Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year ..
An annual report issued in 1867 by the United States Patent Office in Washington, listing patents granted that year to inventors across the country. The page shows numbered engraved diagrams of mechanical devices, including a surveying or solar instrument, a rope or chain fitting, a bolt-fastening mechanism, and a stone-dressing tool, each labelled with a patent number and inventor name. A designer could take from them the dense, ruled-line technical drawing style with lettered reference points and cross-hatched shading.
