Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-11
LEOTUREs TO MECHANICS.

LECTURES TO MECHANICS.
 Professor Robinson on Patents
 Almost Perfect System of Law in
 Almost Perfect Operat1On-An Inter-
 esting Lecture.
 The eighth of the series of Lectures to Me | chanics was given at North Sheffield Hall | last evensng, by Professor William O. Rob- inson, who took for his subject F'The patent law of the United States" The lecture was a most instructive one and was listened to with marked attention. f"The progress of the industrial arts" said the lecturer, "during the past century is a fact so familiar to us all that it now excites but little notice. Yet in itself it is one of the most wonderful phe- nomena presented by the history of the hu- man race. For nearly six thousand years, at least, man has resided on this planet. All the forces of nature have patiently awaited his control. He has had eyes, and ears, and hands, as serviceable as our own. He has 1abored under the same necessities for food and clothing, for shelter, for means of loco motion and of communication with hls fellow men: In other departments of life he has shown his entire equality, if not his su- periority, to his descendants of the present day He has built vast cities, waged long and bloody wars, achieved the grandest tri- umphs in poetry, sculpture and philosophy; and in spite of every obstacle Of distance, danger and the want of suitable appliances he has discovered, colonized and populated almost the whole habitable globe. And yet, until about hundred years ago. he had made very slight advances in any of those arts by which his daily wants could be supplied Men now living can remember when the fields were ! reaped with sickles as in the days of Ruth, when the women of the household threw the same weaver's shuttle which ill the nimble I fingers of his own wife seemed to Job so apt ! a figure of his passing days, when | the only modes of transit were on foot, on horseback or in wagons with l which the chariots of Pharaoh might com ! pare favorably in speed and probably in | comfort also. Take away the inventions of | the past century; the telephone, the tele- ! graph, the railroad, the steamboat, the power | printing press, the steam blow, the reaper, | the moving machine, the sewing machine, l the paper machine, the power loom, the | spinning frame, the daguerreotype, the fric- 1 tien match, the cotton gin, and we are reduc- ! ed almost to the condition of the more civil | ized races in the earliest historic periods of mankind.
 | We wonder at the power and skill of man, l but the real wonder is that, having always I been endowed with the same powers, sur rounded by the same natural forces and ! pressed by the same necessities, he did not, l thousands of years ago, achieve the same re- ! sults And out of this wonder grows the ! question, why did the eighteenth and nine ! feenth centuries witness this tremendous l outburst of inventive genius?-a genius so potent and active that | in but little over hundred years it has changed nearly all the relations of the human race, not only toward each other, but also l toward the physical surroundings amid 1 which they live! 1 do not purpose to at tempt the solution of this problem, but to call your attention to one of the causes which ! have contributed to produce these wonderful
 results. It is significant fact that patent ! laws and the progress of the industrial arts
 keep pace with one another; that 1n ages l and in nations where inventors are encour'
 aged by being protected in the exclusive l use of their inventions until they can be l reasonably rewarded for their efforts, invent i've genius hourishes whether or not else
 where it be dormant; and in proportion te
 the facilities offered for securing these ex | elusive rights, the march of progress becomes
 more rapid and effective. This factor of the | problem, as it exists in the United States to- l day,I shall endeavor to explore, to show
 the important influences sometimes exerteo l by legislation upon the permanent welfare o1
 mankind and to place before you picture o1
 the character and operation of system te
 which immeasurable public benefits are part
 ly due.
 ! patent is grant on the part of the gov l ernment to the inventor, securing to him the | exclusive use of his invention dur
 ing specified period of time. | patent system is that system of laws and pro.
 ceedings by which these patents are issueo
 and the rights arising under them are pro
 tected and maintained. Historically, the paten
 systems of both England and the United l States derive their origin from the roya 1 grants by which monopolies in trade or man l ufacture were conferred upon few favored
 subjects of the British crown. In Englane | trade became an object of royal soicitude a a very early period. By law of Athelsta1 (A D. 925-94D every merchant who hae | made three voyages beyond seas was entitled to the dignity of thane. The formation | and development of towns as the center | of domestic traffic was encouraged by thu
 grant of special privileges and from the tim ! of William Rufus there was mo reign il 1 which commercial franchises were not con 1 fe1red upon them. The guilds, which haC l originally been clubs for religious, ~charita l ole social purposes, allied themselves fo l profit and under the name of "merchan l guilds" procured numerous mOnopolles iron
 the crown and finally expressed the loca 1 trade. The lesser tradesmen associated 1 themselves into ''craft guilds" and obtained 1 royal privilege to fix the hours of labo . and rate of wages. The numerou evils which grew out of these association I reached their height in the reign of Eliza beth, when Parliament rebelled. While bill abolishing monopolies was being advc ' cated in the House of Commons, the quee } promised to withdraw the most oppressive c | the privileges she had granted and the pro 3 posed legislation was abandoned. For twent 3 years after the accession of James I. effort l were made to remedy the renainin ) I evils of nonopolies, but without sue
 cess until in 1623-24 the famous statut 1 against monopo1ies was enacted by Parllf , | ment and received the sanction of the crowr s By this statute all past monopolies wei : abolished and the power of the crown t
 | grant them in the future was explicitly d.
 nied except in cases where such grants ha
 l been or should be made to the inventor
 some new manufacture conferring upon thel T. the exclusive privilege of practising sue
 manufacture for certain period of tint l. This statute created no new right eth. e in the sovereign the people.
 simply limited the royal prerogative
 certain definite channels and specified u 70 l boundaries in which it might be exercised
 The grant of monopoly still remained 1T voluntary concession on the part of the Xiii 1t and became subject to judicial criticism on is upon the Question whether the monopoli
 himself had complied with the conditions
 the grant and was entitled under the provi
 ! ions of the statute to receive it. If he we B. the true and first inventor of al IT manner of new manufacture within u h l realm, which others at the date of b |
 contrary to law nor hurtful to the State. J. his monopoly granted consisted only
 the exclusive privilege of working or makn
 such invention for the proper period C. time; and if he had fulfilled the duties il ,e posed upon him by the crown, his grant "
 valid, but otherwise was void. Ths dec 10 ions of the English courts upon these qus y tions, together with few recent auxilia D. statutes, constitute the body of the Engli ,s patent law.
 as The patent system of England had be of in operation for one hundred and six
 years when our Constitution was adopte
 The foundation of our present patent depa
 ment is the power given to Congress by o le Constitution to promote the progress of 8 ne ence and the useful arts by securing for lii M ited times 10 authors and inventors the ( y elusive right to their respective writings 8 t- discoveries. In the exercise of this pow O. Congresssin 179O inaugurated the patent 8, ,g tenn of the United States by ,r act imposing on the Secretary sn 5, State, the Secretary of War and 'i Attorney General, or any two of them, t
 duty of granting to any inventor whose
 vention they deemed sufficiently useful a
 important patent securing to him the