The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-01-23
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.


may hang for their doctrines.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.
The annual report from the Patent Office, the first
from the present Commissioner, transmitted to
Congress on the Goth instant. II embraces a com
pete summary of the operations of that very i'm
portant and interesting branch of the government for
the year 1857, and suggests various improvements
in the present patent laws. Mr.. Commissioner Holt
has evidently given close attention TO the Office
placed under his charge, and studied carefully its
wants, as well as the existing imperfectons in the
patent laws.
Applications for patents during year 1857 III
Patents granted including designs, &C. $40
Granted to the citizens of the United States 1868
Granted to citizens of other countries AZ
The largest number of patents were granted to
citizens of the State of New York, being s55 innum-
Der to Massachusetts, 42l to Pennsylvania, 3l4
and so down to Kansas, /. During the months of
October, November, and December, the business of
the Patent Office declined rapidly yet the number of
patents issued during the year 1857 exceeded by 40S
the number issued during the preceding year. Each
successive year shows a regular increase of the
number issued. ..r
y
Expenditures for the same time 2ll,5S 90
Excess of expenditures over receipts 1880 0S
This excess of expenditures is occasoned by pay
mens for stationery, parchment, and books pur-
chased in 1856, and by the falling OFF in the receipts
of the Office during the last quarter of the year.
The following is a statement of the patent fund:
Amount on hand January 1S57-------- s55, 1863 81
he --lg
Total resources --------------------251 ,3O1 SIS
Expenditures for the year. 2ll $50 90
Balance, January l. ls5s----------- 80 ,Tl9 46
France is the only country in which greater num-
Der of patents have been granted than in the United
States. With population of nearly thirty six mil
lions there issued 6,ls7 patents in the United
States, with population of twenty-three millions,
1910. Great Britain and Ireland, with a larger pop
ulation than the United States, issued 2ll5 during
the past year - .t.
The system Of patent laws of the United States is
perhaps the most complete every devised, yet expe
rience has disclosed various imperfections. The
existing laws furnish no means for compelling the
attendance of witnesses, nor for obliging them TO
testify upon the applications for the extension of
ceived why the process of subpoena, freely allowed
to all tigatng their interests in the courts of the
country, should be withheld from the parties to
these important and complicated controversies.
A permanent board to consist of three examiners
is recommended by the Commissioner, who shall be
charged with the duty of hearing and determining
upon all appeals from the Judgment of the primary
examiners. The necessity of such board arises
from the impossibty of all appeals being heard in
person by the Commissioner himself
Itisr recommended that the Commissioner be clothed
rejected applications for patents and also the mod
els for designs which have accumulated in the office
to an nconvencnt extent. They admitted to be
valueless. A change in the law respecting patent
fees is recommended The fee of thirty dollars is no
more than just compensation for the labor of pre-
pairing and examining the application. When this
has been earned, the fee should not be withheld
whether the patent be granted or not 1t is sug-
gested that the patent fees might he paid step by
step the examinations progress, Applications
for patents having been made during the year by
slaves, who are incompetent to hold an interest in
them OF to take the oath required by the law, the mat
ter Is BuDnhlteu 10 NpnSTcSS
Property in patents enjoys but precarous and
incomplete protection in the way of legal safeguards
thrown around it. Many reasons exist for this state
Of things Stringent Legislation is recommended TO
secure the rights and interests of inventors 1t is
recommended that no greater fees shall be paid
by foreign inventors for securing patents in the Uni
ted States than charged to its citizens Recipro,
city in commercial intercourse has been the rule for
this government, from which it has departed only
in the granting of patents. 1t has excluded multi
tude of inventions from the country. The govern
ment OF Canada, looking upon the law of 1886 ag-
gressve in its spirit, has excluded American citizens
from the benefits of its patent laws altogether. The
removal of the discrimination in the United states
would be Immediately followed by relaxation OF the
laws in Canada.
PuNNINo DISPATCHES. Hayelock is a wit as well
as a warrior The following is the despatch by which he
conveyed the intelligence of his last in India
the governor general