Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-29
JOHN A. WIEDERSHE1M
On Applying for q Patent

DRETTY nearly every one has apparently
i devoted lot of time to the devsing OF
patentabe articles, especially since the close
Of the war; according to Colonel John A.
Wiedersheim. one OF the rountrys pest
known authorities on the subject OF phtents'
and as q result there Is now greater pres
sure of business before the Patent Once at
Washington than at any time in the history
Of the country.
"Many Of the old things have passed away
in tho last few years said Colonel "leuer-
shern. "nnd especially in the line OF m
vcntion there have been many new thoughts
and DEVELOPMENTS Of older ones. There nave
been about 900. 600 patents issued 10y the
Government Mt Washington since the es,ap-
lishnent of the Patent Office, and !" snow
the activity Of the inventors OF thc od !ast ar"
wears, there are now about 10000 appll-
cations on file which have not yet peen
passed upon.
"Thp Government Patent Office is con-
siderably older institution than most persons
would think. The very first patent ISSUED,
and marked patent No. l: was slsneH- -oG Ny
George Washington as President about !'oo.
This original patent is now owned by
Young man in New York City, he being
great grandson of the inventor and patentee,
and it certainly is an interesting relic
II have in my own possession patent No.
497. issued in 1896 and signed by Andrew
Jackson as President it IS patent for a
rcaping and moving machine.
"In applying for q patent the inventor
must first exhibit to his solicitor or attor-
ncy n drawing or sketch or model or
machine Of the article on which he desires a
patent, and from this are prepared the me-
chanical drawings and speciticatio or de-
ecription and the claims Of the inventor.
This is done in the proper legal form de-
mnnded by the Patent Office by the attorney.
who is useful person for that purpose.
First Decisions Usually Adverse
""Ths is then forwarded to the depart.
ment, and in due course OF time decision
will he rendered thereon, which in most cases
is adverse because of previous patents which
have been issued that apparently meet the
claims Of the new invention
"And vet the new invention may and
penerally has points of novelty in 1t which
ore patentable. These things are pointed
out by the solicitors and become part OF
the records Of the case. If they are admit
ted by the examiners, the application Is
passed and in the course OF month or so
ihe documents, or letters patent, are pre-
pared and sent to the applicant.
"a patent Is issued for seventeen years.
after which time there is no renewal. The
applicants for patents at Washington are
from every part of the known world, and. on
the other hand, many Of the United States
natents are extended to foreign countries.
"Of course, every patent or at least the
ereat majority of them have merit; but 1t
does not follow by any manner of means that
all of them result in profit or remuneration
n the inventor 1t Is exceedingly likely that
at least so per cent of all the patents
awarded simply die n natural death,
."There are many reasons for this Many
~ them are for complicated constructions
Witch will not take the place In the COM
mercial field Of existing machinery or de-.
vices. and another reason Is that many OF
these patents are far ahead Of their times.
II is really remarkable how few funda- =
mentally new things there are.
"As far back as 1860 or 1870 | secured
natcnts for articles which are only now
coming into general use, This is also the
case With many other things, so that of the
many wonderful articles which are now being
NIT before the world there Is little that is
absolutely new in most OF them.
"Of course, things like the wireless. the
radio, the submarine, aerial navigation and
tho like have been made practicable within
the last few years, or at least In the last
quarter Of a century, and yet the Patent
oficc has records of incomplete and imprac-
ticable ideas on all Of these lines OF inyen
| lion which date back to the sixties and
seventies. ,, ,.
sftr divisions. each of which is in turn SUBJ
| My;ded into numerous classifcations Each
| NJ the classes is in charge of a primary
| examiner, who has from four to six assist
ants and two or three stenographcrs and
| 'ynewriters to do the work necessary for the
| examination of the applications Of his class
| In deciding as to the patentability or the
mor .natentablity Of the cases presented.
..Thus Division 20. commonly known al
,sisaxs,.a, P--1r"r".' hHT e"h-dfvision'