The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-01-07
WAR WAS GREAT
STIMULANT TO
THE INVENTOR
Remarkable Work Of Bureau Of
Patents.
where RED TAPE ENEEDED

More Than Million and Quarter De.
vices Have Passed Through cempII.
Gated Channels Necessary to os,
Patents-High Explosives Play I'm
portant Part In Ideas Developed by
War-Many Freaks Offered.
Any government bureau that has
done what 1t was established to do
more than a million times has accom-
plished vast amount Of work. Prac-
tically the entire machinery Of that
bureau has revolved each single time.
At the close Of business November II,
1918, the United States patent office
had registered 1,2S4,956 patents, and
any one who has ever gone through
the complicated channels of getting
one thing patented will realize what
1t means to have recorded million
and quarter of them. On an average,
about 500 patents are issued weekly.
lied tape attains very luxurious
growth in patent Office business, but
necessarily. When more than 1000, 900
machines and chemical compounds and
whatnots have been recognized as 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 government bureau un-
avoidably requires the use of a lot Of
red tape. There is book issued by
the commissioner Of patents contain
ing one hundred and sixteen pages Of
printed rules, draftsmen's symbols,
and legal forms, all a part of the pro-
cedure to be followed.
War Stimulates Inventors.
Naturally the war has been a great
stimulant to the efforts Of inventors
and many man-killing devices have
been conceived or reached a high
stage of development within the last
few years.
This has been a war In which high
explosives played q leading part, and
1t is along that line that many Ameri-
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 pound or 30 Of some
powerful explosive In a metal contain
er. The important part Of a grenade.
the part on which patent is asked, II
Its timing mechanism, by which it can
be set to explode at a certain time af-
ter 1t is thrown. Then there are men
who have sent in drawings Of rife
grenades. practically the same as the
hand variety, save that they are fired
from a rifle; and 'tminenwerfer' or
trench mortars-small, squat cannon
which throw tremendous and very
destructive charge Of high explosive
over short distance. Germany sur
rendered 25,0O0 Of these minenwerfer
to the allied forces by the terms Of the
armistice, which indicates that the al
lies have a pretty high opinion Of their
usefulness.
These are old ideas. It required a
war like this one to furnish an incen-
tive for developing them to a high de.
gree Of effectiveness. The same is true
OF the depth bomb, another wartime
favorite, Of the inventors, which put
the fear Of the Lord into German q.
boats. Dropped from the rear Of
torpedo boat destroyer. primed to ex-
plode at a certain depth, 1t was the
most effective weapon the allies had
for combating the submarines. Pat
ents had been taken out on depth
bombs years before this war broke out,
but not until the submarine menace
became grave was the lash can" az It
Is lovingly called, really taken up, de-
veloped and given a chance 10 show
what It could do.
AIIWere Failures.
Then there have been patents grant.
I'd for aerial torpedoes. Sad to say,
hone Of them has turned out to be
practical. but there Is no doubt that a
successful aerial torpedo will be a
'eality before very long. The patent
examiners do not doubt 1t. They have
Teen so many inventions perfected
which at first sight looked impossible,
hat they hesitate to laugh at any
freak" idea. Another aerial problem
or which men have tried to find the
olution Is device which would al
ow an aeroplane to remain station
ry in the air. The advantage Of such
N achievement in connection with
'ombing expeditions can easily be i'm
gined.
Naturally, since the war began,
here has been q steady stream Of freak
1eas into the old gray building at
'eventh and g streets in Washington,
7hich houses the patent office. Many
I them are Of no value and never will
e; others, as mentioned before, may
ave the germ Of long forward step
the science Of war making. In the
ase Of impractical ideas, a polite let
er Is usually written to the inventor,
skiing him to furnish working model
his machine or contrivance, and
nat settles It, lie cannot furnish 2