U.S. Patent Granted to John Fitch

On August 26, 1791, Fitch was granted a U.S. patent following a battle with James Rumsey, who had also invented a steam-powered boat. The newly created federal Patent Commission did not award the broad monopoly patent Fitch had asked for, but instead issued a patent of the modern kind for the new design of Fitch's steamboat. That same year, Fitch also received a patent from France. The passages place Fitch in Warminster, Pennsylvania, where he settled and worked on steamboat ideas, but do not name the office or city where the patent was issued.