The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-09-23

been revolutionized suddenly, but it
has advanced SO far along the lines
OF Invention that n scarcely dares
to poke fun at the widest dream of a
patentee. Put yourself back fifty
years and think Of a Chavez thread
ing the Simplan pass in an aeroplane
or Of q two-mile-minute speed in a
motor car. The number 5000, 900 in
the patent Office series may be issued
for a safety-catch, on the landing
stage Of the aerial tramway to Mars.
This total Of one million does not
include the $500 patents taken out
before the law beginning the number
ing of the present series was enacted.
Patent legislation in the United States
goes back to the first congress, when
BENJAMIN Huntington of Connecticut,
offered a bill for the protection of in
ventors' rights. George Washington,
then president, in an address before
congress, urged that some legislation
for this purpose be passed, and in
1880 Huntington's measure was made
law. The secretaries of state and war
and the attorney general were named
to be the patent commission: three
years later sole authority was given
to the secretary Of state.
1t was three months after the pas
sage Of the patent law before the first
application for the privilege appear
ed. In an equal length Of time now
5000 are issued. Samuel Hopkins, a
prudent husbandman, had discovered
a new method Of making pot and
pearl ashes, and sought to safeguard
his find. When, in the thirties, the
ingenuity Of the American mind was
spurred on by inventions Of such i'm
portance as the telegraph and the To-
connective, another law was created,
in 1886, and the patent office was Gre
ated, to be, as some one said, the
protector Of the poor and the monu-
ment and museum Of progress"
Inventiveness apparently increases
by geometrical and not by arithmet-
zeal progression. In 1891 ceremonies
were. held in Washington to commem-
crate the centenary of patent history
in this country, and the speakers mar
veled at the astonishing numbers of
grants then in the files. In 100 years
100000 had been issued. In the twen-
ty years since that centenary celebra-
ton $4,000 have been granted, and
more than double that number have
been sought for by applicants. One
of the speakers at that time declared:
Measured by what we see and
learn and do and enjoy in a lifetime,
We live longer than Methuselah, are
wiser than Solomon, richer than Gro
esus. greater than Alexander. Arch
imedes has found his fulcrum; It Is
the inventors BRAIN"
With this generous eulogy the mo.
torist spending angry hours tinkering
with the latest patented %carbureter,
the householder whose patented fur
mace heater holds a general average
of 80 degrees for the winter, and the
puzzled purchaser of any other article
whose patented complication adds a
burden to existence, may pick a quar-
rel. Invention may, instead Of SIM
plifying, only add vexation and delay
to life. Not every inventor gets the
fulsome praise and thanks that San
cho Panza invoked for him who first
invented sleep. That was a first-rate
invention, and may be said to be in
most general use.
The taxpayer at least has not quar-
rel with the patent office. II his in
genuity-plus the protection of the
patent law-supports the creator, it
supports, too, this government insti-
tuition, which usually turns in a sur
plus at the end of the year. On each
Of the thirty-odd thousand grants is
sued a fee of $35 is paid. The first
step in obtaining a patent is the lodg-
ing Of a written application. with
specifications, drawings, specimens,
ingredients, or whatever may be re-
quired, and a claim of wherein the
discovery consists. The commission
er Of the bureau orders an examine
ton of the novelty, and takes SIS for
his service. If you have found some-
thing new, he issues a patent, and
takes $50 more. 1t is then your priv
ilege to be possessed of "the exclus-