New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-17
PROTEST FROM THE PATENT OFFICE.

PROTEST. FROM 1HE fAiENl OfrlCE'
AN OBJECTIONABLE FEATURE OF THE EDUCATIONAL
FUND BILL COMMENTED UPoN-How IT WOULD
AFFECT TaE OFFICE.
IBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE.l
WAsurNGroN Jan. LEONE feature of the Edu-
caonal Fund bill which passed the Senate recently,
and which ia now pending in the House of Repre-
sentatiyes is likely to evoke strenuous opposition
That is the provision which requires the surplus
Patent Fund, after deducting the expenses OF the
Patent Office to be applied with the net proceeds OF
the sales of public lands to the education OF the
people,"
Mr. W. c. Dodge, of Washington, has written an
important letter on this subject TO the chairman OF
the House Committee ON Patents. In relation to
the Importance Of the patent system. Mr. Dodge
quotes from the report of the Commissioner of Pat
ents for the year 1873 a statement that, according
to the best information he had been able to obtain.
fully nine-t tenths Of the manufacturing business
of the country was based on patents. Mr.. Dodge
shows by quotations from various acts OF Congress
that for q long time the Patent Office has been
required to bs seif-sustaining, and also that
the fees exacted from inventors and
others have been set apart special fund for the
express purpose of defraying the expenses OF the
bureau. Soon after the beginning OF the war the
receipts fell of to sucb extent that. as the law
reouired the Office to be self-sustaining it became
necessary to reduce salaries from twenty to thirty
per cent although the salaries were also fixed by
law Since the war the receipts have increased
until the patent fund now amounts to about
$1 100000.
In 1868 Congress passed o law requiring the
daily receipts to be deposited in the Treasury, and
TO be used only as provided for by annual appropr-
atoms Mr.. Dodge asserts that under the operation
of this law especially during the last few years,
the Office has been terribly hampered by the want
of funds arising from the fact that appropriations
have been mercilessly reduced as matter of poit-
ical expediency. This has led to constant COM
plants by inventors and others having business
with the Office. of its IN efficiency.
10 show the vast increase Of the business
Of the Patent Office. Mr.. Dodge mentions
the fact that about 1000 applications for patents
were filed in 1884, while in 1880 more than $4,000
such applications were received. The law
requires that an invention, in order to be
patentable must not have been patented or
described in any printed publication any
whore in the world. mathematical calculation
shows that with the present number of examiners
and assistant.examinen, each working six hours
day, the time which could be devoted to each one
Of the % 460 cases fled last year was one hour and
eighteen minutes Says some of these cases contain
from SIX to ten sheets Of elaborate drawings and
from twenty to fifty pages of specification.
" For years. says Mr.. Dodge. we have been
begging Of Congress to let the Office have enough Of
its own funds to enable tho Commissioner TO employ
competent persons properly to classify and index
the matter contained IN the library, %
thst the examiners could have. each in
bic own room, the means Of finding
quickly everything that pertained 70 DIS
clawand thus prevent the grant Of void patents
bus . fsf this request has been denied For years.
hE. Dodge saya the once hes tried Ia vain to secure
sonne Of the surplus fund. In order TO print the
essn i.sasa 20s e 1889 vssn the psns,ns S. 3.
coet6e Of thees pstents sftcs weeks Of delay, and
Weioh II printed theS could obtain at ouce at cost
Of nve or ten ceueefWtth pzo6t 70 the Government.
The peop0ettion eontalned In the Educational Fund
bill Mr.. Dedp feoleRvs 70 b class legislation
of the 1o1st kin and whether u be intentional or
not no moso tnea1ous Or suceeasfui plan for break
ia9 tewn ard dfokoyi9s the Pstsnt Office and the
y6topt ssBtem, than this OF taking it, surpus fund
5pe a. puypc1s peopoeed could be devised Mr..
sDe9oe e6yt 5tot re real number Of inventors ,s
lElueb gGa1l1t HhnD people generally euppcee. In
M 4ptnofv IrGu tkeee, have been issued only
80 ~ - in6,udipg those 70 foreigners.
krv0 that