The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-10-27
PATENTS CONCERNING SHOES.
Some $4,000 Have Been Issued
About Half Now In Force.

OF the 100000 patents which
had been granted in this country be-
fore the end of last July the shoe
and leather trade was directly rep
resented by nearly $4,000. This
number includes several inventions
of Importance, such as the Mckay,
Goodyear and lasting machine and
the chrome tannage achievements
AS just about half of these patents
have expired, there are about 1000
now in force.
OF the several classes into which
they are divided shoemaking takes
! the lead in number, 5,529 patents of
J this class having been issued. This
includes all the machinery which has
| been developed for the production of
| footwear, with the exceptions of
mailing, sewing and eyeletting.
Some of the specifications occupy
| about a hundred pages of text and
drawing, and the legal expense alone
of such undertakings would be pro-
hibitive to any inventor who was not
well assured of the practicability of
his improvements.
Next in number of issues comes
the department of shoes, with A.
156 in the same period. This in
cludes all new ideas, practicable and
impracticable, in footwear. In nail
ing machinery nearly 1000 patents
have been granted in the classes
which include shoemaking; perhaps
SO would cover those strictly for
shoe work.
Button, eyelet and rivet patents
may be estimated at $50, which ap-
ply to shoes. Shoe sewing patents
number $40. Adding these to the
shoemak1ng class would give total
of 1904 machinery patents. In
tanning and leather finishing pro-
cesses and machinery 2,150 would
probably be close estimate of the
number of inventions patented.
In footing up the above figures all
patents which gave evidence of hav-
ing been intended for any ultimate
product other than shoes have been
excluded, except in tanning. Still
there have been. many inventions of
more general nature which have
been of vital Importance to the
trade, such, for instance, as the
lathe for turning irregular forms.
The patent office cannot take up
on itself the function of judging as
to the merit of inventions. This in
times past has been attempted by
other nations, and, of course, has
failed. 1t is often the duty of the
patent attorney to do this for his
client, and it is to be regretted that
he so frequently allows useless
claims to incumber the records rath-
er than lose his fee.
Some simple-minded victim of icy
sidewalks deVises a clumsy shoe at
tachment to prevent slipping, and
takes it to patent solicitor. The
lawyer should know at once that it
is valueless. If not, when he makes
his search through the records for
interfering claims he will come on
hundred or SO better devices. But
the poor client usually gets his pat
ent and pays his money.
Again, the Office cannot pass on
priority except as shown by record.
For instance, good many manu-
facturers have probably experiment
ed with celluloid for toe stuffing, and
have, for the time at least, decided
not to adopt it. Yet very recently
patents have been granted to foreign
patentees which, If they were sus-
tained, would practically debar Amer
lean manufacturers from the use of
celluloid, or at least hamper them
in the manipulation of it by simple
processes which have long been un-
derstood.-From the Shoe and
Leather Reporter.