Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-09

tAA0 VI GENIUS Vi
American people, as it has been aptly termed,
anG4ooks into the rooms crowded with en-
ployes and see the great file cases where patent
applications and granted patents are stored,
they will get an idea of a phase of the patent
office, which, perhaps. they only have realized
IN clm, uncertain way.
A GREAT MACHINE.
They will begin to comprehend that the
patent Office is a great machine, endowed, it is
true, with the intelligence and sagacity of
hundreds of trained minds. but still a machine
which every year grants some $4,000 letters
patent to the inventors of the country. They
will see that there are hundreds of clerks and
assistant examiners employed in this work. that
the corps of trained experts known the
principal examiners alone number thirty and
that of the thousands of applications made only
a certain percentage Is granted. After even
such a casual glimpse of the patent Office as it
exists today the average inventor will no
doubt wonder how ii is that his little applica-
ton receives attention and is not lost in the
mass of applications which coIstitu the daily
mail of the Office. The labyrinth. however.
has only an apparent existence and starting at
the right point the clue is easily found and the
course Of patent from the reception of the
application to the issue of the letters patent is
SO plain that even the application of the hum
blest inventor cannot miss the way.
THE PATHWAY OF An APPLICATION
With the proper direction. and the govern
ment pays men TO see that all applications are
started right, the pathway through the patent
Office is as simple as that through an open field
in the country. The patent Office is vast
concern. because of the activity of the inven-
tors ard the officials say that the present force
could be largely increased with advantage 20 the
patrons OF the Office. brief summary of the
progress of an application through the patent
Office will net be devoid Of interest at this time.
An application for letters patent, including the
first or examination fee the petition for a
grant. the specification and drawing. is re-
ceiyed at the Office either by express through
the mail or by hand. In the two latter cases
tie fee IL received by the financial clerk and
the drawings and papers are sent to the appli-
cation ROOM When received by express the
application is usually accompanied by a model
although model Is no longer essential unless
requested by the patent office authorities. The
common receptacle of all applications is the
room very appropriately named 1.-THE
application room" Here an alphabet
zeal record il made of all ap-
plieations. showing the name of the
applicant. his residence, the title o. the inven-
tion, name of attorney, date of receipt and the
name Of the examiner 10 whom it is sent
separate record is kept of all the fees paid An
important detail. at least to the applicant. is
us receipt The drawing accompanying the
application Is sent to the drafting division fo-
inspection as to its mechanical execution
EXAMINATION As TO PATENrABILIrY.
Mistakes are noted if any are discovered.
Upon the completion Of the application in
proper form the drawing and the papers are
sent for examination to patentability to the
examiners division to which it pertains. Elec-
frleal devices are sent to one examiner, fire
arms to another. washtubs to a third and
games and toys to fourth. There are thirty
principal examiners. and in many cases the
subjects assigned TO them for Investigation
undergo another subdivision, SO that however
large or small invention NAV be il can be
promptly and properly labeled as soon AS il
reaches the patent Office and sent 10 the expert
NHo devotes his entire time and attention to
investigating the patentabiity of inventions of
this character.
Each application is taken up in the exarrin-
ers room IN the order of its receipt excet ting
preferred cases specified in the statute and
rules Some of the examiners are so crowded
with applications that they are behind in their
work i've and six months, others are three
months or less behind the procession of in
ventors. The present commissioner, Mr.. Mitch
ell has endeavored to stimulate the working
capacity OF tine Office TO such a pitch that these
sIrearages would almost entirely disappear.
MORE ROOM AND MORE FORCE NEEDED.
He has succeeded to some extent, but. as he
Informed Congress. he would make more pro-
gress If the patent Office Was allowed proper
room to work in and larger force of exam
liners and assistant examiners and clerks TO do
the work The examiner and his assistants
when they take up case. endeavor to ascertain
several facts about i: in order TO determine
whether II Is patentable or not They decide,
among other things, whether the invention
offered for patent Is sufficiently novel TO war
rant the term of invention. Then they
also want 20 dnd out whether somebody
else has not patented the same thing.
An this latter contingency lies the yavning
grave o. many a new born invention. In all
probability before the inventor began to strr,-
gle with the problem and to work il oct by
slow ana painful effort to solution some other
fellow had gone through the same experience
anu reached practically the same result Both
are inventions, but the patent Office has
adopted that rule, which. while Just works in
Justice and hardship, that the first invention
recorded Is the true and only invention So
the anticipated inventor gets no patent. When
the examiner has dug down into the dusty
records OF the past sufficiently long without
hnstlng prior inventor and il the matter il
iatentable then the application is passed for
issae- one class OF Applications is thus happily
disposed Of
The REJECTED APPLICATIONS
Bot what becomes Of the rejected application?
IL Is not banded out into the street. but the
commissioner Of patents. through the exam
liner. informs the applicant in the te-se and
formal language of an official letter that his
application has been rejected The letter
thtreulon proceeds to narrate the reasons
upon which the rejection Is based The an
pleant Is kindly furnished by the examiner
with pertinent information fog his guidance as
70 the further prosecution Of the application
The rejection, however, may not be based
upon a vital objection; indeed ID Is sail tina
one or more reflections occur In most applica-
tons. At any rate the applican. can ask for a
reconsideration and he has the further priyi-
lege of repeating these requests as often new
references are cited
THE RIGHT OF APPEAL
While it is possibly not true of the present
of hat Of 81