The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-10-08
4 " INTkNTORS ILLS.

Regarding the oft repeated state
ment that delays are dangerous there
is probably no field Of work in which
delays are less dangerous than in
taking ont patents. Few things iusti-
fly being patented before they are
tried
I he United States patent laws are
the NO. liberal and favorable to he
inventor of any in the world, and by
them he is allowed two years CT public
use Of his invention prior to the GATE
of his application without in any way
prejudicing his right. In an ordinary
case the inventor should show draw
ing or aphotographof his invention or
the machine itself to a few Of his
personal frsends. The drawn should
be signed and dated by these frierds
or a signed and dated statement tt at
the machine was s,en Ly them sh' u!d
be made. In case Of any question If
priority (interference) between him
and another inventor, this drawing or
statement will serve as proof to the
| ra.ent examiner f the date to which
he is entitled. The imm( dia,e filing
of an application can do no more than
this, as any rat.nt is liable to be
| thrown into interference during the
first two years of is life. The only
reason for haste hat can possibly be
urged is the avoidance of interfere nee
and this is accomplished just as we'll
by the method described rs by fling
an application. Meanwhile the in
ventor's ardor will have a chance to
cool down, with the probability IN
most cases that the expense Of an APP
plication will be saved.
In general the obtaining of IA patent
is only very small beginning to-
ward getting money out Of an inven-
ton. Only those who have tried it
know the difficulty of enlisting the
interest of manufactures in putting
these things uron the market. In
general inventors without means and
without opportunities for enlistlng
| the interest Of others should be very
slow indeed about spending money on
patents for inventions, no matter how
promising they may be.
These statements only outline the
beginning of an inventors troubles.
The allowance Of patent by the pa
tent office is not law, and questions Of
infringement are always likely to
arise if the invention is really valuable
questions which can only be settled
by expensive litigation. 1t has been
said that patent Is only ga license
for law suit" and when an inven-
tor like Mr.. Edison saws, as he did
not long since, that patents are Il de-
fusion, the average inventor may we'll
think twice before spending his hard
earned dollars in that way.
The cheap patent solicitor flourish
es largely because the inexperienced
do not understand the difference be-
tween good patent and poor one
and imagine that because an inven-
ton is patented it is thereby protect
ed-an impression which is erroneous.
The solicitor who prepared the claims
for Elias Howe's sewing machine saw
that the essence of the invention lay
in the ''liuted reciprocatlng eye point
ed needle" and worded his claim ac-
cordingly. Had | e not been supe-
rlor man he would have have made
his claim to cover the various links in
the chain of mechanism by which the
stitch was formed, and the first inven.
tol who succeeded in making a stitch
| by different chain would have evad-
ed the patent. This example Illus
trate il few words the ditttreLc e
between good claim and a poor one.
| There is no field in which one man
seeks the expert advice and assistant
of another excepting that of medi
cine-ln which it is more important
to employ good talent than in the
preparation of patents.