Sunday morning globe., 1901-09-08
THE BRITISH PATENT OFFICE.
No Models Required to Secure a Pat
ent- Rules Governing the Office.

~Nb NHl~o AO'NA uAllS luG OlllEGs
Chancery Lane, that lively thorough.
fare between High Holborn and Fleet
street, is about equally divided be.
tween students aud practitioners of
the law on the one hand and patent
agents on the other. Here comes the
great army Of invetors from the four
corners of the earth, who hover about
his majesty's patent Office like vultures
over a dead carcass; and the patent
specification, till recently clothed in
blue, is the one thing ever present in
most Offices round about Chancery
Lane.
All application for patents must be
made in English, and no models are re.
quired to demonstrate that the inven-
ton is workable. Provisional protec.
ton can be obtained for nine months
at cost of H. and at the end of that
time the complete specification will re.
quire stamp, value f3. Every patent
is granted for the term of Ia years
from the date Of application. subject
TO the payment Of the prescribed an
nual fees, which, for the ten Install
ments, amount to t95; but the annual
fee gives an inventor a chance, at rea-
sonable cost Of experimenting as to
whether his novelty viii succeed. ANY
person who represents that an article
sold by him is a patented article when
no patent has been granted for it. is
liable for every Offense on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding E5.
The patent Office does not undertake
to give legal advice or opinions on any
subject connected with patent law.
which like other laws is left to the
Interpretation of professional men. A
patent is granted upon an application
which passes the prescribed stages and
is unOpposed whether the invention
be novel or not Applications for pa
tents contrary to general law are re-
fused; as, for example, those relating
to gambling and to adulteration for
purposes Of deception, such as making
milk to look like cream, or making the
automatic machine give back the coin
as well as the goods at certain inter
walls unknown to the purchaser. At
the end Of last year there were about
$4,000 British Specifications Of pa
tents, ranging from the year 1917.
Some of the specifications are very
curious. There is a machine for wash |
ing and peeling potatoes, a workman's |
dinnercan with a never-cooling food |
warmer, a pie-funnel and crust sup |
porter combined and all kinds of do /
nestle appliances Lecturers, clergy.
men and lawyers, whose memory may
sometimes be rather treacherous, will /
appreciate the genius Of the inventor |
of the microphotoscOpe. 1t consists Of |
a pair of spectacles or eyeglasses with |
one or a number of minute photo |
graphs arranged in or along the rim. /.
The minute photographs are placed be- |
hind suitable magnifying glasses, and |
are so arranged that the eyes Of the |
wearer may see either one or all the |
photographs without moving the spec |
tacles.
Volcanoes are, according to one in
yentor, to be harnessed and applied TO
useful purposes. The volcanic heat is
to be drawn into receptacles provided
with tubes for distribution to public
and private buildings, even to great
distances; the invention may be ap-
piled to heating baths, drying-rooms,
and for distilling water. For the use
Of miners, more especially, one invent
or makes coiled tube containing com
pressed air and carried like a lady's
muif, handy for regulating a supply Of
fresh air to persons in a poisoned at
mosphere A hood which fits over the
head is connected with this reservoir,
and thus only pure air is breathed.
Means are adopted for letting out the
impure air, and also a window for see
ing through the hood.