The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-08

y 81
ly $50 employes-exafniners, draughts-
men, clerks. copyists. etc.-crowded into
tifty-six rooms. And with all the rest,
it is the only bureau or department that
Is self tanning. In the year 1890, the
banner year in the history of the office.
the total receipts>were 81 $40 ;372, sc. while
the expenses were si,099. .237,74, giving a
net profit of s241 1,O7492. In 1892 the net
earnings were sl75, SO. and for the fis-
cal year ending June 20, last, the profits
were sl57, .999. notwithstanding the
depressed condition of business gener
ally. The total amount of net earnings
to the credit of the office in the treas
ury of the United States is s4,566, 7577S.
The question has been raised whether
the government should go on accumu-
lating this fund. which has been char
acterized as so much blood money
squeezed from the inventors of the
country. If the fees are now larger
than necessary to cover the cost OF ad-
Judging and acting upon all applica-
tions, say the objectors, why not reduce
them? The object of the patent law Is
to encourage and stimulate invention.
Without this stimulus the great prog
ress noted within the past 100 years
would not have been witnessed, while
under it's operation we have seen that
where, n century ago, Franklin, a man
of science, was content to leave the
printing press as he found it, and as
Guttenburg had eft it 300 years before.
the last 100 years have seen 1T advance
to one of the most wonderful mechan-
isms i'm an age of wonders. And where,
q century ago. the workman and the
artisan were satisfied to jog along with
such crude implements and methods as
were at hand, today he is alert and
thoughtful, looking to the attainment
of better instrumentalities and higher
plane of action.
CURIOSITIES IN STOCK.
Patent office research has many in
teresting features. The model-room
that great storehouse of miniature me-
chanical devices, has it's curious ana
it's humorous side. '"The curositieS OF
literature" are not more entertaining
than the curosities of the patent office.
Within its archives are models of al
most every implement of human use,
from the Hotchkss machine gun to the
toy pistol. and from a steam engine to
a common wood screw from the great
windmill to bottle stopper, from
steamship to a rat-trap, from
trashing machine to an ice cream free-
ger, from a cradle to a tombstone, and
from a brick machine or folding bed
to fish hook and a toy hoop. There
are jumping-jacks, dosing bottle ana
life e-saving boats, cooking stoves. print
ing presses and gate openers, horse
shoes. railroad frogs and sausage ma
chimes, corn planters. corn shelters and
corn eXtractOrs. fans, corset stays ana
glove fasteners, world without end. The
number of patents that have been is
sued for variations or improvements of
the same thing is astonishing. Cover
ing so small a thing as a wood screw
there are over 100 different patents;
in the class of lanterns nearly 1000 pa
tents, and for wash boilers something
like 500. For tobacco pipes and mouth
pieces AIS patents have been issued. and
for bottle shoppers upward of 600. These
are among the simplest devices. but
coming to the more important classes
there have been up to the last year 6,OS
patents granted for sewing machines,
and their various attachments; for fire
arms, not including heavy ordnance.
torpedo or machine guns, 1856 patents;
for car couplings. 6,7S0 and for weaving
and knitting machines, 5,3l2. For ag-
ricultural implements, including plant
ers, harvesters, thrashers and the
whole range of machines and ap-
piances. the total number of patents is
36,575, of which 1O,122 relate to plow
alone. In the class of electric lighting
3,346 patents had been issued previous
to the current fiscal year, and in that
of carriages and wagons the total num-
Der is 2OO96. These are fair illustra-
tions. In the line of toys there is an al
most endless array, including nearly
200 toy savings banks. some of which
are exceedingly ingenious and unique,
and dolls without number. Many of
these are among the most profitable
patents issued.
AND STILL THEY COME.
1t would seem that with this great
number of patents already granted
every possible Improvement or device
in these classes must be covered. But
SO it seemed to many few years ago,
when majority Of the present inVen-
tions were undiscovered; yet inventive
brains have gone on evolving new ideas,
and more than half of all the patents
issued nave Leer granted in the last
fourteen years. In the various classes
of electricity the most extraordinary de-
yelopment has been shown within a few
year. and the number of patents run
well up into the thousands. of which the
wizard Edison alone has obtained near
ly seven hundred. The great aggregate
of patents granted is vastly swollen by
the continual Improvement of important
inventions. Tor instance, a single
firm of passenger and lifting elevator
manufacturers employ in their con-
struction and operating mechanism
more than $50 separate patents. and
new improvements are being added con-
stantly. The modern printing press
manufacturers own hundreds of pat
ents covering the various parts which
go to make the complete machine, while
the great electric companies have pro-
cured or purchased scores upon scores
of patents useful or necessary in tho
perfection of their various syste,..G.
And so 1t is all through the list. The
field of invention is practically limit
less, and great as are the rewards that
have been realized for the wonderful
and useful discoveries already made,
still greater ones remain to be enjoyed
by those who solve the e'numerous prob
lens and possibilities yet remaining in
the realm of the unattained.
THE FINANCIAL SIDE.
1t is the profit realized by successful
inventions that inspires the greater part
of this activity. Nearly every inventor
expects or hopes to make a fortune out
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