluable insights into the innovative spirit that has driven technological progress over the decades. By preserving and sharing these materials, we continue our mission to inspire future generations of inventors and innovators.
Lemelson was one of the most prolific American inventors of all time, and in the sheer range of his ideasfrom cutting-edge medical and industrial technologies to novelties, gadgets and toysundoubtedly one of the most versatile. Lemelson holds 606 patents documenting a wide range of inventions, from toys to machine visioning. The portfolio of products covered by his patents is voluminous, including, for example, components in the Walkman, the VCR, the fax machine and the camcorder. His background in aeronautical and industrial engineering served him well, allowing him to understand increasingly complex technologies, to see their potential and to exploit them. For example, Lemelsons machine visioning involved a camera to inspect items on an assembly line, compare them with a digital image stored in its memory and determine whether they are defective. He designed computer-controlled machine tools used in automated, flexible manufacturing systems that let an assembly line produce different products at the same time. The audio-cassette mechanism he developed and licensed to Sony became a standard part of cassette players.
The Jerome H. Lemelson Papers join a significant body of archival collections that document independent inventors that include the Earl S. Tupper Papers, Charlotte Cramer Sachs Papers, the Brannock Device Company Records, the Marion OBrien Donovan Papers, the Patricia Bath Papers and the Robert W. Kearns Papers, to name a few. The collection is available for research in the Archives Center.
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