THE VIRTUE OF PATENTS

Delaware's Hagley Museum brings its collection of 19th-century US patent models to China for the first time, Lin Qi reports.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and almost every major progression achieved by society - any improvement in people's livelihood or lifestyle - has been the result of someone's imagination.

An unparalleled enthusiasm for invention bolstered numerous industrial and social developments in the United States throughout the 19th century.