, 1878-01-26
THE PATENT OFFICE.
Some y.r,s In Its Histsry--How IL once Es-
capped Destruction.

| sor,c Facts In Its Hisfsry--s.ow IL once Es-
capped Destruction.
The Official Gazette of the Patent Office
publisheI an account of the fire of Sep
tember 24th. together with some facts in
regard to the history of the department
and of the patents which 1t has issued.
According to this authority the loss by
the recent fire included $1,000 models,
u 900 of which were valueless, and 6OO,-
600 photo photographic copies OF drawings,
which can probably he replaced for $780,
900, though the total loss cannot well be
represented in money. The first Ameri-
can patent system was founded April 10.
1870, under the inspiration of Thomas
Jefferson, who is said to have gwen per
sonal consideration 10 every application
made during the years 1898 During
the year 179I, 80 patents were granted,
and in 1892 the number was L and IN
1898 80, making 67 in all under the first
statute.
The Act OF 1870 made no distinction
F, between citizens of the United States and
aliens as to their rights under the Patent
law, but the Act of 1898 refused patents
| to persons not citizens of the United
States. BY an Act passed April II, 1900,
the law was amended as to give aliens who
had resided two years in this country the
same rights as citizens. provided they fled
an affidavit with their application setting
forth their desire and inclination to be-
come citizens of the United States.
The Act of 1853 was in general con-
| -. .,,,.l, =, S,p,. fS,+ ~ Zen
except that the power OF rejection was
destroyed, and the duty OF granting pat
ents lodged with the secretary Of state
alone. The first superintendent OF the
Office was Dr. Thornton, who presided
for twenty-six years He took lively
interest in The department, and during
the war OF 1912, when the British captur-
ed the city of Washington and destroyed
the Capitol Building, a loaded cannon was
trained upon the Patent Office for the
purpose Of destroying it, and he is said to
have put himself before the gun, and IN q
! frenzy of excitement exclaimed, Are
You Englishmen, or only Goths and Van
dals! This is the Patent Ofice-a depos-
itory Of the ingenuity and inventions of
the American nation, in which the whole
civilized world is interested. Would You
destroy it! If so, fire away, and let the
charge pass through my body. The effect
is SAID TO have been magical upon the sol
diers, and to have saved the Patent Office
| FROM destruction. The first building WAS
erected in 1872, OH the present site of the
| Patent Office, where ii remained until
, burned in 1886. 80, 70, 10. = IN
yantors confined themselves almost wholly
to AGRICULTURAL and commercial objects.
| implements for tiilin. the soil and con
verting its products and machinery fer
| navigation attractedmOst attention. Man
| ufaetures, except of a purely domestic
character for domestic purposes, were
hardly known. The wax of 1872, however,
forced our people to attempt production
in many branches of manufacture and III
dustry heretofore almost wholly uncu!u-
waited, and IN the following eleven years
| 1916 important patents were recorded,
iacludin@ looms, all manner of machines
for manufacturing clothing, presses, en-
| gines, etc.
The statute of 1886 first provided for
the classification Of models and for the
Offices library, and retained the discr.ml-
nations III favor Of American patentees,
but they were SO modified as to onl y re-
auire a residence of one year, and pro-
vided that subject of Great Britain
should pay $500 upon making his appilca-
ton, and for all other foreign applicants
the fee was 500 This discrimination
was kept up iii favor OF American inven-
tions until the Act Of March 2, 1871.
abolished it. This law provided that there
should be no ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS allens
unless the country to whrh they owed
allegiance d;scriniina. cd AGAINST citizens
of the United States. The present law
in regard to filing caveats vas then first
passed, and the good resultsof the system
OF examination established by it were
soon manifest, for in the FIRST part OF
1886, under the old system 625 were
granted, while in the last half of 1886,
under the new law, there we're only 81.
More than two-thirds of all the applica
tions made were rejected FOR either want
Of novelty or usefulness. The number
of patents granted in each yer increased
steadily from 5 in 1880 to 7.3 in 1886,
making a total of Il.34S, while the fees
which were the results Of this business
had accumulated surplus on January L,
1887, in the treasury to the credit of the
patent fund over and above all expenses
incurred of SI5G,907 73.
The fire of December d. 1886, destroy
ed everything in the Pstent Office, save
one volume from the library, of little
value to any one,. including 700 models,
: including those illustratingthe application
OF steam power to vesseb and Fulton S
original drawings of Lis STEAMBOAT.
The first application OF he photo-htho-
graphic process was made July /, 1863,
twelve copies of each existng patent be-
Ing then made, and since that time many
full classes have been REPRODUCED. The
result of the late fire was b no means as
disastrous as that of 1886, although twenty
times the amount of property was de-
stroyed. In 1886, the moGls written and
illustrated records of the Dfice were all
! consumed, while nothing, original was
, destroyed by the fire of September 24th
S except models
The pecuniary loss In tlese eases falls
on the inventor alone Had as this may
e appear, where an expenss se model has
been destroyed through 70 fault of his
own, there is no law upler which he can
find relief, save by declining to furnish
the model. Though the aggregate money
value of the models isgreat, the loss Is
widely distributed and b no means IRE
parable. Boston JobrnA