july 31

What the heck is potash? In addition, just why does it need a process? I am not sure that I understand what a process even is. But if people are going around inventing processes, can I get one too? I don’t know if I even need one, but if potash got one, I want one too. Whatever potash is, it apparently does need a process because on the 31st, in 1790, Samuel Hopkins was awarded the first patent[i] in the United States. It was for a potash process[ii].
[i] The patent was signed by both George Washington, as President and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State.
[ii] The application had been filed on April 10, 1790, and in it, Hopkins had sought a patent on an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process."