The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1918-12-30
where RED TAPE IS NEEDED
Mere Than Million and Quarter De-
vices Have Passed Through ccmpli-
Gated Channels Necessary to Get
Patents-High Explosives Play I'M
portant Part in Ideas Developed by
War-Many Freaks offered.

4lttNl ltHiANNI't j i-otsbpO ilultlAN, NNN
any one who has ever gone through
the complicated channels Of getting
one thing patented win realize what
il means TO hive recorded q million
and q quarter o. them. On an average,
about 800 patents are issued weekly.
Red tape attainS very luxurious
growth in patent Office business, but
necessarily. When more than 100000
machines and chemical compounds and
vhatnots have been recognized MS be-
ing different from one another, some
care must be taken that the machines
and compounds that arrive daily are
not Implications IN some important
feature OF those already ON hand.
And care in a government bureau un-
avoidably requires the use OF q lot of
red tape. There IS a book issued by
the commissioner of patents contain
ing one hundred and sixteen paees Of
printed rules, draftsmen's symbols.
and legal forms, an q part Of the pro-
cedure to be followed.
War Stimulates Inventors
Naturally the war has been q great
siimulant to the efforts of inventors
and many man.killing devices have
been conceived or reached q high
stage OF development within the last
Few years
This has heen n war in which high
explosives played leading part, end
it Is along That line that many Amcri-
can inventors turned their minds. For
instance, many applications have been
received for the issuance OF patents on
hand Grenades all of which are sim
ply based upon n pound or so OF some
powerful explosive IN q metal contain
cr The important part of q grenade.
the part on which q patent Is asked is
its timing mechanism, by which Il can
be set TO explode at certain time af-
ter 1t is thrown Then there ere men
WHO have sent IN drawings Of rifle
eronadcs, practically the Same as The
hand variety. save that they are fred
from rife; and "mInenwerfcr" or
trench moriars-small. squat cannon
which throw y tremendous aud very
destructive charge Of high explosive
over Il short distance. Germany sur
rendered $4,000 Of these mlncnwcrfer
to The allied forces 10y the terms Of the
armisilcc which indicates that the al-
lies have pretty high opinion Of their
usefulness.
These are old ideas II required
war like this enc to furnish an inccn-
tive for developing hcm 10 q high &C.
.Toe Of effectiveness. The same Is true
NJ The depth bomb. another wartime
fayorite of the inventors. which put
The fear Of the Lord into German u
boats. Dropped from thc rear o. q
torpedo boat destroyer nrimed 90 OK
nIode az certain depth. ID was ihc
most effective weapon the allies had
for combating he submarines Pat
ants had been taken out on dcpth
bombs years before this war broke ont,
but not until the submarine menace
became grave was the "ash can" rs It
is lovingly called, really taken up. de.
vclopcd and given a chance to show
what it could do.
All Were Failures.
Then there have been patents grant.
I'd for aerial torpedoes. Sad to say,
none Of them has turned out TO be
practical. hut there IS no doubt that n
ysuccessful aerial torpedo will be a
reality before very long. The patent
examiners do not doubt It. They have
seen so many inventions perfected
which at first sight looked Impossible.
HAT they hesitate to laugh at amy
freak" idea. Another aerial problem
for which men have tried To find the
solution Is device which would al.
low an aeropane to remain stations
larry IN The air. The advantage of such
nn achievement in connection with
bombing expeditions can easily be i'm
uglned.
Naturally since the war began,
here has been a steady stream n freak
ideas into the old gray building ot
Seventh and G. streets In Washington,
which houses the patent office. Many
OF them are Of no value and never will
he; others. MS mentioned before, may
have the germ of long forward step
In the science OF war making In the
cuse Of impractical ideas, polite LETT
Ter is usually written TO the inventor
asking him To- furnish a working model
.of his machine en- contrlvancc, aud
that settles IT, lie cannot furnish a
working modol. because Il won't work
This Is the iuurlnblc method followed
n connection With Experimentation
machines, those wonderful conceptions
That are oXnectcd to run forever with.
out amy power other Than their own
Use Enemy Patents.
Possibly the mosI interesting phase
oi the relations between Tho war aud
ra'ont8 lies I'm the Grading with IN,
linemy Act" Under That laws pro
visions American firms or lndi,idu
ais can obtain licenses TO use patent.
Issued To Germans and Anstt.ni,s be