William Thornton
William Thornton (May 20, 1759 – March 28, 1828) was an American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first Superintendent of the United States Patent Office.
This article is about the architect. For other uses, see William Thornton (disambiguation).
William Thornton
Position established
Office retired
May 20, 1759
Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands
March 28, 1828 (aged 68)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Magellanic Premium (1792)
District of Columbia Militia[1]
1807-1815
Captain
Superintendent of the Patent Office[edit]
Upon the abolition of the board of Commissioners of the Federal City in 1802, President Jefferson appointed Thornton the first Superintendent of the Patent Office. When Washington was burned by the British in 1814, Thornton convinced them not to burn the Patent Office because of its importance to mankind. He held the position from June 1, 1802, until his death in 1828 in Washington, DC. During his tenure, he introduced innovations including the patent reissue practice, which survives to this day.[10]
Some of Thornton's reputation as an inventor is due to abuse of his position in the Patent Office.
His improvements to John Fitch's 1788 steamboat are patented but didn't work.
[11]
When John Hall applied for a patent on a new breech-loading rifle in 1811, Thornton claimed he had also invented it. As proof, he showed Hall a Ferguson rifle, a British gun dating from 1776, refusing to issue the patent unless it was in his name as well as Hall's name.
[12]
Societies[edit]
In 1787, Thornton was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[13] During the 1820s, Thornton was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.[14]