The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-08
FAME AND WEALTH
MADE in PATENTS
Review of the Wonderful Progress Made
in American Inventions.
CHAPTER OF PATENT OFFICE LORE

CHAPTER OF PATENT OFFICE LORE
Men Who Have Captured big Stakes
by the Ingenuity Of Their Brains.
Others Who Have Succeeded Only
in Causing the JudiciOus to Smile.
Curiosities That Reach the Patent
Office Each Year.
There is no advantage point like the
United States patent office, says q
writer in the Chicago Times Herald,
from which to measure and comprehend
the wonderful progress of the world IN
mechanical appliances and in the util-
tzatiOn of natures forces as applied TO
ell the sOnveniences and accessories OF
life. II we consider the stride from
primitive plow with which the ancients
tickled the soil to the marvellous farm
implements of today: from the first
brick libraries of Babylon and Ninevah
to the superb treasures in movable
types and sumptuous buildings that
stand, piled tier on tier, in the British
Museum and the library of congress
we may truly realize how the world has
progressed.
Yethere is still further thought that
the most wonderful part of this ad-
vancement has been made within the
last 100 years. During that time we
have had the discovery Of the telegraph
the electric light and all the various
ar in 40 Ia
period we have seen the evolution of the
printing press from the clumsy hand
lever contrivance of Franklin's time to
the marvellous machine which prints
and folds $4,000 copies of a complete
eighth-page newspaper in an hour. In
that time the locomotive engine, the
steamboat and the luxurious sleeping
and dining cars have supplanted the
primitive modes of travel which pre-
ceded them, and we have advanced
from the old hand spinning wheel to the
wonderful weaving looms and knitting
machines of the present day. Besides all
these we have the discovery of the tele-
phone, the phOnograph, the sewing ma
chine, the typewriter and even the con-
venient little lucifer match which re-
place flint and friction. Let any man
try to imagine the comparative condi-
tion of life and society if these patented
discoveries had never been made and
ne will measurably appreciate what the
world owes to the genius of inventions.
THE PATENT OFFICE.
Few readers of daily newspapers have
any definite idea what a wonderful and
Important institution the American
patent office has grown to be. Although
nine-tenths of the people of the whole
country are directly or indirectly inter-
ested in the manufacture or use of pat
ented inventions. only those who have
given the subject attention have any
comprehension of the great interests
involved or of the vast number who are
laborers in the fields of invention or in
some manner allied to the industry. A
brief history of the growth of this great
institution will be of general interest.
The first United States law pertaining
to patents was enacted April 10, 1890
and exactly three months later the first
patent granted under the authority of
the government was issued. The first
patent issued in America, however was
granted by the general court of Massa-
chusetts March 6, 1916, to Joseph Jen-
kes, an Engishman, who settled in
Lynn in 1643, and resided there until
his death in 1858, and who was Il rather
remarkable man in his time. He made
the dies for coming the first money, and
also built the first fire engine in this
country. But patents of this kind were,
like those issued in England in the early
days of the English patent system, not
even prima facie evidence of novelty,
and the inventor was obliged to main
tain his claim as best he could in the
courts. The law of 1890 remained in
force until February, 1898. and under it
only fiftyseven patents were issued. In
the latter year new act effecting some
notifications was passed, which stood
until 1886. a period of forty-three years,
during which 1857 patents were granted
The year 1886, in which the present
law was enacted, marked an epoch in
the American patent system. and in the
sixty years following, down to the be-
ginning of this year, something over
652,OO0 patents have been issued. From
the three patents granted in 1890 there
was a growth to the hiS -watermarlp
of 26,292 in 1890. Applications come from
every city and every little hamlet i'm
the land. During the fiscal year ending
June - 1870, tIle NUMBER OF appllcatiOnS
filed. including caveats. reissues, etc,
was Al, O41, of which 25.555 Were granted.
This aggregate and that of the year
next preceding, shows a slight falling
Off from the average for several
years previous, especially in the num-
ber OF patents issued. which is due to the
hard times. 1t is the poor mechanics
everywhere and the jacknife genius of
the rural districts who make a major
tty OF the claims for patents, and many
OF them do not find it easy in these times
to rake together the means with which
to pay the government and attorneys
fees. Not many years ago nearly all
the inventive genius of the country was
located in New England and the east
ern states. but during the last two or
three decades the west has developed
its share of mechanical ingenuity,
though Connecticut, the land of wooden
nutmegs and Waterbury watches. still
leads with the largest number patents
in proportion to population, with Massa-
chusetts second, the District Of Column
bia third. New Jersey fourth, Montana
fifth, Colorado eighth and Illinois we'll
:, up in the list.
A BEEHIVE.
The government departments at
Washington have all been called bee