El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-06-18
DECLARE PATENT.
OFFICE ANTIQUE
Committee Shows Congest-
ed Condition of the
Important Bureau.

4 -~NlA ~ - A4dc4A4I
Washington. D. c.. June Is.-If you
invent new hair tonic or a carbon
resisting spark Plug. you must ap-
proach the patent office by way Of a
patent attorney, at considerable *
pense; you must wait a long time
while an overworked examiner is get
ting around TO your invention; and its
practicability viii finally be passed
upon by this man, who does not earn
as much as a master mechanic. and
mas 10 work nights deciding upon the
merit OF inventions. The record OF
your patent, If you get one. viii then
De stored IN a building which has
7 once burned down, and Is far from
fireproof now.
me patent office is an ANTIQUE. II
pays salaries that were good fiftv
years ago and are pitIances now.
u mas a force that was adequate be-
lore the civil war and is swamped bv
tne present volume Of business. And
u mas building that was once re-
garded as enormous. and is now Who'll
" inadequate.
Lane Opposes Change.
5Lsse lacts nave been evident to the
s ylolclous ior some time. and they have
committee of the national reses-.,,
council, which was appointed Nv So
rotary OF the interior Lane TO fird o,,+
"nat was the matter with the nsfe1f
o S--.e ana 70 recommend a plan of i'm
mended that the patent office ne 49,,
out OF its obscure corner as q mart ~
me interior department and he r1z5a
separate government department
secretary Lane has made it known
Ia A. ne IS opposed to this measure.
me committee which made this in
Nestigatfon consisted of inve1rors
patent lawyers, and an excommfssio1-
er OF patents, Thomas Ewing. Besides
lnuependence Tor the bureau, IL rec
olnmended increased salaries, in
creased working force, and a single
court OF patent appeals to take the
courts.
The committee points out that =
bureau thus emancipated has always
developed remarkably. A case In uofnt
is the department Of agriculture. which
used to be only a little seed distrfb-
utlng bureau. When It was made
Independent 1t developed raDidlv into
the greatest department OF the gov
Was Pet Of Jefferson.
IN Its infancy. 100 years ago. the
patent of1lce was the beloved pro-
,ege OF Thomas Jefferson and other
influential statesmen. and It flour
isned accordingly; but in the past few
decades It has fallen into the Isclr
ground
When Jefferson was secretary Of
state. he and the secretary Of war ana
the attorney general made a commits
son OF three to grant patents. When
an inventor came to Washington with
his model or Idea. the three. cabinet
officers stopped other work to study
the invention, which might be destined
10 revolutionize industry. So care
Iully did the court OF three consider
each case that during the first wear
OF their term, only three patents were
granted, and only SO the second wear
Many Inventions.
NOW inventions pile into the patent
eIIlce 50 rapidly. and the working
force Is comparatively so small that
many patents are granted which IN
! Justice 20 inventor and public shouid
be denied II suit were brought on an
patents granted, says a prominent pat
ent lawyer. so percent would be de-
clared invalid. This is onlv an onJn-
ION, but actual conditions show that
patents are proved invalid in Is per
cent OF the patent suits
This state Of affairs does not re-
fleet on the individual efficiency or
! character OF the patent office en-
Dioyes. The bureau has more work
rnan II can properly do, and many
I Of the patent examiners take work
home in order to keep up with the
ever increasing number OF applica-
a trip through the patent office
shows clearly the difficulties under
/ which the employees work. The famous
museum patent models long ago gave
up the space It occupied to office
desks Even so. examiners are
crowded sometimes five and six into
/ a room II an inventor brings in a
! model for demonstration, the ex-
aminer has only his desk or the office
/ corridor IN which to test It.
I Reside hrfr7rr 11+Dc~af1-o-
! the building has been declared unsafe
\ from fire. And this is the building
I that houses the nations collection OF
4 patent records collection the value
o. which cannot be estiamted, and one
/ that could never be replaced IL de-
/ stroyed- In 1877. fire DESTROYED
n photo photographic copies Of drawings
I which were replaced with difficulty
at cost OF $50. 600.
It would naturally be expected that.
as the work Of the patent office grew,
its force and building space would be
Increased As matter Of fact, one
commissioner went before congress
five times TO get the appropriation en-
larged, and was told that the patent
oIIice was getting along ali right as
it was The sixth time he got part of
what he wanted
Salaries Too Small.
The patent office now employs
about 400 examiners. and it should
thoroughly. It takes q months on
an average to put through a patent.
With an adequate force the time could
be cut almost in half After its in
vesugation OF patent office conditions
the patent aommittee concludes that
the root Of the trouble is in the low
salaries, and that the bureau viii
never have an adequate working force
until congress permits IL to pay ex-
arniners more than the present salary
Of $1,000 a year
A patent examiner must haze botf
legal and technical knowledge The
longer he remains in the service the
more expert and the more valuable q
the government he becomes. But thu
patent office cannot keep its expert
examiners It is an ordinary occur
renee for a young law student to take
a position as examiner for a few
years to gain experience, and Their
70 enter an industrial or Commercial
firm as patent counsel at double his
Il government salary.
A plan for a department OF inven.
tion and discovery is suggested Thi.
department would contain a bureau
OF information and education, which
would disseminate information on in
ventions by bulletins. press reports
and field agents The public woult
be made familiar with inventors
. rights and taught how 20 develop in.
ventions in the industrial field.
Another bureau would concern It
self with the utility Of inventions
Thomas Jefferson assumed that al
invention was not practicable until h
had seen II work -Four hundred pat
ent examiners. with $4,000 or 1000
N patents pending at once. have no tint
1 FOR detailed study Of each case