These 20th century technologists sure knew how to throw a party

Everyone loves a parade, especially one that follows a party. When scientists and politicians met in Washington on November 23, 1936, to celebrate the centennial of the U.S. patent system, they first heard a traditional program of lectures. Then, in the afternoon, Science Services Director Watson Davis arranged something different: a "Research Parade" with music, movies, slide projections, off-stage narration and a "Science Maid."

"I am calling for dramatic assistance to the science of e," Davis announced as he threw a piece of paper into the air. "I threw away this bombshell scientific paper as a symbol of breaking with convention."

Distinguished engineers and scientists then took to the stage to demonstrate their inventions, plus some dramatic " Rough Magic”. Smithsonian Secretary Charles G. Albert explains how his "solar cooker" harnesses the sun's energy. RCA scientist Vladimir K. Zworykin demonstrates his imaging mirror, which makes "the invisible" possible. In the final sequence, a local actress wears a white acetate crepe evening gown and a Celanese velvet jacket, an artifact of scientific history invented by chemist Arthur D. Little in 1921. The animal parts are turned into gelatin, spun into thread, then dyed and woven into handbags. RCA inventor and engineer Vladimir Ko***ich Zworykin (1888-1982) demonstrated his photoelectric microscope, which could observe ultraviolet and infrared light normally invisible to the naked eye. (Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image No. SIA2010-1661)

Participants held a "Patent Dinner" at the Mayflower Hotel that night. As 1,100 guests entered the candlelit hall, General Motors executive Charles F. ("The Boss") Kettering waved in front of a photovoltaic cell that filled the room with 60,000 watts of incandescent light.

The feast included such "food, digestibles, estimates, drinks and sugar" as irradiated milk, fresh frozen lobster and lima beans. Party favors included Bakelite humidors and an elaborate menu listing the patent numbers of everything on the table, including “Yeolde ‘Pat’ Pending” sherry.

The planning committee met virtually a few weeks ago to taste-test (and promote in advance) the products to be offered. The Washington Post wrote that the diners "eat and drink boldly," but showed "tiny signs of greenness" when they drank the cocktail and were told the concoction was patented for non-culinary uses. "Friedrich Wilhelm Emil Müller's Hair Tonic" (U.S. Patent No. 939431) contains "40 harmlessly distilled finest corn whiskey, 20 port wine, 25 ripe blackcurrants, 10 water... As the Post observed , after “another dose of reinforcer,” the subjects “didn’t seem to care. ” Scientific Service Director Watson Davis (1896-1967) and General Motors chemical engineer Thomas M. Migley (1889-1944), holding a rake, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, November 23, 1936 The Cormick Reaper is clearly visible in the background (Fremont Davis, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image No. SIA2008-6091) "KDSP" On display at the banquet are the McCormick Reaper and A replica 1903 Cadillac. An antique gramophone, a new Hammond pipe organ, and a patent "pocket violin" provided background music during the meal. Other entertainment included an Eastern Airlines plane circling over Washington. 's radio broadcasts and phonograph recordings of the late Thomas Alva Edison,

Transmitted on an original telegraph receiver belonging to Samuel F.B. Morse, on loan from Cornell University, " Everything God does”.

The tables were decorated with hybrid (and patent) flowers, including 'Good Times' (red) and 'Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt' (pale pink) roses. After dinner, guests waddled to the ballroom for the Association of Patent Offices' annual convention dance... Four years later, Caitlin hosted another celebration of invention, this time marking the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Patent Act. anniversary. Davis once again helped plan the project, arranging a promotional "test" dinner on April Fool's Day 1940.

The Mayflower Hotel banquet featured more patent-themed food, such as "telegraph soup" made with macaroni "dots and dashes" instead of letters of the alphabet. This time, the drink advertised was Joshua T. Smith's "Snake Bite Cure" (U.S. Patent No. 379,183, granted in 1888), which was a mix of whiskey and port wine instead of the original alcohol, gallbladder, and rattlesnake. Patented formula of grass, alum and iodine tincture. General Motors chemical engineer Thomas Midley Jr. (1889-1944), Science Service physics editor Robert Porter (1905-1978), and General Motors executive Charles Franklin Kettering (1876-1958) on November 1, 1936 On May 23, we gathered on a sofa at the Mayflower Hotel before the patent celebration banquet. (Fremont Davis, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image Number: SIA2010-1192) In the spring of 1940, the clouds of war were spreading around the world. Davis and his boxing gloves hosted a week-long "Parade of Inventions" exhibition at the U.S. Department of Commerce Auditorium, where a banquet was held in honor of Acpany. More than 40,000 visitors saw historical artifacts (such as Abraham Lincoln's handwritten patent application and model), including 300 items from the Smithsonian collection, as well as consumer products (a razor display included a "beard mirror" that showed the shape of a chin beard) growth), but most presentations made reference to industrial productivity and military potential. For example, the Glenn L. Martin Company supplied the nose section of the Type 167-F bomber, and in the same year Watson Davis worked on his scientific picture parade. In that book and exhibition brochure, he tried to strike an optimistic tone. However, the March for Science is moving along a new route. By the summer of 1940, Kettering, Davis, and other members of the National Inventors' Council were tasked with collecting examples of private inventions and directing useful ideas for the upcoming war effort.

A version of this article originally appeared in "The Big Picture," published by the Smithsonian Institution Archives.