The record-union., 1893-03-03
PATENTS.
Some Figures and Facts About the
Growth of the L. s. Patent system.

Some Figures and Facts About the
Growth of the L. S. Patent System.
The last report of the United States
Commissioner of Patents contains several
| graphic exhibits of the growth in num-
DerS OF patents issued to citizens of the
y Inted States in the century ending 1890,
andNthe study of these diagrams leads to
some interesting deductions. The first
law controlling the issue of patents in the
United States was passed by Congress in
IfsO; though at that time about 100 pat
ents or caveats had already been granted
under previous crude enactments by local
or State authority.
The development of the inventive fac
ultles of Americans, says Engineering
NeUS, seems to have been very slow in
the early years of our national existence,
II the issue of patents is to be taken as q
| basis OF estimate. With the population
increasing in steady but rapid curve,
/ Inc Issue of patents, as recorded ON the
cnart, SHOWS very slow growth until
after the middle of the present century
was passed. The passage of the new pat
ent laws of 1885 and 1870 showed a de-
pressing rather than an encouraging
elect upon the efforts of inventors.
The year of 1852 is the first point of
| marked departure in this respect and the
rate OF issue increased from 1,U20 patents
Issued in that year to 1879 issues in 1860
The effect of the Civil War was at first to
decrease the number OF applications, but
the urgent call for new devices Of all
KINDS, brought out by the war itself,
| soon oyercame this slight depression, as
is SHOWN by the fact that in the interval
IooZ-6I, through which period the war
may be said to have still influenced in
Nentors, the issues rose in number from
| 1921 to 1905.
After 1867 the rate of yearly growth was
steady and rapid, with some falling off in
loIl, 1872 and 1879. In the year 1891 there
were 4O,oo2 applications; 2,40S caveats
were hlled and %, pa patents were is
sued.
The next chart shows the number of
patents issued to individual States in the
PERIOD !'9O-lS9O, and per 1000 OF State
population annually. Up to about 1850
this ratio per 1000 was low, and in this
respect the several groups of States did
not ulf1er widely, the highest ratio being
less Than one per 200. But the rapid in
crease IN manufactures and the founding
OF great industries in the Eastern, Mid
Ole and Western States after that date
caused very marked growth in the ratio
OF patents granted as contrasted with the
agricultural States of the South and West.
Inc WIS OF inventors were sharpened by
the demands of surrounding conditions
IN the industrial communities; and Con-
necticut, famed for the introduction of
Eastwood hams and wooden nutmegs in
our earlier annals, maintains her suprem-
acy Tor inventive genius throughout
the century, with the highest ratio given,
that OF l3.l patents yearly for 900 OF pop
ulation.
AS to the South, the list of patents
granted annually SLOWS that conditions
are now rapidly changing, and the mark
ed development in Southern industries
indicates corresponding encouragement
TO inventors. Alabama, for example,
LOOK out lO3 patents in 1890, as contrasted
with % in 1880 and 36 in 1870. Georgia,
Louisiana and South and North Carolina
show similar late increase in issues.
while Mississippi, Florida and Arkansas
remain at about the same low ratio for
years. Taken as States, regardless of
population, New York comes first, with
lOl ,9S9 patents granted in the period 1850
1870; pennsylvania comes next, with 51,-
l40; then Massachusetts,, with 1882;
Ohio, 34,606; Illinois, 30, 642, and Connect
icut with q, $40 patents.
But the benefits of the patent system
are by no means confined to the manu-
featuring industries. AS the Commits
s1oner OF Patents points out i'll his report,
1t was the invention of the schoolmaster
whitney, in his improvement of the cot
ton gin, that made possible the marvellous
cotton culture of the South, and the set
Element, cultivation and growth of the
great West are due to the patented inn
provements in agriculture and in trans
portatlon. Under previously existing
conditions it would have required the
labor of about q, 000,0 900 men and boys to
plant, till and harvest the American corn
crop of 1899, a laboring force considerably
outnum boring the entire population of
the United States in 1850.