The Patent Office Museum was established by the Commissioners of the Patent Office, itself established in 1852, under the supervision of Bennet Woodcroft. It was known as the Museum of Patents and was housed in the South Kennington Museum as a separate exhibition of machinery. As well as contemporary apparatus, the Patent Office Museum also included historical items such as an early 2 Boulton and Watt beam engine and Symington’s marine steam engine of 1788. The locomotives ‘Puffing Billy’ of 1814 and Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ of 1829 were put on display in 1862.

In 1863 it was renamed the Patent Office Museum and 20 years later the contents of the museum were transferred to the South Kensington Museum. Finally in 1909, with the opening of the Science Museum, the Patent Office Museum ceased to exist.