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Bloomington, Illinois · Bloomingtonby Dennis Crouch Abraham Lincoln holds a unique distinction as the only U.S. President to hold a patent. U.S. Patent No. 6469, granted in 1849, covered a device for lifting riverboats over shallow waters using bellows and air chambers. Lincoln also litigated patents in his role as a lawyer. His experience with the patent system informed what would become one of the most quoted aphorisms in intellectual property law, delivered during Lincoln’s l…See the Story