The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1906-10-12
TO SCATTER PATENT
MODELS.
UNCLE SANS BIG COLLECTION
TO GO TO THE ASH HEAP.

These Curiosities and These Are
the Days of Economy-Curator
ellis System of Exhibiting Them
Notable Ones.
A sad man is r. c. Gill, for nearly
forty years keeper of the models of
/ the United States patent Office, writes
/ the Washington correspondent OF
/ the New York Sun He wanders
aimlessly through the long corridors
on three floors of the big Union
4 building on G street between Sixth
and Seventh streets, Northwest. TAX
/ ing a last farewell Of his wards. He
/ seems a part of the mustiness and
/ quaintness Of the place, his tall form
bent, his eyes piercing the dusk, his
bald head and white beard contrast
ing sharply with his surroundings
Only a few days more and then, by
act of congress, his treasures, the
1 accumulation of all the years since
the patent system was established in
1890, will be distributed he knows
not where
No one knows the great value and
singular interest attached to the 1876
Q49 models better than the old cur
ator The arrangement in the cases
is his; the labelling is his; everything
but the right to say what shall be
done with the models is his. They
are his pride and he has never been
so happy as when showing some Wis
itor through the labyrinth of curiosi-
ties
The keeping of these models is
costing Uncle Sam too much money.
Congress has said SO and the Com
missioner of patents agrees-or rath-
er he agreed before congress said
anything about the matter. A rental
of SIG, 500 a year is being paid for q
! place to store them and keep the
most interesting on exhibition. The
/ great movement for economy started
at the beginning Of the last session
has reached to this detail and all is
over. A special committee is looking
over the lot with view to finding
which models will have to be re-
tanned under the United States stat
utes as being a part of the record OF
the inventions in connection with
i which they were made. The records
of patents, if they are essential, must
not be destroyed, in order that the
patentee may be amply protected
against Infringement; and in some
cases, although only a very few, the
inventors specifications refer to mod
els and may not be understood with
out the models.
This is only a drop in the bucket,
however, for the authorities Of the
Office declare that 80 percent and
perhaps more will be scattered.
Those to which special historic in
terest is attached such as the orig
inal Howe sewing machine model,
the original model of the electro
magnetic telegraph instruments pa
tented by S. F. B. Morse in 1886, and
the first model of a patented gasolene
automobile will doubtless go the ma
tional museum in this city. Some
of the others will be sold or given
away to any colleges or technical in
stitutions that want them 1t is pos
sible that large patent soliciting
firms which maintain small exhibits
may desire to have some and if they
do they can get them for a song. AS
for the rest-the ash heap.
Mr.. Gill has expended years of
, thought and labor in making the mod.
els tell the complete story of Ameri-
can invention When a visitor enters
the model room on a tour of inspec-
, ton he takes him first to a far cor
ner on the uppermost floor, and there
in a food of light, next big window,
he points to Case No. ]. In it are
the beginnings Of things A model
of Eli Whitney's cotton gin is there,
but this is not the one made under
that inventors direction The ia
nous patent office fire Of September
"a, 1877, destroyed that and Mr.. Gill
had another made from the original
drawings, which are, Of course, on
record in the Office Another model
that is in Case No / is that of the
first patented steam railway engine
It is crudely constructed of brass, but
serves to show what in the dawn Of
steam invention was new principle
in mehanics-the piston and cylinder
applied to the operation Of a car
, rage.
While these historic inventions
hold the attention of the visitor
there is another which is not SO vel
known, but which deserves notice. II
! IS the Oldest model in. the collection
! q curious circular affair like table
, with big brushes arranged to operate
upon it. The card tied to it reads
, "Cloth shearing machine. Samuel S