US Presidency
1886

On the 4th of March, 1885, the current business of the Patent Office was, on an average, five and a half months in arrears, and in several divisions more than twelve months behind. At the close of the last fiscal year such current work was but three months in arrears, and it is asserted and believed that in the next few months the delay in obtaining an examination of an application for a patent will be but nominal. The number of applications for patents during the last fiscal year, including reissues, designs, trade marks, and labels, equals 40,678, which is considerably in excess of the number received during any preceding year. The receipts of the Patent Office during the year aggregate $ 1,205,167.80, enabling the office to turn into the Treasury a surplus revenue, over and above all expenditures, of about $ 163,710.30. The number of patents granted during the last fiscal year, including reissues, trade marks, designs, and labels, was 25,619, a number also quite largely in excess of that of any preceding year.