The Washington times., 1914-11-18
N ]. R. HILDEBRAND,

have metal cases provided for tn
By J. R. I
With the beginning Of work on thu
plans for q now two-million dollar build
Ing for the Interior Department, or
fcials of the United States Patent OF
nce, which 70 to remain in its present
| structure, arc planning ways to aver
tho fire menace which now threateni
tho LOO Government employees OF the
Patent Office.
Since the proposed Interior Depart
ment building Is to house the Land OK
| fee, now occupying a building across
the street from the Patent Office, az
we'll as the Indian Office. the Reclaim
alton Service. the Geological Survey. an
ficials to obtain the Indian or,
fee building for their use. The removal
| Of the offices of the Secretary OF the
Interior from the Patent Office building
a'so will give more room for the proper
storing Of records.
by Patent officials and pointed out by
Fire Marshal P. W. Nicholson, lies In
the miles Of dry pine shelving and gal
| leries, choked with infiammable rec
crds Of about 5000 patents. All that is
| needed to convert the present Patent
|
workers there, is a lighted match drop
ped carelessly in one OF the corridors.
or q short circuit and ground on one OF
| tho many exposed electric light wires
which run dangerously near the wooden
| fling cases In the halls. There IL now
ridors. but this Is not always obeyed.
Commissioner Ewing's Views.
Said the Commissioner OF Patents.
Thomas Ewing. today:
All we oan do at present to cope
with the fire peril Is to install ex-
tinguishers and automatic sprink-
lers. This has been done. The men
ace. of course. lies not In the build
ing. but in the fifty million or more
patents, stored In wooden cases,
throughout the corridors and in GAL
leries.
With the removal Of the other
the proposed building. the entire Pat
ent Office building, and most Of the
Land Office building will be free. II
We can obtain this additional space.
It will be possible to store records in
metal cases. which not only win in
sure their preservation, but will re-
move the menace to human lives
these iniammable records now con-
stitute.
A different type Of building could
be much more convenient for Patent
Office work. but it Is too much to
hope that Congress, on top Its ap-
propriation for the Interior Depart
ment, will be ready to expend addi-
tional money for building.
Earns Annual PROFIT.
Efforts to get an appropriation for the
Patent Office are all the moro surprts-
ing, 1t was pointed out, since 1t is the
one Government office which actually
earns q profit. At present $4,000 lies
In the Treasury Department from the
fees of this office.
Records housed In the office. vitality
important to the commercial history OF
the nation, If once destroyed could
never be replaced.
The f1re-trap Patent Off1ce 10 one OF
buildings. The F and G street sides
are 4O2 feet long; the fronts upon Ninth
and Seventh streets measure ia feet.
The building proper has four floors, ana,
except for the second floor, on which is
located the executive offices of the In
terror Department. the files and shelves
on each one of them constitute an ever
present danger Of confiagration.
Entering the Patent Office from the
street. into that portion of the building
which originally was intended for use
as a storage place. the visitor Is con-
fronted at the very doors with long
stacks Of shelving. From the floor
nearly to the ceiling they run on both
sides Of the passageway. filled to over,
flowing with copies of old patents and
records. Signs forbiddlng smoking are
hung about. but it is not uncommon for
these warnings to be absolutely lg-
nored.
Use Condemned Elevator.
From the first floor TO the floors /
above, in that part of the building oc-
cupied by the Patent Office runs
single elevator. which the economy ana
Efficiency Commission, who investigated
the Patent Office in 1912, condemned as
being antiquated and ineff1cient- The
commission found that this single ele-
vator could not take care of all the
people who are employed IN that part
Of the employees We're forced 10 use the
MANY Of the rooms on the basement
floor. as we'll as on the frst, thlrd ana
fourth have been made by butIdlnT IN |
nine nartitions. and these rooms. Ike |
The corridors. are filled almost to over |
Nowing with records and copies OF
Rut the geratest FIRE danger In the |
7 nited States Patent Ofhce is FOUND |
upon the topmost floor. where are tu-
al cd the scientific library, the photo
rranhing plant, and the publications
division. -. .
rrhe scientific library has. at present, |
eteal stacks for the thousands OF vol |
mos II comprises, but these stacks are
nracticallv the only fireproof equip
nent on that floor.
Center of Danger.
In the north wing of the Patent Of
fee the corridors have been taken over
wv the division of publications, and d.
vided into low rooms. underneath the
tier Of two galleries which rise above
IT, It is here that the greatest fire risk
IS found.
teat of wooden shelving. with only suf-
6c,ant snoce between them for a man
to snueeze through, and on them are
stored - greater part of the $4,000 900
ropies Of patents. and some OF the nom
ct rrent records of the department.,
which must be kept in such manner
MAT they can be quickly referred to,
f need arise.
The copies of the patents themselves
constitute the selling stock of the
I.nartment. calls for as many as 1000
- them a day being quite the usual
oraer OF things.
The shelves upon which these patents
md records are stored have stood for
many wears directly under the roof and
~, heat ot summer has dried them TO
tinder-iike quality.