Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-01

y
esting place to every American, for
within its walls is represented century
of wonderful progress.
The honor OF founding the Patent Of
fee belonged to Thomas jefferson, who
was the protector Of the patent system
of the country, and to the day of his
death took personal interest in its
workings. He was an inventor himself,
although he never applied for q patent
The visitor to Monticello is shown an
easy chair which Jefferson made him
self, and door fastening, the principle
Of which is used to this day. For sew
eral years after the act establishing the
department went into effect Jefferson
alone had the power Of granting pat
emit, as he was Secretary of State, and
that was one Of his many prerogatives.
The President and Attorney General
were also obliged to afix their sig
natures to the document to make it of
any use. After Jefferson became PreSi-
dent he did not have so much time at
his disposal, and his successor did not
interest himself in the matter, so the
duties Of the Office were assigned to q
single clerk.
In those early days this clerk was not
kept very busy. The first year there
were but three patents granted out Of
five applications. so the clerk, DR..
Thornton, had plenty of time for diver
sion. He had desk in the old State
Department and many day when the
doctor had nothing to do he used to get
out his fishing tackle and take a turn
with the black bass and perch In the
upper Potomac, for he was disciple Of
Izaak Walton. A queer character the
good old doctor must have been, and for
over q quarter OF century he ruled the
inventors of the country with almost
autocratic power. His superior officers
had tho most implicit confidence in him,
and would sign every paper which he
submitted without question. So he
granted patents to whom he pleased,
and kept back those that did not please
him. From some he took fees and from
others not, and when he died his &C
counts were fonnd to be in an extreme
ly unsatisfactory condition, but no one
blamed the good doctor or suspected
him Of wrong-doing, for he died as poor
az he had lived. He had lacked pFac-
teal business knowledge, like many
another man Of science-that was all.
He loved his patents like children, and
an old clerk In the office likes to
tell a good story OF 1912, when the
war with Great Britain was going on
and the English had captured and were
in possession of the city. They had set
tho Capitol on fire as we'll as the White
House and the cannon were turning on
she Patent Office and other buildings
The guns were just in front of the build
ing, SO tho story runs, and firing was
about 10 commence when the doctor
rushed out in a frenzy, shouting: Are
you Englishmen or only Cloths and van
dals? This is the Patent Office, 2 de-
pository Of the ingenuity of the Ameri-
can nation, in which the whole civilized
world is interested. Would you destroy
it? II so, fire away and let the charge
pass through my body"
Whether or not the single eccentric
clerk of the Patent Office really did use
such language is not known, but tho Of
fee was not destroyed.
When the Office was removed from the
state Department It occupied building
on the site of the general po st-office for
some years. This was just before the
1912 incident Even At that time the
ONCE was of small pretensions and up to
1928 but l.S19 patents had been issued, a
great majority Of which were for agri-
cultural implements. In these days
moro are issued every month than wsre
issued during the frat forty years Of the
Republic.
A memorable year In the history OE
the Office was that of 1886, from which
year the real organization Of the bureau
dates. Before that time it was in en-
bryo and there was little system. II
was In this year that the first commits
sioner was appointed. and though the
bureau remained under the supervision
of the State Department. it was more in.
dependent. In those days drawing:
were seldom nssd-at present they are
used almost entiFely--and models were
required with every application for Z
patent. This was the case for many
wears afterward, but when Inventor:
began to increase 1t was found that thi!
plan was impracticable, and so the sys
tenn Of working drawings now in us'
was adopted, although models In some
instances where a better knowledge o
the workings Of the device Is neOessar!
are required.
The fire of 1885 was most disastroa
one for the Patent Office. A big appro
.priatiou had Just been made by Congress
tic be used in enlarging the work of tn
bureau, when the fire destroyed owe
2,OOo models as wall as many valuable
papers Among these latter was vol
ume of original drawings by Rober
Fulton, illustrating his great iR-eptioI
which was then reyolutionizing corr
merce. Many of the models destroyed
were replaced in after years and now oc
cupv a place in the magnificent mode
hall Of the present building, which wal
commenced Just previous to the break
inp out of the war, Since then mum
her of wings have been added, forming
a hollow square, in the center Of which
IA 4 court, which forms a refreshiHI
picture to the weary workers in thu
building.
There was another fire in 1877. which
originated in the model room, wneF
there was an accumulation of over 200,
900 models made of wood rs dry as tin
der and only needing spark 70 ignite
They had been placed in fragile case
made of light pine, and the FIRE sprea
rapidly. 1t started in the morning, an
the clerks worked with will to saw
the building The fire was confined t
the upper story Of the western an
northern wings. Many OF tnc model
were burned, more destroyed by IN
;r'tar and I1r,mber broken by hllin,
- cha a