Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-17
q AMERICAN INVENTIONS. .
Growth Of the Patent System.
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

Although the patent system of the
world had its inception in England and
finds its most effective application in
Germany today. 1t probably has rendered
its greatest service in the United States.
For In no other country have the ma
terial rewards of successful inventors
been so rich. even though 1t has been
said that the patent ONCE is the grave
yard Of buried hopes and that inventors
die poor. The civilized nations OF the
earth have issued three million patents,
and Of this number one million are to
be found in the files of the patent office
Of the United States.
From time immemorial the right to
grant exclusive privileges was considered
the prerosative Of kings. among other
privileges being that of life beneath from
Inventions and discoveries. This preroga-
tive was SO abused about the time of
Elizabeth that favorites were even given
exclusive right to purvey the necessaries
OF life. Others were inhibited from en-
gaging in occupations that would conflict
with the wishes and desires of royal IA
vorites. In 1873 King James agreed that
in future all patents should be granted
only to inventors OF new manufactures,
and to them only for limited time. But
for many years this law was Interpreted
entirely in q hostile way to the interests
of inventors. The patent was not even
prma facia evidence that the patentee
had made the invention. No margin was
conceded for possible error. An unapt
title to his invention. an ill-judged word
In his specifications. an fncautious ex-
pertinent or the least disclosure before
the sealing Of letters patent would end
patentee's privileges. 1t was only nat
ural that such an attitude of hostility
should result in the issuance Of only a
thousand patents in $50 years.
Then Watt succeeded in Harvesting ma
chinery to steam and Arkwright hitched
spinning to ma
Foundation Laid chinery. This
of Patent Practice sm cs i = cron o os
infringements that the courts became
fierce battiehelds. and the judges began
TO realize that inventors were public
benefactors. worthy of all honors and
material rewards. In this attitude they
laid the foundation Of modern patent
practice and the Industrial era that fol-
lowed.
The idea came with the empire-builders
to Jamestova and Cape Cod. and in
1641 the colony of Massachusetts grant
ed to Samuel Winsow a patent for
new method of making salt. In 1916 a
patent was granted to Joseph jerks for
an engine for the more speedy cutting
Of grass This engine was nothing
more than an old-fashioned moving !
scythe, but II was the first of long line of
American agricultural machines that have |
revolutionfzed the farm life of the world |
The Connecticut colony was strongly |
in favor Of encouraging inventors. and |
in the century preceding the revolution |
granted many patents. In 1872 1t passed |
a general law that there should be no |
monopolies granted or allowed except |
on valuable inventions, the length of time |
covered by a patent being within the |
discretion OF the general court. From |
that day to the present the people of |
Connecticut have taken out more patents |
per capita than those of any other state. |
The convention that framed the Amer |
lean Constitution had been sitting for |
three months before the patent question |
was brought UP. Many propositions were |
introduced, but the final enactment pro-
vided that Congress should have. the
power TO promote the progress of sci |
for limited times to authors and in |
ventors the exclusive rights to tneir
respective writings and discoveries"
When the trainers of the Constitution in
serted that clause they did as much to |
make America the synonym of progress |
as they did during the many weeks of |
elaboration on other subjects Fostered |
by a single sentence in that great gov |
ernmental creed, invention brought the |
Pacific and Atlantic oveanS within easy
communication with .one another, and in |
large measure helped to make possible |
the forty-eight stars in Columbia's pro- |
spective crown.
* x
The honor of having introduced a bill
for the first general patent law in Amer
lea providing af
Bill introduced frmatively forI
for Patent Tou the granting of
letters patent be-
longs 20 a statesman of Connecticut-Ben-
1amin Huntington. He did this soon after
the first session of the First Congress con-
vened. The proposed measure slumbered
until the next year. In the meantime.
President Washington addressed Congress
in person. in the course Of which address
he urged the passage of a patent law
He wanted to give encouragement to the
skill and genius at home. at the same time
encouraging the introduction of new and
useful inventions from abroad. The law
that followed was signed by Washington,
April 10, 100. 1t departed from English
usage In that an examination of the pro-
posed patent was required, and when a