Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-10-11
What Are Patents?
BY H. w. Dakor, McLachlen Bldg.
Washington, D. c,


how they are obtained how patentees
may make a valuable invention and
yet the patent be virtually or entirely
worthless, he does not know. The
object of this article is to explain what
patents really are
The South has not as yet realized
the great importance OF patents. Vir-
tually everything that we can buy is
either itself a patented article or is
made on machine that has been pat
ented either in whole or in part. II
follows that it is difficult to spend ev-
en- nickel without a part OF the mon
ey expended finding its way into the
pocket of patentee or the owner oi
the patent. Vast sums OF money, mil
lions of dollars each year flow into
the hands of the men and corporations
who own valuable inventions and il
Is deplorable that the South is reap
ing very few of the benefits derived
from patent protection.
But, it is said, patents are not grant
ed for improved crops and the South
is agricultural So is California, and
Yet California produced more inven-
tons last year than all of the South
ern states from Virginia to Texas COM
bined For instance, there were 1926
patents granted last year to citizens of
California and only SO patents to cit
liens of Mississippi.
S0uthcrners do not lack brains.
Some of the greatest tn mixers the
world has yet produced came from the
South No section of the world is
making greater strides today in edu-
cation, manufacturing good roads, etc
than IS the South The writer, a
/ Southerner by birth and education has
recently made trip through the South
and he is amazed at the progress being
made. Virtually every Southern state
is now leading the world in something
and the South is rapidly forging anead
in regard to invention
The orig nal meaning of a patent
was a grant from the government, US
ually for some meritorous act, regard
less of whether or not that act was The
making of an invention. In the early
days of Eng and, inventors were oft
ener prosecuted as heretics than re-
warded as benefactors, but it some
times happened that a monopoly of an
invention was granted to its true in
ventor. Generally, however, in the
carly days OF England, patents con-
sisted of a grant of land or the ex-
elusive right to do business in GER
tain industry or place This was al
ways, however, at the pleasure of the
king, and was not a matter of legal
right. The English parliament, in the
reign of James l, limited the grant
of patents to inventions, but it was
entirely at the option of the king as
to whether or not patent would be
granted. In fact, so few patents for
inventions were granted that Black
stone devoted but one sentence to the
subject.
The writer's of the Constitution of
the United States realized that vir-
tually all material progress in life
comes through someone's invention
In order to encourage invention, the
very first article of the Constitution
provides, Congress has power to pro-
mote the progress of science and use
full arts, by securing for limited times
to- inventors the exclusive right to their
respective Inventions"
All of the patent laws in the United
States are based on this one sentence.
Pursuant to this clause in the Consti
tuition, Congress has passed var GUS
laws of which the most important is
Section 1886 of the Revised Statutes
of the United States as amended on
March 5. 1897 That section provides
that subject to certain conditions and
limitations, any person who has inven-
ted or discovered any new and useful
art, machine, manufacture, or compo-
sition of matter, or any new and use
I. al. ON4
patent therefor The patent grants
to the owner the exclusive right to the
invention for a period of II years.
That the founders of our nation were
wise in thus encouraging invention is
shown by the fact that more than
twice as many patents are granted by
the United States than by any other
nation on earth.
1t was stated above that subject to
certain limitations, patents are granted
to anyone who has invented or dis
covered any new and useful art, ma
chine, manufacture, or composition OF
matter, or any new and useful i'm
provement thereof The word discover
ed" means invented. A man may dis
cover an island or law of nature and
he may invent machine, For discov-
ering the island or the law of nature,
he is not awarded a patent, but may
be granted patent for his invention
OF the machine.
The word new as used in the above
paragraph means that, in addition to
being novel, it must not be known
and used by others in the United Stat
es before the inventors discovery there
of. 1t must not be patented or describ~
ed i'll any printed publication any
where in the world before his inven-
ton thereof, or more than two years
prior to his application for a patent.
1t must not be patented in any for
eign country on an application filed
by the inventor or one claiming title
through him more than twelve months
before his United States application,
and not in public use or on sale in
the United States for more than two
Years prior to his application. (Sec-
tons 4SSo-7 of the Revised Statutes of
the United States)
The word useful means capable
of some beneficial use even though it
may be used for bad purpose such
as a revolver, for example An appli-
cation on a machine that will run for
ever, making its own power, frequent
ly called perpetual motion device, is
always rejected as not being capable
OF accomplishing the desired result and
hence cannot be useful. The writer
while a member of the u. S, Patent
Office Examining Corps, frequently
handled cases suggestive OF perpetual
motion machines. 1t IS amazing how
manV otherwise INTELLIGENT DeoDle are