Many historians give the Capital District region credit for being the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution during the 19th century, and in particular points to the city of Troy for it's leadership in industries such as iron and textiles.

With any revolution you need leaders and in this case the leaders were entrepreneurs from New England and immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, as well as other parts of the world.

They brought to the region not only a desire to live a good life but to make a difference and leave a mark in a nation that had just won it's freedom a few years prior.

During that early period of 1790 to 1850, Albany and Troy grew in size from a mere few thousand (Albany 3,498 in 1790; Troy c. 400) to almost 80,000 people (50,763 for Albany; 28, 785 for Troy in 1850). The spirit of invention was an integral part of this evolution from an agrarian society to industrial powerhouse. Between 1790 nd 1850, there were no fewer than 479 patents issued to Capital District residents.

Albany led the pack with 157 with Troy next at 132. Other local cities such as Schenectady followed with 63; Waterford, 24; Saratoga, 23; Watervliet, 14; Lansingburgh, 12; and Cohoes, 9. There were a number of them outside the communities listed as well in surrounding Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, and Saratoga and Washington Counties.

Considering that Albany was almost twice the size of Troy, Albany's 25 additional patents reveals that Troy was indeed the mother of invention. These two cities were always rivals in industry and the types of patents issued do not contradict that.

Albany's Samuel G. Dorr was the first to get a patent for "sheering cloth, by wheel of knives" in 1792, only two years after the Patent Office began issuing them. It was Troy's first patent when Moses Crafts received his patent on "Propelling Boats, Horse Power," in 1809.

For Troy, patents ranged from making cannon balls to horse yokes. Who would have guessed that the teakettle was first patented in 1846 to Troy's Ezra Ripley. Marcus Curtis received his patent for a "Varnish For Furniture." in 1826. Potter Sanford S. Perry received one the same year for "Stoneware Burning Without Salt." Henry Burden received 8 patents between 1825 and 1840 for everything from making wrought nails, steamboats, and horse shoes, which he became world famous for, especially during the Civil War.

Albany had their interesting inventions as well. Elias Willard received a patent for his "composition, cure for cancers," in 1810, making it one of the first "patent medicines." Beriah Douglass got his patent in 1843 for "salt, crystallizing ." I.W. Rutherford received his patent in 1831 for a "Tooth Extracator, Vertical" Ouch, sounds painful. Albany's surveyor Simeon De Witt received a patent in 1813 for "Drawing, Mechanical, Perspective," no doubt for his remarkable map making abilities, but a few years later, in 1833, he received one for a "distilling apparatus." John Herrick, Jr. had a "Water Elevator"in 1810!

While most patents were single patents, representing individual inventors, several people held multiple patents. Besides Burden already mentioned, Troy's Barnabas Langdon had 8 patents dealing with navigation, lumber, agriculture, and grinding mills. Besides the teakettle, Ezra Ripley had four other patents dealing with newspaper binders to making metal patterns for casting hollow ware.

Albany's Horatio G. Spafford, who most historians know from his excellent Gazetteer, published in his name, also had three patents dealing with making steel to making carriages. John Mead tried to make folks comfortable with 5 patents for making reclining chairs (1816), an accommodating couch (1817), and even an organ in 1838.

The Burgh's Powers family were patenting oil cloth in the 1830's. Cohoes inventors Stephen H Adams, and John A Wood patented "Carding and mixing wool and cotton" in 1850, getting ready for that city's rise as a textile giant. West Troy's (Watervliet) J.B. Bucklin & J Jacobs had a patent for "Tunneling Rivers" in 1836. In 1838, Franklin Livingston had his patent for creating "Canals, Locks, Gate." You can see a pattern here. Many inventions were tied to a locale's economic need.

One of the most intriguing series of patents has to do with the cast iron stove industry. Next week we will look closely at an industry which made the Capital District the region that warmed the world during the 19th century.