El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-17

arts by securing for limited times
to authors and inventors the exclusive
rights to their respective writings
and discoveries" When the trainers
of the constitution inserted that
clause they did as much to make
America the synonym of progress as
they did during the many weeks of
delibera ton on other subjects FOs-
tered by a single sentence in that
governmental creed, invention brought
the Pacific and Atlantic oceans within
easy communication with one another,
and in a large measure helped to make
possible the As stars in Columbias
prospective crown
The First Patent Law.
The honor of having introduced
bill for the first general patent law
in America providing affirma lively
for the granting of letters patent,
belongs to a statesman of Connecticut
Benjamin Huntington. He did this
soon after the first session of the first
congress convened The proposed
measure slumbered until the next
year In the meantime, president
Washington addressed congress in per-
son, in the course of which address
he urged the passage OF a patent law
He wanted to give encOura cement 10
the skill and genius at home, at the
same time encouraging the introduce
tion of new and useful inventions
from abroad The law that followed
was signed by Washington, April 10,
1890. 1t departed from English usage
in that an examination of the pro-
posed patent was required, and when
a person got his patent it was prfma
facia evidence that the invention had
been described correctly.
The secretaries of s<ate and war and
the attorney general were constituted
the first patent commission. They
waited three months before the first
applicant for a patent appeared Sam
ueI Hopkins had invented a new
method of making pot and pearl ashes
! That patent was issued July 81, 1870,
the first of nearly a million which
have followed in it's train. Three
years later another act was passed.
and the secretary of state alone be-
came the final authority as to wheth-
er a patent should be issued For
eigners were denied the privileges and
advantages of the patent system, but
this was partially restored in 1890.
In 1919 congress conferred upon the
circuit courts the right to protect the
holder of a patent from infringements-
Germ Becomes Active.
The germ of invention became very
active in the American mind in the
thirties. The railroad train and the
telegraph instrument became realiza-
lions, and everywhere inventors began
to bestir themselves. This led to the
enactment of a new law in 1886, a
law which has been pronounced the
most important event in American
history from the adoption of the con-
stitution to the opening Of the civil
war Before that time 10000 patents
were issued Since then nearly. a mil
lion have been granted. Under the
act of eB56 the patent office was eS-
tablished, the office of commissioner
OF patents was created and the big
Doric- cOlumned building that has
served as the temple of invention ever
since, was authorized
Since that day the American in
ventor has led the world. He is bring
ing out new ideas at the rate of more
than 30.O0O,0OO a year. Last year
there were $4,000 patents granted.
out Of $4,000 applications filed. These
patents covered the entire range Of
human ingenuity. Each decade brings
some epoch making invention, which
in turn brings in it's train thousands
OF others. When the automobile first
was invented and patented there had
been no need for the thousand and