Abraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president ever granted a patent. U.S. Patent No. 6469, issued in 1849, covered a way to lift boats over shallow water.

Abraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president to be granted a patent: No. 6469, issued May 22, 1849.

Lincoln's patent covered a new method of buoying vessels over shoals. A Washington patent attorney, Z.C. Robbins, advised that it was patentable and filed the application on March 10, 1849. It was granted just over two months later, the USPTO says.

From 1790 until 1880, patent models were required for most applications. The model for Lincoln's patent was in part whittled by hand by the future president.