The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-19 00:00:00

THE SUEZ CANAL.

An interesting account of the state and prospects
of the Suez Canal appears in the Times from the pen
of Mr. Fowler, the eminent engineer. It contains.
trier so many damaging reports, very good news ter
',he shareholders, but will probably be considered
`depreciation" by those who still hold out
in believing all the great things which
were prophecies at the first. The canal will
easily be made, in fact there was never any difficulty
about that part of the business. From what Mr.
Fowler says, it is not unreasonable to suppose that
the waterway will be rendered passable, and that it
will be " workable." There is a -likelihood that one
of the entrances to the canal may be
choked occasionally with alluvial deposit, but
still not to an insurmountable extent. There
are other .`difficulties, but these, too, may
be surmounted. The actual cost, however, will be
raised by them, and the capacity of the work itself
much lowered. This makes it a serious question as
to whether the canal will pay. If ever it does, new
vessels will have to be built specially adapted to the
passage; but, allowing for a large " element of un-
certainty," there is reason to think that moderate
wishes will be fulfilled.

THE PATENT OFFICE OF THE UNITED

STATES.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
Almost simultaneously we have received the thick
volume of plates and the two volumes which con-
tain the annual report of the Commissioner of Pa-
tents for the year 1866, and his annual report just
submitted to Congress for the year 1868. The in-
crease in the business of the Patent- office is pro-
digious; 3,705 caveats have been filed, and 20,445
applications. The patents issued are 12,959, re-
issued 419, and 140 extended. Its business does not
merely grow, but it multiplies, being double that of
1865, and only less than four times that of 1848.
In 1836 ten persons sufficed, now between 300 and
400 are required ; and this increase Mr. Foote at-
tributes to the stimulus of the rewards offered by
the Patent Laws and the progress of the country,
by which a successful invention now brings to its
author a competency for life. At the same time he
allows that much of the additional work has arisen
from passing patents that ought not to have been
granted, as there is a direct inducement to the exa-
miner to allow the patent even as a cloak for his
ignorance or to save labour, for the applicant has
numerous appeals in case of rejection ; but, once al-
lowed, the matter is settled, and grants bring fees to
the office. indeed it is one of the evils pointed out
in the report that the inventor is heavily taxed by
a subdivision, which makes many patents where
there ought only to be one. " Had the practice,"
says Mr. Foote, " been confined to separate and
distinct improvements upon different parts of a ma-
chine no exception could be taken to it ; but it has
been carried to the extent of several patents for
the same invention, and patents for parts, which
taken alone constituted no invention. This sys-
tem has tended to complicate and confuse patented
rights, and, in some instances, I apprehend, been
a source of fraud upon the public." Again, he
says—i, The granting of improper and illegal
patents defeats every object and purpose of patent
laws. It serves to mislead and deceive the public,
and to subject them to the annoyance of unjust and
invalid claims. It throws distrust and discredit upon
patented property, and injures the saleable value of
meritorious inventions." If entire confidence could
be laced in the value of inventions passed by,
the examiners, business operations and the invest-
ment of capital would be more readily founded
upon them, and the Commissioner rightly considers
the qualification of the examiners an object so im-
portant that the success of the office almost depends
on it. A board of three selected for ability and
fitness have been appointed to examine employee;
and many changes have been the result. From the
report we gather that at least in this bureau merit
and knowledge have been the sole passports to ad-
vancement. The Examiner must be familiar with
all the inventions of Europe, which in itself is a
profession requiring years of study. His decisions
involve nice questions of law, science, and me-
chanics, and large amounts hinge upon his action,
indeed Mr. Foote classes his qualifications with
those of a judge in the higher courts of law. This
leads to his pointing out the inadequacy of the
salaries for obtaining the best services. He con-
siders that the time must soon arrive when the
models deemed useless will be discarded to make
room for new ones in the already crowded offices.
We trust that the Commissioner may get some
place to display such models, for they may
save years of labour to inventors in pursuit of
chimeras, or to those who have conceived ideas
the worthlessness of which these models will
prove. Next to putting men on the right
track is the utility of turning them back from
the wrong. We recollect a conversation with the
governor of a British colony, who observed that the
first duty of such an official, and that to which he
attributed his own great success, was to read up care-
fully all the records of any office into which he was
Put, not to get ideas. but to learn the rocks upon
which his predecessors had split, and the older he
grew the more satisfied he became of the wisdom
of this course, for it saved himself and the depart-
ment with which he dealt much useless labour.
We are constantly reproducing the mistakes of our
predecessors, conceiving the very idea suggested to
their minds which had been exploded either by dis-
cussion or by practice, consigned to oblivion, and
resuscitated to eventuate in the same result
This is the use to which models of inventions which
have proved worthless may be turned, and we
would urge it on the attention of the Com-
missioner. "The Patent office makes exchanges
of its publications with several foreign Govern-
ments. From Great Britain we receive full copies
of their specifications and drawings, in our library ,