page_title: Polygraph (duplicating device)
hierarchical_section_title: Polygraph (duplicating device)
caption_attribution_description: English: A modern reproduction of a polygraph machine similar to the type Thomas Jefferson used. Made by Wilman Spawn, c. 1974.
context_page_description: A Polygraph is a duplicating device that produces a copy of a piece of writing simultaneously with the creation of the original, using pens and ink.
  Patented by John Isaac Hawkins on May 17, 1803, it was most famously used by the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, who acquired his first polygraph in 1804 and later suggested improvements to Charles Willson Peale, owner of the American rights. Because Jefferson was a prolific letter writer, the preservation of his copies have offered historians extensive insights into Jefferson's viewpoints and actions.
  Jefferson called the polygraph "the finest invention of the present age". A description of Jefferson's office routine in his own words may be read online.
  Another American, Benjamin Henry Latrobe was the first customer of Peale's and not only introduced the device to Jefferson but was also instrumental in its improvement.
  Mechanisms of this type are more generally known as pantographs, which include simple devices for making copies at various enlargements or reductions by tracing over a drawing.
context_section_description: A Polygraph is a duplicating device that produces a copy of a piece of writing simultaneously with the creation of the original, using pens and ink.
  Patented by John Isaac Hawkins on May 17, 1803, it was most famously used by  the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, who acquired his first polygraph in 1804 and later suggested improvements to Charles Willson Peale, owner of the American rights. Because Jefferson was a prolific letter writer, the preservation of his copies have offered historians extensive insights into Jefferson's viewpoints and actions.
  Jefferson called the polygraph "the finest invention of the present age". A description of Jefferson's office routine in his own words may be read online.
  Another American, Benjamin Henry Latrobe was the first customer of Peale's and not only introduced the device to Jefferson but was also instrumental in its improvement.
  Mechanisms of this type are more generally known as pantographs, which include simple devices for making copies at various enlargements or reductions by tracing over a drawing.
caption: Reproduction of Jefferson's polygraph at the Smithsonian Institution
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