Abraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president to have been granted a patent.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Smithsonian, Library of Congress, and History.com; consistent, well-documented historical fact with no contradicting sources. [tier=gold indep_score=0.95 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=partial on U.S. Patent Office historical records (Patent No. 6,469) (upstreams: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records, Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=empirical eligibility=high]
Sources
- America's innovative history | USPTO (seed:firsts_and_inventions)
- https://www.si.edu/spotlight/abraham-lincoln/patent (corroboration)
- https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-22/ (corroboration)
- https://www.history.com/news/patented-invention-of-abraham-lincoln (corroboration)