Intellectual property patents are a useful way of protecting something you have created. These patents, or inventions, are listed under the term intellectual property. The phrase patent typically refers to those rights granted to the individual responsible for discovering or inventing any new and useful work, process, machine, article of manufacture, or useful improvement of an existing invention. In 1790, when congress passed the Constitution, the first U.S. patent laws were put into effect. The first United States patent grant was signed by George Washington on July 31, 1790. This patent was examined by Thomas Jefferson. A man from Vermont, named Samuel Hopkins, was issued the first U.S. intellectual property patent for his new way of making Potash. An office fire on December 15, 1836 destroyed all of the patent drawings up to that date. To prevent a future fire from destroying patent drawings, The Patent Act of March 3, 1837 required that two drawings be submitted by applicants.