Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-03-04
.Patents.on. O.a. .y.xe.t.a,s

! --."' Patents on Old. Inventions. .-.a g..
III is little singular that some person
desiring to become rich without labor
aoes not take out patent on n revolv-
ing grindstone. It would not be neces-
sary for him to engage In the manufac-
ture and sale of them. He could quietly
remain mt home and send his agents
about the country to scare farmers into
the payment of damages for infring-
ment on his patent. Examiners in
the patent office are not supposed to
have seen n grindstone, and, as
the records Of the department contain
no mention Of one. they would be quite
nkely TO regard it as a novel invention,
and so report it to the commissioner,
who would issue patent on il. The
patentee would then have a wide and
rich field from which to reap bounti-
full harvest. BY threatening to bring n
suit for damages in the United States
court, nearly every person who uses a
grindstone would settle and congratu-
late himself that he had escaped so
easily. A course like the above has
been pursued by numerous persons with
reference to implements and processes
that have been in rse longer than the
common grindstone. In some instances
they have made arrangements with
"snide " lawyers. who attended TO their
claims in different counties and re-
ceived n commission on all sums they
collected by means Of sending out warn
ing notices.
A few years ago person came to this
city and endeavored TO dispose of n
patent process for drying blood. One
OF the claims in the patent was for
dried blood as a new article of COM
merce." He represented that the blood
that could be obtained and dried in the
city would be worth several millions of
dollars annually, and that by having n
monopoly on the manufactured article
an individual or corporation could OBJ
tain fortune in single season. As he
offered his patent with all the rights
and privileges thereunto belonging" for
the modest sum of 1000, 600, several
persons OF means thought it n great
bargain, and made arrangements to
secure 1t. One man, however, of in
quiring turn of mind, investigated the
matter and found that dried blood was
n common article of commerce in this
country long before the owner of this
patent right was born, and that il had
been bought and sold in other countries
Mt least thousand years before the dis
covery OF America.
A sliding gate has been used by West
erR farmers almost from the time settle
ments were first made on the prairies.
This circumstance, however, did not
prevent a person from procuring a
patent on it few years ago, and from
that time to the present men have been
travelling about the country making dc
mands on every farmer on whose place
one of these gates were found. In most
cases they have succeeded in collecting
Il sum by way of damages, and in sell
ing n farm right TO make and use their
gates. In few neighborhoods, how
ever, farmers confined to resist the ex-
actions of these agents, when they de-
parted in quest of victims who were
more easily frightened. The patentee
of this device may have been sincere in
declaring that he was the inventor of 1t.
but the circumstance that il was not
only described but illustrated in an
agricultural paper befote he applied for
n patent shows that he was not the origi-
nal inventor, and his patent is therefore
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 min
utes TO the fumes of burning sulphur.
The method employed Is the same Ms
that used for bleaching old straw bon
nets and hats. Many farmers who were
discovered bleaching their dried fruit
were served with notices that they
would be made parties TO a suit in the
United States court II they did not pay
n considerable sum by way of damages
for infringing on a patent. One large
dealer who operated rs fruit drier was
called on to pay the sum Of 800. 900, but
the claim was so large that he took the
matter under advisement. IT 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 bleaching by means of the
fumes of burning sulphur was very ex-
tensively employed in the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah. and an operation
claiming so great antiquity cannot
reasonably be claimed as n novelty.
II IL possibly that none of the examiners
OF the patent Office ever read the book
in which the above account Is recorded,
and IL would appear that they rarely
read any work devoted to ancient or
modern discoveries in the industrial
arts. Chicago Times.