New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-09
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM.
ITS GROWTH IN ONE HUNDRED YEARS.

| AN ALMOST INCREDIBLE NUMBER OF PATIENTS
THE ORIGIN OF THE NcKELIN'THE-
SLOT MACHINE-A COMPARISON WITH
METHODS IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
| tBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBuSEI
Washington, April S.-Up to March 81 i0oi'
/ and since 1887, 444,652 patents had been IS
sued from the Patent Office; and prior TO that tlme
about 10 600 had been issued without being numbered
] as by the present method OF this vast NUMBER vi
patents probably between onehalf and twothrds are
| live patents to-day. The fertility OF the American
inventor is almost incredible and the figures not
present TO speak for themselves there would be many
doubling Thomases. 1t Is stl difficult to comprehend
in spite Of the figures that 1t Is possible ior Aolo
paentable combinations to exist in devices for coupling
railway cars: that there be 40 distinct patent
ablo collins and attachments, or that there can DC
37S kinds OF padiocks. Tic records Oh the
Patent Office show 1o5 different novelties in walk
ing sticks and a. different combinations oil
cane and umbrella in one In grain binders there
has been such great activity that there are 116o pat
ents 81: them, while another aid 10 the farmer the
harrow, has 1900 patents to show In how many ways
clods be crushed. The backbrcaking work OF Dig
ging potatoes is made easy by Col different devices
to do it mechanically and there arc 241 devices 10
chop up cornstals fodder. The tler OF the SOIL
who purchases commercial fertilizers pays royalty on
one or more OF the 334 patents in that ne while he
may take his choice from 307 different sorts OF noes
Female wearing appafel Is eAUhsNclS pio'0'OSA "'i
der the patent system There are 900 hustle patents
515 on corsets, 40 hoop skirts. 23o on stays, IL
on undcrwaists, and on through the list
| The number Of patents to date on electrical
devices is 1874, and in electric lighting
alone there 2,1es. The bicycle patents
number 1865, and there are 03o patentaoie
devices in so simple an article the horse shoe In
sewing machines and their attachments there are ooo
patents to date, and the printers art is eAemplied
| in Abb patents. There are 1915 patents On type
setting and distributing Devices and 900 on ypewruhs
| machines. There forty-one different hhuS u
printers composing sticks, and JOG IN automatic au-
dressing machines For elevators or lifts there are
over 900, and there is about the same number Oh
what is known technically in the Patent ohico as
store servlcen This includes the ingenious devices
in Use i'm all large stores for sending money 10 inc
cashier and for getting back the change There mas
been lately great inventive activity in nickellh-thc-
slotn devices there having been nearly 400 patents
issued during the last four years. Mr. AuGhihcausi'
the examiner in charge of this class of cases. says that
| the prncp,e OF the nckel-in-the slot machine has
been traced back 10 400 years before tho Chrsual
cra 1t has been proved conclusivcly he says tna'
the Egyptian priests employed this method Oh opuin'
ing money from the sale Of the lustral OF holy water
but they kept the construction Of the device Tor deahg
out the holy water profound secret and 1t was looked
upon with supersttOus awe by the barbarian woc-
shippers as something possessing divine attributes
Mr Aughinbaugh also says that the coln-controhed
phcnograph is the only form in which the phonoeraph
has paid There three patents out on TINS metiOo
of utilizing the marvel of inventive marvels.
| The extent to which American women nave become
successful inventors as shown by the records of the
Patent Office Is rather surprising. The first womanS
invention was that OF the revolving icccream freezer
by Mrs. Nancy NJ. Johnson, in 1913 Mrs. JohhsohS
idea has not been materially improved upon SINCE
and 1t was certainly geat advance OH the OIL
method OF making lcecrcam with a fiat dish and
rrI,a 2 colo imam IN
in The United States was Ellen Egln, OF Washington
in 1858 1t was for clothes wringcr, and she sold
to patent agent for $i5 and the invention now
said to 10 producing for its owner handsome income
/ It is maintained that Whitneys great invention Of
tho cotton gin was the idea, originally
OF the wife OF General Nathaniel Greene
OF Rhode Island who conceived 1t while Observing the
process of separating cotton on her plantation In
Georgia 1t is related that she permitted Whitney to
take ont the patent BECAUSE should 1t be issued in
her own NAME her high social position would thereby
be impaired.
| woman's inventions embrace almost every con-
| ceivablc form of device. They number to date as
nearly as can be ascertaned from the records 1859
There are doubtless many more patents which have
been issued to women under the initials Of their
| Christian names, that their not made ap-
parent
| In conversation with the writer today Captain
Wallace Bartlett, who has had many years experience
in the development Of inventions, both Official
examiner and inventor, said: 81 suppose there
| may be 1000 people living in the United States
| who, at some time other, made patenabe inven-
| tons but probably 5000 would cover the number
who make a business of inventlng. Yes, IL is a
business and professional inventor will turn you
something pretty practical In almost any line you
WISH II yOa will foot the bills. IL may not be the
BEST but 1t Will be start Inventors are independent
thinkers and rarely pull together. II they effect
| an organization 1t may do them some good. With
dozen or two in each Congressional district they have
little weight with politicians. Southern inventors have
been away behind, but they are coming up with rush
and good many of them strike out of the beaten track
We VIII yet get some great inventions from the South
| "The difference between an American and an English
paentf Well, an American patent gives prlma faci3
\ fsht 10 whatever is covered by the claim The law
gives defendant ample opportunity for Defence but
If he makes defence tho patent Itself is sufficient
| evidence Of ownership In England the paentee must
prove his case. The patent Is simply registration,
giving a right Of entry TO the courts. Most CONT
| mental nations follow the English system, although
they still drifting way, Is Great Britain.
| Germany however, has system OF examinations
| something like ours, and the nfrnger OF pat
ent may be prosecuted crimlnaly. IL is rather
| expensive 10 keep up foreign patents. In nearly
all countries this annual tax is levied patents
for inventions. In Germany this tax amounts 10 about
| IL 800 for tho fifteen years patent runs. 1t is
small the first year, however, and Increase at the
rate OF Sl3 Is made each year. In England no tax Is
collected for four years. What happens the tax is
not paidi The patent Is snuifed out.
| a few inventors make invention and build
| up a good business that Others make an In
ventlon and falling to make fortune out of IT, throw
up the sponge. Others take patents by the hundreds
| -