Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-04-04

l. TELEPHONE BELL"
 cry and appliances. Many of his inven- tions have also been patented in for eign countries. To increase the number to round thousand is said to be the goal of his ambition. He recently took out eight new ones in 8 single week. Patents are issued once & week lon Tuesday,, and it Is rarely that Edison's name does not appear once or more on the list. At the present rate he will re ach his thousand in two or three years. There are many other prolific inventors who have taken out patents by the score, and few men up in the hundreds, but Edison holds clear lead in the race.
 During the first fifty years of the re- public the whole number of patents granted was 1,427. More than twice that number are now issued each year "a hundredfeld increase. The aggre- gate from the beginning to the present time is nearly 45o,OoO. During the cur rent fiscal year fully 25,00O patents will be granted, or about 500 week. Noth- ing better illustrates the marvellous growth of the country and the mental activity of our people.
 In the early days patents were granted by "the secretary of state, the Secretary of war and the attorney general, or any two of them" The present system, which has increased to such enormous | proportions, was established in ISS6 | Up to 1861 the life of patent was four teen years, and under certain conditions it might be extended for further term l al l. perience that the extension privilege was liable to abuse. and in 1861 the term was changed to seventeen years, with ] no renewals.
 A brief paragraph will show the growth of the bureau as now organized. 1t was established in 1886 with 8 com missioner and a total force of seven others. The first year 4S6 patents were issued-less than the work of a week in the present year of our Lord. At this time nearly 600 persons comprise the official and clerical force. The receipts last year were S1,2s1, ,72s and the ex- penses S1,052, ,956, leaving net surplus of $22s, 722. For many years the bureau has been more than self-sustaining.
 The average inventor is more or less of a Col. Mulberry Sellers. When he gets g. patent he imagines that there's million in it." A very few inven- tions bring large fortunes-to somebody and perhaps ten per cent. of the whole yield moderate returns. The great mass are a disappointment, re- sulting only in vexation of spirit. Tens of thousands of patented articles have only purely theoretical value. They are not practical, or the 'lonS felt want" which they are designed to meet is limited, and the investment of time and money proves losing one. In a multitude of cases nothing is ever done beyond securing the patent.
 As general thing inventors are lean in purse. It needs money to push 8 new thing. Unless capital can be ln- duced to take hold of it ''there's an end on t." Although the number of patents that have proved remunerative is small, as compared with the whole, the profits accruing from them have been enor- nous. As rule the inventor gets but little of the money. The lions share goes to further enrich the capitalist who supplies the means to find or make market. The men who gave to the world some of its greatest inventions have died in poverty. A few only have been fortunate enough to secure a com petence.
 The inventive genius of the people of the United States outstrips that of any other nation on the globe. England approaches us most nearly in this re- spect. Every other country is out of sight in the per cent. of patents issued to population. Looking at different sec tions of our own country, we find that 1O,676-nearly half of all the patents issued last year-were to the five states of Massachusetts, New York, Connec. ticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Twenty-four other states of the west and south did not have as many in the aggregate as New York. Connecticut took out last year one patent to every TOO population; Mississippi one to 2a,- 574. It will be readily understood that this disparity is due to local conditions The people who operate and invent ma chinety are not those who raise corn and cotton.
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