New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-12
THE PATENT OFFICE REPORT.
LAST YEAR AN EXCEPTIONAL ONE In The
HISTORY OF THE BUREAU.
r,rr cryrryNIAL YEAR OF THE PAThNI 81 81 In
FONTS OrINTEREsT ~ THE RLPUK1-


RECOMMENDATIONS BY COM
MISSIONER MITCHELL.
tBY TELEGRAPH TO TIE TaiBrSEI
Washington. Feb. ll-Old General Vance OF MOTT"
Carolina tolls rather an amusing story of an ilteraoo
bac,woods constituent Of his to whom ne once SCH.
copv Of the Patent Office annual report "loh 10
thousand pages Of indexes. tables etc, wheh "orhne
OK the quota Of public documents when came u nm
AS a Congressman. The next time the Geherai "9i.'
through that section of the pine woods OF his district
~. ,ictn corrorod him. and in a tone Of afectonate
ronroof. said Gincral got them speeches o youil'
but couldn't read em through. Thar war a iee'io
too much Wing docterin into EN-
The report Of Commissioner Mitchell for the year
1880 recently issued, has even more than the usuai
amount Of Whig doctcrn into it, FOR the last year
has been IN many ways exceptional one IN the MS
tory of the Office The revenues OF the bureau,
,oputinc 10 81 28l 72s %, have exceeded the to'I
f,r ,,,v preceding year by more than 8lOoooO. INC
list Of patent, i,-ued fOotS mp total oi -4'l'7'
,y ecds the issue Of any previous year. eAcep. u
~ 14s5; While the number Of Applications hIcu, to
misc ~ the inventive activity and prosperity OF uo
country reached 4O5 .7O5. which is nearly oooo IN
eNcc,, Of any previous year
A. Commissioner Mitchell points out TINS Is VIC
centennial year Of the patent sy5tom, whch was o1o
r.hed by law on April 10. 1890, a the I"'"'' "a .
accommodation Of President Washington r'1e III 'n'
MESSAGE OF January e. 1900. Tho few stI""s hlso.i
cal point, made IN the report Illustrative OF VIC grow.
Of the system and Of the Office, are thc'elol'' "
nocil interest The number o. patents issued duiihs
the FIRST half century Of the law was l24@l' ABOUT
h.Ir the number issued in the single year l70o. tlP
total nllr Issued up to the beginning OF INC pIcsch'
vcar being 4l- .CG4 In connection WIN lHe Nd'''''
table, Of statistics embodied IN the report IL Is nv
cstlng to note how the percentage OF apph'suol'
mature into patents ha, remained almost CONSTANT uui
ing all the years Of which record has been h'Pl' !"
$40 aloat ~ per oeut Of the applications hed were
ptcd and in 1850 in spite Of the fact that the Is
,,rc of 400 900 patent, vol!d seem 70 leave nothing
ne,v under the sun, the greater activity Oh u'e III
vertve genius OF the country produced SO many
,atentabe device, that go per cent OF the more ta
10000 applications were granted, and during the hy
wears between 1910 and 1890 the percentage Ha'
varied little outside Of these limits.
Another point Of interest is the table OF states anu
Territories showing the number Of patents issued TO
,no ,ittzcn. u each Ncw-York leads the list Of
aggr,gates with g. rs patent, granted TO her CITIZENS
during the year l-10. THIS nearly
twice the number issued ~ the Secohd
state In the LIST, Pennsylvania; and little moro
,ban do,ble tho number Issued 10 Massachusetts,
,,,.b stand. tnlrd. Indian Territory brings up the
rear with ony two patents issued to persons WITHIN
bo- borders which indicates that the poor Indians
,ntutorcd mind las not yet gra>pcd the beauties ana
rIil.-cs of the patcu' law The lowest state on inc
,; is Nevada 20 which tie nnlGchy number o. thirteen
,t,n- verc granted. while tie indu trial showing OF
RIO New south" j. also rather weak, the ten Sfea'
--ates o. Alabama. Arkansas, Delaware fIorioa'
l..l.i,,, Mississippi. North Carolina. south Carolina
,r-,i, and Wc-t Virginia together agerc-atlns Only
. ,,ut. while the lizzie state Of Connecticut alone
r, state from which Commissioner Mitchell comes A4d
--p patent, granted 10 Is inventors
Tie fact t.lt tie genius o.: invention mas nov
t.oar,ed from the Land Of Wooden Numess is further
e.. f,.f