River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-10-23

city and endeavored to dispose Of q pat
ent process for drying blood. One of the
| claims in this patent was for "dried blood
as new article of commerce. lie rep-
resented that the blood that could be
obtained and dried in this city would be
worth several millions of dollars annual
ly, and that by having monopoly on
the manufactured article an individual
or corporation could obtain fortune in
a single season. As he offered his pat
ent with call the rights and privileges
thereunto belonging" for the modest
| sum of 81 100000, several persons of
means thought it great bargain, and
made arrangements to secure it. One
man, however of an inquiring turn of
mind investigated the matter and found
that dried blood was common article
OF commerce in this country long
before the owner ofthis patent-right was
born, and that it had been bought and
sold in other countries at least thou
sand years previous to the discovery of
America.
A sliding gate has been used by west
ern farmers almost from the time of set
Elements was first made ON the praries.
This circumstance, however, did not
prevent person from procuring pat
ent on 1t few years ago, and from that
time to the present men have been
travelling about the country making de-
mands on every farmer on whose place
one of these gates was found. In most
cases they have succeeded in collecting
sum by the way of damages, and in
selling farm right to make and use
these gates. In a few neighborhoods,
however, farmers combined TO resist
the exactions of these agents, when they
departed in quest of victims who
were more easily frightened. The paten-
tee of this device may be honest in de-
claring that he was the inventor of it,
but the circumstance that it was not
only described but illustrated in an ag-
ricultural paper before he applied for
patent shows that he was not the origin
al inventor, and that his patent Is there
fore worthless.
The latest account Of attempting to
collect damages from farmers who are
declared guilty of employing an old
process that has recently been patented
comes from Ohio. In many parts of
the state farmers have been in the habit
of bleaching apples and peaches dried
in the sun by exposing them few
minutes to the fumes of burning sui
phur. The method employed is the
same as that used tor bleaching old
straw bonnets and hats. Many farmers
who were discovered bleaching their
dried fruit were served with notices that
they would be made parties to suit in
the United States court if they did not
pay considerable sum by way OF dam.
ages for infringing on a patent. One
large dealer who operated as fruit-drier
was called on to pay the sum of $40, 900,
but the claim was so large that he took
the matter under advisement. 1t is
now understood that combined action
will be taken to resist the demands OF
the owner of this patent.
1t is certain that the process of bleach
ing by means of the fumes of burning
sulphur was very extensively employed
in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and an operation claiming so great an
tiquity can not reasonably be claimed
as a novelty. 1t is possible that none
of the examiners in the patent Office
ever read the book in which the above
accounts is recorded, and it would APP
pear that they rarely read any work de-
voted to ancient or modern discoveries
in the industrial arts.