The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-02-06


Patents granted INCLUDING designs, reissues, and
additional improvements. ................. $40
Caveats nled 0k3
Applications for extensions Of patents q
Patents extended ~ ~
Patents expired December 81, 1855. 663
The following were the patents granted
To citizens Of the United States. ........... s,ees
10 subjects Of Great Britain. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 20
To subjects Of the French empire .............. IA
To subjects Of other foreign governments. s
The active, busy brain of this republic is ever
teeming with inventions. No country on the
face of the earth gives birth y 80 many. The
reports OF the Patent Office prove this. More
patents are granted in one month in the United
States than in England in the corae # whole
year. Whether this arises from &0k hight, dry
climate, which is more stimulating thah the dVll,
foggy atmosphere of John Bull, or from the 3D.
perior intelligence and education Of the mass of
the people, or from the freedom of our institu-
tions which develope each mans individuality
more than in other nations, or from necessity,
which IL said to be 'the mother of invention"
or from all these causes together, the fact itself
is sufficiently palpable to be placed beyond dis
pute.
The American inventions are remarkable, not
their utility, ingenuity and curious nature. If
any person goes into store where they sell
yankee notions" he will find patent apple
parers patent apple-slicers and corers, fly
traps, traps for cockroaches, bugs, rats and
other vermin; a patent hens nest, and
an instrument for detecting bad eggs with
out breaking them, called an ''oonoscope" or
"egg-detector," warranted to be 'infallible," an
Incompatible egg-beater," i" washing boards"
and washing machines" "patent corkscrews,"
universal feed cutters" "patent faucets"
"patent wrenches," "Boston white and black
shoe varnish," "carpet sweepers," Boston
black gloss varnish," Boston dressing black
ing" celebrated furniture polish" liquid
stove lustre," "patent selfacting ashes SITTER"
by which fuel and labor are saved, to-
gether with other articles Of the same kind
many with very queer names, and the whole too
numerous to mention. Need we mention Con-
necticut clocks, whose combined cheapness and
Europe, and, indeed, in every part of the globe?
In agricultural implements, in mechanics
tools, and in labor-saving and time-saving
machines of all kinds, American invention
stands pre-. eminent. At the head of these
may be placed the steamboat and the mag
netic telegraph. And here we may mention, by
way of parenthesis that all the telegraphic sys-
TENS in operation throughout the world are
American inventions; and recently, when it was
found by the government of Louis Napoleon that
patent could not be legally granted to
Mr.. Morse in France the Emperor, in
order to meet the equity of the case, ar
ranged with the other Powers that donation
of $4,000 be presented to the inventor of the
telegraph. But Americans are not satisfied
with even the speed Of the telegraph and
the steamboat; for now we are told there is a
fying-machine in progress Of construction, and
almost ready to wing Its way to Europe. We
hope the fate Of the voyagers will not be like
that Of Icarus. Action and speed are the great
characteristics Of an American. He does every
thing quick, and he makes pleasure of the toll
of business. Yet he prefers to work with his
head rather than his hands. Curiosity and in
quisitiveness are highly characteristic. An Eng
lishman purchases clock or watch, and uses
1t, but never troubles himself about its springs
or wheels, or the principles upon which It is con-
structed. But the moment Yankee gets hold
OF anything Of this kind he is determined to
penetrate "the heart of Its mystery" and sets
his wits to work to discover its defects, and
to see how be can improve upon it. His motto
Is that of the State of New York Excelsior
BY the system of division of labor and deficiency
Of education for the industrial classes, an English
mechanic rarely excels in making more than
portion Of piece Of mechanism he is as igno-
rant of the rest Of the machine as any other
man. Not 80 an American, who makes The whole
article, and not only understands what be makes
himself, but almost everything else that Other
mechanics and machinists construct. Hence,
when he goes to the backwoods he can do every
thing for himself, even to the building OF his own