The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-02
SOME WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
THE PATENT OFFICE.

fdence There That the Crank Is
scriptiOn of Some of the Models.
An Invention of a Georgia Mana
Device Which Appeals to the Sym
pathies of "A Mother of Small Boys.
Other Matters of General Interest.
Washington. May s1.-Of the thousands
of people who daily pass the great white
building devoted to Uncle Samuers pat
ent business, an infinitesimal number ever
saw the inside of it. Though finished less
than forty years ago-at a cost of two
million, seven hundred thousand dollars
and occupying two entire squares, sur
rounded by the busiest streets of the
capital, with their electric cars and hur-
rying crowds, it has become as familiar
as the crowds themselves and attracts as
little attention. The average Washing
tonian is not of an investigating turn of
mind, nor given to curiosity, and many
things exist right under his nose of which
he has little idea. Perhaps 1t is natural
that people so slow and sleepy as to be
willing to be governed by laws that have
come down almost intact from King
Georges time, should know less about
their own town and the Institutions there
of than the enterprising stranger who
comes for weeks visit and puts in his
time to best advantage. At any rate, it
is an undoubted fact that to most people
who reside here, the Heart of Africa OF
Barrioboolah Cha, is not more of a terra
incognita than the patent, pension, land,
Indian and other important bureaus To-
Gated at the capital. Being questioned
about patents the other day, by visitor
from the West (and utterly unable to
answer), the idea of my own ignorance
was so borne in upon me that 1 set out
at once on a tour of investigation. And
this is the result:
The immense patent Office building, to
which Washingtonians seldom give a
thought, is really one of the most impos-
ing in the country, of the pure Grecian
Doric type. 1t covers three acres of
ground and contains 191 rooms-some of
them of superb dimensions. 1t is built
of Maryland marble, Massachusetts gran
lite and white freestone from the govern
ment quarries at Aqua creek; and occu-
pies the site set apart in the original plan
OF the city for national mausoleum, or
Westminster Abbey--a not inappropriate
substitute, by the way, since it has prov
ed the burial-plaoe of untold millions of
ideas, the offspring of inventive brains
It's four facades are nearly alike-each
with an imposing portico, modelled after
the Temple of Minerva, at Athens, and
reached by lofty fights of granite stairs
Each portico has sixteen Doric columns,
fluted, set in double rows and fianked by
Immense pilasters. Each entrance opens
into spacious vestibule, with arched cell
ing, groined on Doric columns, and from
these four vestibues, doors on both sides
lead 20 the magnificent corridor, which ex-
tends all around the main floor of the
three-acre structure, giving access to the
various offices of public lands, Department
of the Interior, commissioner of patents,
etc.
In the basement, which is reached by
granite stairs at the four corners, are
more offices and storage-vaults and on
the floors above are immense halls each
60 feet wide by Us long, and 80 feet high,
their groined arches resting upon a per-
feet forest of piers, ranged in quadruple
rows. In the center of each hall is a raised
arch, forty feet high, the entire
complicated structure being of solid
masonry and the general style of
decorations Pompeiian. These halls
are completely lined with glass
fronted cases, containing models of every
patent under the sun; while down the CEN
tiers are other cases and larger models
of carriages, ships, mechanical powers,
projectiles, munitions of war excavators,
agricultural implements. machines for
hosting and hydraulic engineering-in
short, for every device which the genius
of man has conceived. Scattered among
them are many relics of historic interest.
There is Franklins printing press, the
clumsy affair at which he worked, in Lon
don, in 1928. There is a large case of
Gen. Washington relics, including the
candelabra and china tea set presented
to him by the officers of the Society Of
the Cincinnati; a plate presented to Mar
tina Washington by Gen. Lafayette; the
uniform which Washington had on when
he resigned his commission; his writing
desk, cane. compass and sleeping tent.
Among other valued relics is Baron de
Kalbs war saddles; sabres presented by
Ali Pasha Bey of Egypt, to the officers
of the United States ship Concord, just
seventy years ago; the coat that Jackson
wore during the battle of New Orleans.
The original Declaration of Independence;
guns of antique pattern given to President
Jefferson by the Emperor Of Morocco; a
model patented by Abraham Lincoln, in
1877. for the lifting Of vessels over shoals.
One afternoon is but an aggrava ton, in
a place so full of interesting objects that
one might spend profitable weeks in
studying them. OF course. in the limits
of this letter. we can mention hardly one
out of thousands of curious articles which
have been patented during the last few
years.
There are several models for flying ma
chines-lll so simple and apparently so
effective that behoders wonder why peo-
pie are yet going about on their slow
legs, instead of fitting through space IS
birds and angels do There are devices
for the automatic sale of newspapers; for
lighting tie fire in the morning without
getting out of bed; for making eggs time
their own boiling; for counting money;
adding columns of figures; awakening
sleepy heads at a desired hour; enabling
persons If burned alive to escape the
grave; sewing patches onto worn gar
ments without needle or thread; a trap
for catching tapeworms; so many ingeni-
Gus devices, both useful and absurd, that
the brain absolutely reels in contemplate
ing them. Some Of the most important
labor-savers are so simple that every be-
holder wonders why he never thought of
It himself. Labor-saving seems to be the
prime object OF most inventors; and next
comes personal vanity. In the former line
may be mentioned the travelling stair
case, patented. not long ago. by Mr.. James
Dodge Of Philadelphia. This blessed stair