The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-02
THE P ,AopOSED PATENT CONVENTION.
n EDITOR OF THE HERALD:,


IN EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
ne Patent Convention, 10 be held IN washington
~ January is, may, II wisely conducted, conduce
4 greatly 10 the advantage OF both inventors and
manufacturers for the interests of the two classes
are In reality Identical. At a moderate estimate
tkree-iourths OF the manufacturing industry OF
this country rests directly upon machinery and
processes secured by letters patent. Whatever,
therefore. gives greater security to the improve
ments projected by the inventor promotes
in an equal degree the prosperity OF the
manufacturer by whom the improvements
are adopted and placed in the market. Since the
enactment OF the first federal patent law, In 1898,
upwards OF 145 900 patents have been issued in this
country. The first OF these was for an improve
ment Arkwright's spinning machinery, which
was, at that time wholly unknown here, and later
in the year the specification Of the cotton GIN
was nled. From that day to this there has been
scarcely single addition OF any consequence to
the technical arts OF this country that has not been
protected IN the same way. Witness the Rodman
method OF casting large cannon the revolver in its
practical form, the sewing machine, the electric
telegraph, the Corliss cutoff for engines, the now
ing machine, the use OF ether as an an9sthetic
and hundreds OF Others The manufacturing
supremacy OF England has Deen built upon the
patented inventions OF Arkwright, Dudley Cont
tries invention has been stimulated by efficient
patent laws which say, In effect to every protector
''Make valuable Improvement in any useful art,
and you shall have the opportunity OF acquiring
wealth by the exclusive making, using and vend-
ing OF your Improvement and after the ex-
Of na poo Ss w use
justice and expectancy and has been In
corporatec into ,r the statute statute. law Of no
In England this practice was embodied IN
legislation 80 long ago 1928, and although France
In 1871 was the next to pass general patent law,
our own country was tine FIRST after England to
adopt by usage patent system. The earliest
American patent was granted by the General Court
OF Massachusetts in l64l, 232 years ago, to Samuel
Winslow, for new method OF manufacturing salt.
This patent was for period OF 10 years. Other
patents were subsequently granted by Massachu-
sets, Connecticut, New York. &c. In compare
lively recent times Robert Fulton's patent on his
steamboat was granted by this latter State.
Patent protection to inventions has been In sue
cessful practice during period OF two centuries
further progress OF bringing within the scope OF
international comfy should find its most active
&c a0ng u.s. WHo ssama IN Inc
forward. we'll as in the industrial utility thereof
and IN the thoroughness and practicability OF the
system adopted to insure to every protector pro-
lection on Just what he has invented, and nothing
more.
The movement to promote international patent
protection is one fraught with difficulty, and sue.
cess can only be found by the establishment OF
broad principles as basis or action IN common for
all countries interested, and IN q most careful at
tention not only to the interests paramount in
certain nations but also to the prejudices prevail
ing IN many OF them against any patent system
Whatever. Even in England, where the utility OF
patents has been sefdemonstratlng for genera
the fostering agency OF good patent law have
passed into the Industries OF the world and in Bel
or Europe, there is s strong antipatent sentiment
And SUCH sentiment is found practically ascend
ant IN Austria , and Germany: whose patent laws
solutey dominant in Switzerland and Holland,
where patents are not wanted at all. The advo-
Gates OF the abolition OF patents find their chief
guments in the detects OF existing systems, not in
the ethics upon which they are founded or in the
general results wrought out by them. It is idle to
good %s ana Is an win Be the mos most ana
fruits OF system Of International patent jurispru.
dence: And the first step towards this must be the
tenn OF every country where patents are granted.
Our own is, all things considered superior in USE
but 1t has its salient faults, and perhaps the WASH
ington Convention can hardly 40 better than TO
advocate reforms that will place us at least one
step nearer that common ground upon which it is
our avowed object to bring other civilized coun-
tries.
| Foremost among these reforms should De the
abolition ofmOdels for the Patent once. No other
country except Canada, whose law Is modelled
upon our own requires them; they form no part
inventor to useless vexatlOn and expense. 1t is
desirable that different countries should approx.
mate in their practice in the issue OF patents, and
no European nation will be willing to add this
anomalous and useless requirement to the defects
acknowledged as now inherent IN their own prac.
tice.
Again, all experience shows that an examination
as to the novelty OF the alleged invention should
be made before the issue of every patent This
has been the American practice since 1885, and by
means OF II an American patent means something,
and Is p'-ad tacie evidence OF novelty and utility.
But abroad patents are sometimes granted over
and over upon the same Improvement, and. Of
course all but the irst are worthless The intro.
ductiOn Determinations abroad was recommended
by the Vienna Congress and its advlsability Is
manifest. But this can only be carried INTO effect
when other governments possess the same facili-
ties for the work as our own. The publication,
with engravings, OF all American inventions
patented previous TO the adoption OF the present
practice of publlcation-and so long as rejected
applications. Of these as well-will be me-
cessary before otner countries can adopt the
salient, and TO inventors the most valua-
law. or course, this should, in time, be
followed by similar publication OF foreign inven-
tons. But this would require little the part OF
In their completeness, while the abridgments pub
shed at low price form, though badly arranged
English patents. With France and Belgium the
case Is difYereht, and publication as above sug-
eested is last becoming necessity, not only to the
the progress OF their Industries as weli
There are other points Of which l would like to
speak. but this Communication Is already much
Convention will bend to It's work with determin:
alton to bring about practical reforms BY practical
methods can scarcely fail to benefit the entire In.
milton Of the right Of inventors to perfect and re-
munerative patent protection for the fruits OF their
genius. Respectfully JAMES A. WHITNEY.
SINGULAR RUNT1Ne FATALITY
ELxIRA. N. T., Dec. 81, 1873.
nattt.