By Rose Picón, staff writer

Last month, I took a trip to Cazenovia to meet Alan Rothschild, a local business owner in Syracuse and collector of patent models. Rothschild is a quiet man who lives in a remote home, hidden in the woods. We’re talking so hidden, that I was nervous to even step foot on the property. Once I built up the courage to venture down his long, narrow driveway, I entered a home to see hundreds of artifacts and hear the ticking of dozens of old, wooden clocks. Instantly I thought, Wow, now this man is a collector.

Rothschild is indeed a devoted collector, and his compilation of patent models has taken him across the country, gotten him attention in acclaimed publications, and offered him a chance to exhibit in world-famous museums. In fact, starting this month, Rothschild will exhibit his impressive set in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. The display will feature 32 patent models from his massive collection and will be at the museum for two years.

Rothschild is absolutely thrilled for this opportunity. “It’s very rare for the Smithsonian to do an exhibit focusing on one individual’s collection. It’s also quite unusual for the Smithsonian to do an exhibit for two years,” he shares. Rothschild’s spotlight at the museum is well-deserved, as he’s been collecting for almost 15 years, and he has around 4,000 patent models.

Wondering what a patent model is? When an individual created an invention, he or she needed to submit a miniature model, usually no larger than 12”, that showed how it functioned in order to receive the patent. Rothschild’s collection consists of models of various inventions, from wooden shoes and artificial legs to gear-cutting machines. They date back to the early 1800’s, when the American patent system started, and include models from famous inventors, such as Eli Whitney, Christian Steinway, and B.F. Goodrich.

What sparked Rothschild’s craze for collecting?

Right before he went to college, he bought his first car: a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe. Rothschild remembers, “My parents were kind of upset at the time – most kids weren’t buying 30-year-old cars.” Rothschild, however, liked the age of the car and thought it looked cool. He made it his mission to restore it and make it drivable, and it’s still in his garage and running today.

Rothschild left Syracuse for the Albany College of Pharmacy (in the Sport Coupe, of course), where he developed an interest in patent medicines (i.e., medicines sold before the Food and Drug Act, when regulations or medical prescriptions weren’t necessary). He started to collect old apothecary items and eventually came back to Syracuse to build an 1800s-style apothecary shop. He ran this shop for 25 years until he donated it to the Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in the 1980’s, where it still exists today.

Once he sold the apothecary shop, Rothschild wasn’t sure what to do. “I felt a little lost. All of the sudden, my collecting days came to a halt. I guess fate or destiny led me to patent models.” After Rothschild bought his first patent model in 1996, he became instantly hooked and had to buy another, then another, until eventually he realized he had become a serious collector. “It was a natural happening for me to get involved with patent models,” he explains. “I love artifacts, I love history, and I especially love mechanical objects. I was always a thinker and always thought of inventing something myself.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, then, Rothschild has two inventions of his own: a vehicle inspection sticker that warns drivers when their car needs to be inspected, and another warning system that can be used for anything that needs inspection! For example, if you’re worried about forgetting to change the batteries on your smoke detector, you can put Rothschild’s sticker on it, and it will signal when the batteries need to be changed!

The Smithsonian will feature Rothschild’s collection from December 11, 2011, until November 3, 2013. Can’t make it to Washington D.C.? Check out part of Rothschild’s collection in Cazenovia, where you can take a private tour of his museum. For more information about Rothschild’s patent models, his museum and his exhibition, check out his website.