Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-05
A CENTURY OF PATENTS.
Commissioner Mitchell Makes an Inter
esting Statement to Congress-

Commissioner Mitchell Makes an Inter-
esting Statement to Congress.
rHE CULTIVATION OF THE AMERICAN INVENTIVE
eESIUs-PATESTs ISSUED DURING 1Ss9-THE
CROWDED CONDITION OF THE oFFIcE-NEED
OF ROOM AND OF FORCE.
The commissioner of patents has sent to Con-
gress the report he is required by law to make
yearly to that body. In prefacing the account
of the operations and needs of his bureau he
calls attention to the fact that this is the one
hundredth year of the American patent system.
The number Of patents granted during the first
year was three. The number granted during
the first fifty years was 1912 Since that time,
under the act of 1896 and subsequent statutes
based upon the same general principles, mar
velous growth has attended the system-a
growth that has been signalized by the corre-
spending development in every department. Of
American industry. So vast has this growth
become that during the last calendar year-a
year nearly coincident with the centennial year
Of the patent systematically 24.0O0 patents
were granted, making the whole number of
mechanical patents granted prior to January l,
1880, 42S,622 The number for the entire CEN
fury ending April 10, 1890. will approximate
$4,000. 1t Is not surprising that a distin-
guished statesman. late prime minister of En-
gland, recently said of the United States: sin
no one country, l suppose. is there 80 careful
cultivation of the inventive faculty."
SOME INTERESTING FIGURES.
During the last calendar year q. $50 patents
were issued to citizens Of the United States, in
Guiding "a TO citizens of the District and zoos
were issued to citizens of foreign countries.
In Connecticut one citizen out of every 700 got
patent; IN the District one in every 1872; in
Msssachuse--'. re IN every 873; in New Jersey,
one In every LOG ). and i'll Rhode Island. one in
every l,ll5. Ihe,s were the states receiving
the greatest number of patents in proportion
TO population. The least inventive state was
Mississippi. where only one person in %, 574 re.
ceived a patent
The Commissioner says: From the conside-
ration OF the fact that inventors and persons in
terested IN inventions have during the past
year paid into the Treasury of the United
States the sum of S22S, 772 90 over and above all
the current expenses of the patent office turn
10 the consideration OF its pressing needs.
CROWDED BUILDING.
THE first need of the Office is additional
room. l could afford to be silent upon this
subject in view of the urgent words ON behalf
OF the patent office of the honorable Secretary
OF the Interior in his recent report if it were
certain that my silence would not be misnter-
preted The present situation is most deplora-
bic. Almost literally speaking, the patent Office
Is crowded into a corner of the noble building
which was paid for by its patrons and which
bears Its name. The necessity for more room
and better facilities has been urged upon Con-
gress by commissioner after commissioner and
has become more imperative every year. As
long ago as 1882 Mr.. Commissioner Marble
asked for thirty additional rooms Mr.. Com
missioner Butterworth, in his report for 1884,
called attention 10 the utter inadequacy of
room and facilities for conducting the bust
ness OF the patent office and to the fact that
the health of the employees had been impaired
and death had resulted from damp and over
crowded rooms. In his report for 1885 Mr.
commissioner Montgomery said that it was
not extravagant TO assert that every room in
the building could be adyantageously used
today by this bureau NV immediate
predecessor also urged upon Congress the ne
cesslty Tor relief. During the past year it has
been found almost impossible to find space for
the storage OF current copies of patents as they
were produced from week to week. / can add
nothing to what has been said by nv prede-
cessors, except perhaps TO enter a little more
into detail IN setting forth the overcrowded
condition OF the Office. The room occupied BY
DIVISION XVIII has nineteen by twenty-three
ieet OF noor space. In IL are nine desks occu-
pied by nine men and women. In addition to
the desk are book and file cases arranged
against the wall and extending upon all sides
OF the room. In the room occupied by Division
V the floor space is thirty-fve by twenty feet
IN extent In 1t are ten desks occupied by ten
persons. Book and file cases extend around
the room on every side. These instances differ
only in degree from nearly all the rooms de-
voted to the business of this bureau
The subject to which am now directing at
tentlon Is one in which the deepest interest is
felt by inventors and by the very large portion
OF the American people who are directly or in
directly Interested in inventions. There is a
widespread feeling that the large excess of fees
over expenses should be devoted to affording
facilities for the conduct of the business of the
once. There can be no doubt whatever that
TINS feellng Is reasonable one. No one
think. has ever suggested that the patent Office
should be made permanent source of revenue
Tor the general purposes of the government 1
urgently request that relief be afforded for the
overcrowded condition of the patent Office
LABORATORY
mot only is the space available for the gen.
erai business Of the Office insufficient but in
some directions Its functions are practically
suspended for want of room and facilities
whereby to conduct them. Quite frequently
the commissioner ID requested to permit exam.
iners 10 visit manufactures, sometimes in dis
tant parts OF the country, to determine whether
new invention is practicable or operative or
70 ascertain the principle upon which a ma
chine operates or process Is conducted To
grant the request Is TO place the entire time of
the examiner at the disposal of one applicant
until the question Is determined, to the DELAY
and detriment of other inventors For the de-
termination OF such questions the patent Office
should have a suitable laboratory An incon
paratus and appliances for the chemical cleo
tlcal and other experiments and investigations
mat are urgently demanded by applicants for
patents and that cannot DE dispensed with if
the patent office Is to be fully equipped to do
the work devolved upon it by law. recon-
mend, IN connection with measures for supply-
ing additional room, reasonable appropria-
ton 70 provide for the purchase from time to
ume OF suitable apparatus for laboratory"
FORCE NEEDED.
Thu II.
Increase Of force. The work of examination. !"
he says, cannot be conducted under whip and
spur. Its yeryl nature implies deliberation.
No matter how extended or careful the investi-
CATION, II one decisive anticipating reference is
overlooked any patent that may be granted will
be worthless"
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