Why do some new technologies "catch on" rapidly in one place but not another? Economic and technological infrastructures of different localities may make a difference, but the managerial behavior of the agents of innovation is also relevant, as they contend with varying local social and political circumstances. For a proper understanding of the development of new technologies in the United States, it is critical that these differing factors be sorted out. Dr. Cooper is studying in detail a specific case to help answer these questions. She is examining the effect of American patent management on adoption of the eventually predominant wood-planning machine during its patent period of 1828-1856, in five different regions of the United States. She is gathering original Woodworth planer patent assignment and litigation records to compare characteristics of competing planing methods and the circumstances of early and peaceful adoption with those of late and contentious adoption in New England, New York, Mid-Atlantic, Mid-West and Southern regions. The reputedly "odious" behavior of Woodworth planer assignees provoked a nationwide campaign to kill the twice-extended patent. Dr. Cooper is analyzing the campaign's petitions to Congress in order to identify the interest groups opposing and supporting the planer patent in the various localities. Her study should improve our understanding of how the patent system functioned in spreading innovations during the great period of industrialization of production in the United States.
