The evening times., 1899-05-11
GREAT INDUSTRIES
BORN OF INVENTIONS
Surprising Statistics From the
Patent Office Records.
Mechanical Triumphs of the Past
Two Decades.
Dexiccs Tint Have Aided I'm the So
luton of Some of the froD-
lens Of Civilization.

An investigation of the records anu
statistics of the Patent Office shows that
within the last two decades several new
industries have been born and nave
grown to be industrial giants. The con-
spicuous features of this growth Eave peen
the electric railway, the telephone, the
bicycle, the typewriter. amateur photosra-
ply, the cash register, and the cash car
rier, basic steel, aluminium, the graphic
phone the kinetoscope, the haf-tone pro-
cess of photo engravings. the chrome-tan-
ming process, smokeless powder and other
high explosives, acetyiene gas. linotype
machines. and automatic weighing appara-
tus.
A. p. Greeley. Assistant Commissioner
of Patents, and who was Acting Commits
sioner OF Patents from the date o. the
death of Benjamin Butterworth. January
16, 1898, to the appointment CT Charles
II. Duell on February 5, 1898, has pre-
| pared some striking figures illustrative Of
| the development of industries through
| patented inventions. Prior to January /,
1851. the number OF patents issued by the
! United States, exclusive of 9.357 patents
! issued prior to 1886. was 226, 1876. These
|
| at the Centennial Exposition at Phi.adei-
! phia. IL was believed by many that the
| inventions there exhibited represented the
| highest development possible. The effect
| of the exposition, though. was to stimU-
| late invention, rather than to discourage
! il.
The total number of patents, including
/ designs issued in 1897 was 23.729. and the
number of trade marks labels and prints
registered was l.10l. In 1898 the number
! of patents issued, including designs. was
| 22,20i, and the number of trade marks. Ia
| beis. and prints registered was /. .i.3.
All of the inventions shown at the Cen
| tennial Exposition and for which patents
| were granted during the four years fol-
! lowing 1876 are now public property.
| Some Of these are inventions OF great COM
mercial value. including the cotton gin,
! the sewing machine. the self binding har-
yester, barbed wire fencing, the roller mill
| for -four milling. the sulphite paper proc
| ess, the dynamo and the electric motor.
and important inventions in typewriters
| and the telephone.
Mr.. Greeley declares that the influence
of these invenSons in the development of
| industries apd the increase of employment
OF labor cannot be doubted. In 1850 the
| number OF manufacturing establishments
was 123.02o. with an aggregate capital Of
| sons. In 1890 the number of manufactur-
ing establishments was 322 53s. with. an
aggregate capital of sS. l39. .3s7. 1S5. and en-
ploying 4,476, sS4 persons. A large part Of
this growth is due, in the opinion of Mr..
Greeley. to the encouragement and pro-
lection given 20 inventors by the Ameri-
can patent system.
OF the new industries. the most noted
are those directly connected with the de-
~ .la .r,,, i.,,rn -,,nt
as the manufacture of electrical apparatus
and supplies, the supplying of electricity
| for lighting and power purposes, electric
| railways and the telephone
| The use of electricity for power pur-
poses has found its most notable develop
ment in the electric railway. The first
| electric street railway was put in opera
tion in the United States a little more than
| ten years ago. In 1850 Of the 2,050 road
miles OF street railway in the United
| States. nearly all used animal power.
! Steam and the cable controlled a few, but
| electricity was not used.
The number of persons then employed on
| street railways was 1l,6ST. The mileage
| of electric railways in the United States in
| 1897 was 1896. out of total mileage of
15,7lS. of which but 947 miles were horse
| car lines The total capital invested was
| SS45 .l3l .69l and the number of persons
employed was about 1861 900. The benefit
which the electric railway has rendered to
| society cannot be measured in figures. 1t
is the best solution of the question of rapid
transit between suburban homes and the
city. 1t has done much to solve the tene-
ment house problem. ard has made avail
| able for residence purposes large tracts Of
| land which would otherwise be of little
value.
The telephone has come to be recognized
as necessity of commercial life. In 1880
| it was just beginning to become CONNER
| cially known. At the close of 1896 there
were in the United States 96T telephone
exchanges and S32 branch Offices. using
536.S45 miles of wire and employing IA, 425
| persons. The total amount said to be in
vested in telephone property in 1895 was
| S77 100000. The investment in electric
| light and power plants in electric railways,
| and in the telephone represents TO very
| large extent money paid for labor. either
| directly for the construction Of buildings
and the construction of railway bed, the
| stringing of hundreds of thousands of miles
of wire. or indirectly. for the manufacture
of the materials and the supplies necessary.
The demand for copper. largely for cleo
| trical purposes. caused the output to in
crease from 6o,4S0.00O pounds in 1880 to
| 255, 115.133 pounds in 1890. In 1895 the
| copper produced in the United States. in
cluding that made from imported pyrites,
| was 392, ,639. .96i pounds. valued at $685.
347.
| The demand for new cars for street rail-
ways has been enormous and has largely
| stimulated their manufacture. The needs
of the street railways have led to the in
vention of new forms of fare registers, and
| the manufacture of these forms, is in itself,
an industry of no inconsiderable proper
| tions.
An industry scarcely less important is
the building of bicycles. Bicycles of GER
| tain type were manufactured to a small
| extent in the United States in 1880, but
! the industry was not of sufficient impor-
tahce to warrant separate mention in the
| census statistics. The great development
of this industry has come since 1890, large
| ly as the result of the inventions in pneu-
matte tires, made about that time. In
1890 there were reported as engaged in the
manufacture of bicycles twenty-seyen es-
adjustments employing 1.925 workmen. In
| 1895. more than 200 establishments were
| engaged in the manufacture OF cycles. In
| February of that year the president of the
National Cycle Board of Trade stated that
the aggregate capital employed in the
manufacture of wheels exceeded s100. .oO0.
600 and that over $4,000 workmen were en-
ployed in the industry. The output of
wheels for that year is stated to have been