Documents reveal patents of Henry Ford and Nikola Tesla – 01/06/2024 – Science

What do the father of the automobile, the pioneer in large-scale electrical energy transmission and the creator of antivenom have in common? They all registered some of their inventions in Brazil, between the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the country began its industrialization and was already a world leader in coffee production.

The patents of internationally renowned scientists, such as Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla and Vital Brazil, are present among the 3,200 unpublished documents digitized since 2021 by Inpi (National Institute of Industrial Property), to which the Sheet had access. The material has also just been made available to the general public.

Access to the technological information contained in these files allows us to create products and position Brazil as a global leader, generating wealth and improving the population’s quality of life, according to Julio César Castelo Branco Reis Moreira, president of Inpi.

“This project was born with the motivation to preserve the history of Brazil, guaranteeing the identity of the Brazilian people. Patents represent valuable technological information.”

The digitization of documents from the Inpi collection, dating from 1895 to 1929, was donated by a private company in 2020 and, in the following year, the federal agency began preserving the material. That’s when the servers came across curiosities such as patents from well-known inventors.

One of them, Henry Ford (1863-1947), recognized for consolidating the assembly line for car manufacturing, has four patents registered in the country — in 1913, 1921 (two) and 1922.

“He was from a family of farmers and, of the applications located in Brazil, most are linked to inventions related to the field”, said employee Flávia Romano Villa Verde, head of the Patent Documentation Division at Inpi.

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), one of the world’s references in the history of electricity and who helped illuminate the world, patented in the country, in 1910, a machine that, using liquids, provided more efficient energy generation.

There are also records in the name of George Westinghouse (1846-1914), rival of Thomas Edison who formed a partnership with Tesla and bought his records, including that of alternating current (large-scale distribution of electrical energy, which we still use today).

Another curiosity is that INPI found the signatures of 11 civil presidents on letters patent from that period.

Flávia explained that, initially, the practice of signing patents was exclusively up to presidents and ministers, and the invention would only be recognized with the approval of these authorities. Inpi itself, the body responsible for these records today, only emerged in 1970.

These multiple signatures provide significant historical value, according to Flávia, as they allow a dive into the history of industrial property in Brazil, showing how technology developed, who the inventors were and how needs and innovations were shaped in the Old Republic.

Before this period, Brazilian emperor Dom Pedro II (1825-1891) played an important role by signing patents during his reign, Flávia said.

The monarch was a science enthusiast and was interested in scientific and technological advances, according to Paulo Rezzutti, author of the book “D. Pedro 2º – A História Não Contada”.

“This interest and support of Dom Pedro 2º for science and scientists, recorded in his diary in 1862, were evident throughout his reign. He not only admired these brilliant minds, but also collaborated with them financially, bringing scientific advances to Brazil .”

This and the fact that Brazil is the fourth country in the world, according to Inpi, to create a law to protect intellectual property (a practice inherited when the country was still a colony of Portugal), could have attracted the attention of scientists to protect their inventions in the country.

However, more than that, Brazil was seen as a commercial power, when capitalism was taking shape in the world, and this attracted foreign investors, according to Leandro Malavota, professor at the Inpi Intellectual Property Academy.

“The patent system follows the principle of territoriality, in which exclusive rights are valid only in the country where the invention is filed. To protect a product in Brazil, it was necessary to register it here. This indicated the interest of foreign inventors in the market Brazilian.”

Therefore, it did not mean that the patent registered in Brazil was original. The expert explains that scientists had a high cost to register and, therefore, they only did so in nations of commercial interest, through attorneys.

Henry Ford, who used several attorneys, patented his inventions in Brazil at a time when the country was undergoing technological and infrastructure development, including the construction of highways, recalled Rezzutti.

Other scientists who patented their inventions in Brazil during this period were Guglielmo Marconi (one of the pioneers of radio), Glenn Curtiss (founder of the US aeronautical industry), Count Hilaire de Chardonnet (creator of artificial silk) and Henry Joseph Round (inventor of the LED ).

BRAZILIAN SCIENCE MILESTONE

The family of scientist Vital Brazil (1865–1950) knew about the existence of patent 9,596, attributed to the founder of the Butantan Institute and recognized worldwide as a reference in the creation of antivenom serums.

The document deals with the “invention of a new process for the manufacture of anti-venom serums”, as announced in the Official Gazette of May 10, 1917. However, they had never had access to the original file. Until now.

Érico Vital Brazil, grandson of the public health doctor and president of Casa de Vital Brazil, found out through Sheet of this finding. “This patent represented a milestone in the history of Brazilian medicine and science.”

He said his grandfather devoted more than a decade to research before developing his innovative approach to producing serums against venom-producing animal bites. “Before that, there was no detailed description of this technique. It’s as if he spoke directly to us from that time.”

Vital Brazil donated the patent to the state government for free application to the population. This gesture allowed Butantan to produce more effective serums.

“His work had an impact on improving public health in Brazil and around the world. Poisoning by venomous animals was a significant threat to life at the time.”