Evening star., 1924-06-08

by the patent Office.
DR.. Thornton, the first commission
er of patents, conducted an extended
correspondence upon scientific sub
| jects with the patent officials of the
| old world and scientists generally,
which he left as a part of the ar
| chives of the Office when he died "as
a monument of his fidelity to and in
| tereSt in the advancement of Ameri-
| can mechanics"
A story Is told of him that during
the war of 1912, when the Brittsh
captured the city of Washington and
destroyed the Capitol building, a
loaded cannon was trained upon the
| patent Office for the purpose of de-
stroying 1t, and he. is said TO have
put himself before the gun, and, in
| frenzy of excitement. exclaimed:
Are YOU Englishmen or only Goths
| and Vandals? This, is the patent Of
flee, depository Of the ingenuity
and inventions of the American ma
tion, in which the whole civilized
world is interested Would you de-
stroy it? If so, fire away, and let
the charge pass through my body"
| magical upon the soldiers, and to
| have saved the patent office from
destruction
An appropriation was made by Con-
gress in 1878 for the restoration of
the models damaged by fire and
water and for the restoration of the
patent office building. The present
| commissioner of patents. Thomas E
Robertson, has in his office now, in a
glass case, relic Of the fire Of 1877
| which shows how metal models were
| melted and ran together. Gears,
wheels and other portions of these
models can be distinguished protrud-
ing from this shapeless mass OF
metal.
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THE west wing hall is now the
public search room and scientific
| library. This hall occupies a main
| floor and two galleries 1t Is 274 feet
| long, 68 feet wide and 81 feet high.
| Here are found 100000 patents filed
by classes and cross references,
| making fully 100000 patents thus
| filed. This is the public search room.
| and the only place in the United
| States where these patents may he
| examined. Provision is made for 49,
| searchers working at one time, and
| frequently all OF these places are
occupied.
The other end of the same hall is
| the scientific library, in which ALI
copies of Swiss, French, Austrian,
Swedish, British, Canadian, italian,
| German and all foreign patents that
have been printed may be examined.
In his Office Commissioner Robert
| son has preserved as trophies of the
patent office a number of the earlier
| patents, as, for example, one granted
| in 1887 for the manufacture of buck
| ram. One, signed by Andrew Jackson
and Martin Van Buren as Secretary
of State, was issued in July. 1929, for
a typographer machine. He has also
and old British patent of 1854
| showing the monster wax seal, eA7~
| eral inches thick and half foot In
diameter, attached to the patAGA.
For its preservation a special tin box
| was provided.
| Every material device or operation
| in a material process is disclosed
eventually in the comprehensive rec
| ords of the patent office. and every
| development thereof. before being
! protected by patent, must pass
| through the hands of the examining
| force of the office, to be critically
scrutinized, subjected to amendment
| and rejected or accepted.
Apart from her material resources.
the United States owes her command
ing position in the economic sphere
| more to the inventive genius of her
| people than to any other single fac
| tor. The development of those ma
terial resources is due mostly to the
| PROCESSES and mechanisms which
have resulted from invention.
Unaided labor-that is. primal
human energy-would have been or
but little avail in extracting the
enormous wealth from the earth, in
gathering the immense crops. in pro-
ducins the output of steel and other
metals in the mills and refineries. in
fabricating the huge quantities OIL
manufactured articles that come
from the factory and ship and in
transporting the raw and finished
materials that make up the almost
unlimited tonnage of rail and ship
lping.
| without the. influence Of invention
we could not conceive OF. the modern
world as developed from the old
world of manual operations.
The United States. has by far the
lproudest record in the field of inven-
ntno nv ho
Der of pioneer products, their in
genuity or their far-reaching effects
| in the greatest diversity of fields.
| This country has led particularly in
labor saving devices.
X
l0F all the countries in the, world
~ the United States has benefited
| most by invention. Her inventors
form the most notable list in the
| sphere of applied science, and their
/ contributions are; the w,,.is2- and the
envy of her competitors for indus
trial supremacy. To the cotton gin
the south largely owes her pros
perity, and the northern textile mills
sufficient supply of raw materials;
to the Mccormick reaper the west
owes in no small degree her de-
velopment, and the country a pleni-
tude of food products. To the patent
system as instituted ~ this country,
which has most encouraged and pro-
tected and thus stimulated invention,
do we owe this advantage primarily.
The models of historic and key pat
ents are now deposited in the Ma
tional Museum. With these has re-