The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-03-21
Some Very Interesting Facts About the
Patent Office.
A Profitable Branch Of the National Govern
ing on Perpetual Motion.
Correspondence OF THE MORNING CALL.

which he gives me concerning tie inventors
and the inventive genius Of this, the great
est inventive nation of the world, are full Of
interest In writing out the conversations |
have seen fl TO omit my questions andsgve
only the substance of his most interesting
talk.
Thomas A. Ellison, the "Wizard Of Menlo
Park" leads the country and probably the
world, in fertility Of inventive genius. More
than $40 patents have been issued TO him,
chiefly for new or improved electrical ma
chnery and appliances. Many Of his in
ventiOns have aso been patented in foreign
countries. 10 Increase the number TO n
round thousand is said 10 be the goal of his
ambition. He recently took out eight new
ones in n single week. Patents are issued
once a week-on Tuesday-and il is rarely
that EdisOn's name does not appear once or
more on the list AT the present rate he
will reach his thousand in two or three
years. There are many other prolific In
yentors who have taken out patents by the
score. ana few men up into the hum
bred, bat Edison holds clear lead in the
race.
The first patent law in the United States
was enacted I'm 1890. 1t covered ANY useful
art. manufacture. engine, machine or device.
or any Improvement thereon, not before
known" In the law now in force the lam
guage is "any new and useful art. machine.
manufacture or composition of matter or
Improvement thereof" The first patent
was granted July 81, 1890, "f0r making pot
and pearl ashes" Oniy two others were
issued during the year. BY February 81,
1898. when the law was amended, the total
number Of patents granted had increased
To hlty-fiye. Oue of these was TO John
FITCH "fOr pTOpelling vessels by steam"
A few years later Robert Fulton gave the
first practical start to steam navigation.
During the first fifty years OF the republic
the whole number Of patents granted was
1I,I27. More than twice that number are
now issued each year-a hundredfOld in
crease. The aggregate from the beginning
10 the present time Is nearly $4,000. Dur
ing the current fiscal year fully -. eco pat
cuts will be granted, or about 500 a week.
Nothing better illustrates the marvellous
growth OF the country and the mental activ-
ity 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 sys TEN. which
has increased to such enormous proper
tons, was established in 1886. Up to 1861
the life Of a patent was fourteen years, and
under certain conditions it might be ex-
tended FOR further term Of seven years.
1t was learned by experience that the eX-
tension privilege was liable TO abuse, and In
1861 the term was changed 10 seventeen
years, with no renewals.
A brief paragraph viii show the growth
OF the bureau as now organized. II was es-
tabliShed in 1886 with commissioner and
total force Of seven others. The first year
436 patents were issued-less than the work
of a week In the present year of our Lord.
At This time nearly 60 persons comprise
the official and clerical force. The receipts
last year were S1,2Sl, rs and the expenses
Sl.052, 9J6. leaving net surplus Of SOS, 10.
For many years the bureau has been more
than Self-SuStaining.
Next TO the application of steam TO navi-
CATION, the first great invention on the
records Of the Office was the cotton gin,
patented by Eli Whitney in 1894. L D to the
time this came into use the separation of
cotton seed from the fiber had TO be done
by hand-a process tedious and expensive.
The value of Whitney's invention is i'm
measurable. Nothing has done so much 10
cheaper all the products CT cotton. Many
Improvements have been made, but the
cotton gin OF to-day embOdies the same
principle that was thought out by Eli Whit
ney leo years ago. Before the year 1900
there were also granted patents which
reyolutiODiZed the cardiDg and spinning
OF wool and the manufacture of
nails. Later came the sewing machine, the
inflammation Of rubber, power looms for
weaving and knitting. the planning machine,
the lathe Tor turning Irregular forms, the
mower and grain-barvester, the electric
telegraph, the telephone. the clothes
wrnger, the scTew-making machine, the
steam drill, the improvements in railway
appliances, and thousand others of lesser
the comfort and happiness Of man. Big
fortunes have been made out of these in
ventions, but wtthal, the cost of hundreds
Of things that everybody uses has been re-
duced MANIFOLD by the wonderful facility
of production. In some Instances the mil
lions" In the Imagination of Colonel Sellers
have been realized, though not by the colonel
himself.
Thousands Of small patents" continued
Commissioner Mitchell, ''are granted to me-
chanics employed in the endless shops and
manufactures OF the East A workman de-
yises some Improvement of machine and
gets it patented 1t may be a little thing,
but his employer adopts il and pays him a
royalty for its use. All over New England
and other manufacturing States there are
men who have regular incomes from this
source, aside from their earnings, which en-
able them 10 live in comfort aud even lux
uTy. / have practiced in patent law and
remember that in one Of my early cases,
when was but a STRIPPING, | was opposed
by an able and experienced attorney from
New York. In the interest Of my client |
took the ground that these small patents
ought not 10 be granted. Young man. said
my antagonist, let me tell you that these
little patented inventions, which to Won
seem so thrilling, are the wealth of Conuee-
ticut,' l have lived long enough to learn
that he told the truth"
The inventive genius OF the PEOPLE of the
United States outsiriIs that of any other
nation on the globe. England approaches
us most nearly in this respect. Every other
country is out Of sight In the percentage Of
patents issued to population. Looking at
different sections of our own country we
find that lO,6I6-nearly half of all the
patents issused last year-were to tie five
States OF Massachusetts, New York, Con-
necticut, 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 zoo population:
Mississippi one 10 23,5I4 Ii will be readily
understood that this disparity is due TO local
conditions. The people who operate ana in
vent machinery ate not those who raise corn
and cotton.
Formerly it was required that every ap
piicatlon Tor patent must be accompanied
by sample IL the article was small or n
miniature model complete in all its parts if
ii exceeded certain dimen sions. The fire in
the Patent Office in 1877 DESTROYED I24OOO
Of these models, and this requirement. was
soon after discontinued. The considera-
tons that moved to this change were the
cost to inventors aud the rapid accumula-
ton of models. involving the question of
space Tor storage. Drawings have been
substituted. models being 6nly furnished
when called for by the bureau There re-
main about 10000 old models, which are
kept In glass cases and serve as sort OF
museum Tor the entertainment OF pilgrims
The number OF patents issued TO those
VINO have attempted the solution of some
mechanical problem is almost beyond be-
lief. Probably the largest for any one
thing have been granted for devices to miti-
gate the family washing day." More than
$500 patents have been granted for washing
machines. Net one in fifty Of them has ever
come into general use. and fewer still
have proved to be Of real practical value.
1t requires about as much ''elbow grease
and causes as much backache to operate one
Oh them as 1t does to rub the clothes or a
dashboard in the good old way. Wrecks of
these machines, in all stages OF decrepitude.
may be seen in back yards ana woodshed
all over the country, particularly In the