License Granting the Marrietta Steam Mill Company Use of an Oliver Evans Patented Steam Engine, 1812

01

Artifact Overview

In 1804, Oliver Evans received a patent for a high-pressure steam engine -- a radical departure from the early low-pressure engines operating in the United States at the time. Evans found commercial applications in the flour-milling industry, where some of his other innovations had already been influential. One of Evans's patented engines was installed in a steam flour mill in Marietta, Ohio, in 1811.

Artifact Details

Artifact

License

Subject Date

04 November 1812

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

91.0.110.151

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)
Ink

Technique

Printing (Process)
Handwriting

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 11.625 in
Width: 10.813 in

Inscriptions

at top: The Columbian Steam Engine. text: KNOW all Men by these presents, That I, Oliver Evans, Steam-Engineer, of the city of Philadelphia, have received of The Marriatta [sic] Steam Mill Co. of the state of Ohio county, state of Ohio --- the sum of Four Hundred eighty dollars--- in full payment for a Steam-Engine, and for License hereby granted to the said Marriatta Steam Mill Co., their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, to use one of my patented Steam-Engines [...]