Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-20
WITH AIM OF ECONOMY
PLANS CONSIDERED BY THE COM
MISSIONER OF PATENTS.

The commissioner of patents, Mr.. F.. l..
Allen. is considering methods for increas-
ing the usefulness of the publications of
the Office and at the same TING for de-
creasing the bulk of the printed matter
and the expense of the issues. in line with
the desires of Congress for reduction of
the amount of money spent for printed mat
ter The library edition of patents Is by
far the most bulky affair the patent office
gets out, and this cost the government
during the last fiscal year over 800 CO.
This and the Official Gazette, issued week
~, in its present form are not looked upon
as the best forms of publications by many
patent attorneys and libraries throughout
the country. Commissioner Allen has been
IN communication with interested persons
recently Tor the purpose of deciding whether
any cnanse is advisable and it so what
change.
Library Edition of Patents.
One change will be made this year as
result of investigation. Heretofore the
office has published 30 volumes of the Ii
prary edition of patents monthly Each
volume consists of three parts, bound sepa-
rateiy, the whole being about twelve inches
thlck. 1t was suggested that this big pub
iication was really not useful to the sub
scrioers and for the purpose OF ascertaining
t'Is iact letters were sent out making in
qulf9. Out of the 235 subscribers eighty
nine replied that they did not use the
euitiuii ana many called it nuisance since
"neh drawings and specifications of a par
.ic9lar patent are desired they may be
had very cheap from the Office There
~ W., however. enough persons desiring the
SuilioH 10 warrant its continuance The
auii4pet OF copies monthly will only be lT1
thereby result 'i'i7 wa
change that is being contcsnUlited is
az ieaacboh OF the size Of the weekly Of
uciai Gazette by the cult ng o,t- al am of
the claims in the various cas- excent tho
uIst iNe Ihis is advocated by many of
me leading attorneys of the country who
argue that by this method the Gazatta
No"lu be reduced about one-half in size or
an average Of about fn2 pages weekly
White over half of the patents would lave
claims complete. Az for the cases whose
claims would be Topped off II is stated h1.
the attorneys and the office that tho string
nag out or the claims is entirely unueces-
SaIy' as III reality they contain no informa-
t ION OF value to any one No definite ac-
tIoh IN this reg Ird has yet been taken hut
the commissioner is known to be in f lyor
OF the change suggeste
Reproducing Drawings of Patents.
~ suggestion which is locked upon with
considerable favor ~ the office comes from,
the outside. and is ttat the Official Gazette
be made to combine the features of the
Gazette and the library edition by the pub-
hcatlon weekly OF the complete set OF
drawings for the patents of the week on a
reduced scale in an appendix with separate
plndlng. This, it is said Is those who favor
IT, would give the public what it Is looking
for and would on the whole materially de-
crease the volume of printed matter put out
py the Office, as it would do away with the
tioiary EDITION entirely. 1t is possible that
tins may be done next year but owing 10
the present necessity of completing at once
the arrangements for the approaching fis-
cal year, matters will remain as before in
TINS particular for the present and contracts
Will be made upon the old isis.
Contracts for Typesetting
The commissioner of patents is also of the
opinion that money could be saved the gov
eminent by letting outside contracts for
the typesetting for the patent office pub
locations, done by the government
printing office, just as the photo-lithograph-
ic work Is now done on the outside by
competing concerns. The House commit
tee which reported the legislative appro-
priation bill pending in Congress question
ed Mr.. Allen upon this subject and he
said he believed the saving through healthy
competition would amount to about 40 per
cent. But the House merely left out the
clause in the measure which formerly stip-
uIated that the work shall be done by the
government printing office, without Civ
ing express authority to have Il done by
outside contract. This action Ii Is be-
lieVed by the commissioner, is not suffi-
cient ground for the letting of outside con-
tracts for the printing. owing to the fact
that there Is old statute requiring all
government printing to be done by the gov
of al mr. eli