The record-union., 1893-03-04
PATENT OFFICE CJRIOS.
Facts About the Increase of
inventions.
According to the Commissioners Re-
Every 1 ,944 Inhabitants of the State
The south Shows Little Mechanical
Genius.

A statement recently sent TO Congress
by the Commissioner of Patents gives
some interesting facts about the workings
OF the inventive minds of the United
States during the century just ended.
The number of patents granted in the
year 1892 was nine; in the year 1892, $4,000
in round numbers. In 1872 patents were
granted to citizens of four States and one
to citizen of another country-England.
In 1892 every State and every country
participated in the work of offering to the
public new devices. In 1892 the public
mind was of an extremely practical turn,
apparently, for the patents of that year
included rickmaking, wire weaving,
steel tempering, thread spinning, and
wood saving, while the patents of 1892
include such articles as cigar lighters,
cigarette cases, corset fastenings, merry
go-rounds, shoe horns, skirt elevators,
| toy pistols, and manicure Implements,
according to the st. Louis Star ,SlyiRgS
| New England still holds the champion
| belt i'll the matter Of inventions, the little
| State OF Rhode Island having one patent
for every 1,l90 people, and Massachusetts
still better, with one patent for every
! l,O52, While Connecticut gets one for every
|
to lean Westward rather than southwark.
Even such States as Illinois, Ohio and
! Indiana get large number of patents.
| In Illinois the number of patents is at the
rate of one for every oh inhabitants,
while in Georgia, which holds about the
same relation to the South that Illinois
| does to the W est, the number OF patents
runs at the rate of one to every ASH In
! Mississippi the lack OF inventive genius
seems to be more strongly marked, the
patents there being at the rate of one for
every 20,409 persons, and in South Caro-
| lima one tor every 23,4S2
That there are some interesting and in
genious machines coming to the surface
nowadays is shown by glance over the
list of patents issued, as shown by the
last annual report. The people who have
! to foot up long columns of figures until
their heads ache will be pleased TO know
that patents have been issued for some
! twenty adding machines, and the people
| with Il new baby in the family will also
| be interested to discover that hall dozen
| baby jumpers, two baby walkers, one
/ baby chair, half a dozen baby carriages,
three cradles and a cradle motor which
will rock the baby forever are among the
patents granted during the year. What
| happy age is this i'll which we live.
Think, gentle reader, of the hours your
loving mother spent in rocking
you to sleep, or the agony of your pater-
nal ancestor as he paced the floor of
nights with you in your infancy, and
compare those conditions with the pres
ent one of an electric motor for rocking
the baby. 1t was then weary hours of
monotony and agony; now you simply
touch the button and the machine does
the rest.
A DIMET II YLP II EN- LPYRAZoLoNE
MAKER.
Our inventive ancestors would turn
themselves in their graves if they were
aware of the kind of invention to which
the inventive mind is running. The man
who invents a corset fastener may pos
| sibly be forgiven, and he who strains his
mind over egg beaters, leaf turner's and
cow mixers might possibly be recognized
even by the stern forefathers of practical
! ideas, but the man who inVents dime
! hylphenylpyraZolone maker, an ant ex-
| termlnator or COW tail holder seems to
be running the inventive racket little
| too far, even for this age OF luXuries. The
| activity of Presidents and Presidential
candidates in the angling line has evi-
IDENTIFY proved inspiring to the inventors
in that line for ,the number of patents
granted for fish hooks. lines. sinkers.
| bats, reels and rods, is more than a score.
| The public anxiety ''to get ahead of the
! gas company is catered to in twenty or
more devices for the manufacture of gas
and numerous gas regulators, gas testers
and gas savers. 1t is interesting at this
| time OF the year to know that there have
| been more than a score of hot air furnaces
| patented during the year, and one OBJ
serves, also, with shudder, that ice-nak-
ing machines, freezers and refrigerators
have been patented by the hundred Mr.
| Cleveland will undoubtedly be very
much interested in knowing that half
dozen cabinets" have been invented and
patented during the year, and that the
/ l,a,. of ssl-itahan 90 ;e,
greater. He may also be interested in
knowing that among the inventions of
| the year are "knock-down chair" and a
"knock-down closet" both of which he
will doubtless want for immediate use on
and after the 4th of March.
Besides the articles likely to interest
Mr.. Cleveland there are some which will
be of interest to the other side of the
| house. For instance, the patent for
| ''yotlng machine" which is issued to L.
S. Gardner, ought to interest the Repub-
| lican leaders materially just now. The
people who have been trying to discover
| through Mr.. Cleveland what his Cabinet
selections are going to be will be inter-
ested in patent Tor mouth opener"
issued to w. Z. Edwards. Probably the
article most in demand in political circles,
however, during the coming year will be
the ''of1ice indicator for which patent
was issued to X. e. kingsford.
THOUSANDS OF ELECTRIC PATENTS.
Seriously, however, the inventions of
| the year have been, very many of them.
very valuable. The growth of the use of
electricity for various purposes, includ-
ing light and power, has been something
wonderful, and the number of patents
issued in relation to the generation or use
of the electric current are numbered lit
orally by thousands. Railway devices Of
various kinds also attract greatly the at
tention of inventors. The railroads pay
well for anything that is of value to them,
and the inventors find their field a valu-
able one, while, on the other hand, the
comparatively uneXplored field of inven-
ton with reference to the use of electricity
| them.