Evening star., 1925-03-21
PATENT OFFICE SITE is SOUGHT
FOR DEPARTMENT STORE USES
Congress to Be asked to Sell Historic Building
Transfer to Commerce Department Expected to
Hasten the Erection OF More adequate Quarters.

hguratively hung out sign, mo per-
petual motion and other impossible
devices considered" and has instruct
ed the cop in the hall to seize all en-
| thusiasts on that subject and turn
them back at the door.
BY 1910 jefferson had shaken off his
| patent office associations largely and
while absorbed in larger affairs had
called for additional help. The office
| was moved in that year from it's
cramped quarters in the State Depart
ment to a building of its own, pre-
yiously known as "Blodgett's Hotel"
| and DIR. William Thornton, designer
| of the plans for the Capitol, was ap-
pointed Keeper of the patents"
| The job went to DR.. Thornton be-
| cause his plan for the Capitol had
| caught the eye of the fastidious Mr..
Jefferson, and further, because his
conservative ideas coincided with
those OF his chief. DIR. Thornton's
wife, by the way, was one of the
city's leading society matrons. When
she married DR.. Thornton she was a
teacher in Philadelphia. After her
| death 1t became known that she was
the daughter of the noted DR.. Dodd,
who was executed at London for
forging a note of the Bank of Eng
land; she never knew the secret,
mother, who had come to America
under an assumed name.
braves British Cannon.
DIR. Thornton leaped into prominence
when the British captured Washing
ton, August "a, 1914. According to
the story, when the invaders turned
their cannon muzzles toward the
Patent Office, the assiduous keeper
rushed out. planted himself between
the guns and his beloved structure,
and cried as he barred his breast:
Are you Englishmen, or Goths or
Vandals? This is the Patent Office. a
depository of the ingenuity and in
ventions of the American Nation, in
which the whole civilized world is
interested Would you destroy 1t?
Then let the charge first pass through
my body!"s
Providence intervened at the cru
cial moment. The guns never spoke,
but, instead, a terrific thunderstorm,
followed by a deluge of rain, scat
tered the detachment of military,
who hauled themselves and their
pieces forthwith to shelter. The
same shower put out the fire which
the British had ignited at the White
House, and old residents for many
years afterward said 1T was a sign
that the Almighty never intended
another sun should set on the ma
rauders in the Capital of the young
republic.
Kept Records I'm Head.
DR. Thornton died in 1927 He had
been law unto himself in the Patent
ONCE, and perhaps had not always.
while attending to applica tions and
applicants. kept his books in efficient
condition. There was an unexplained
absence VIII nd Toll
doubt due to the leniency of the
Keeper" as he tried to accommodate
the patrons of the establishment. A
congressional investigation decided
that the doctor tried to keep too
many details in his head, and that
much of the good of his administra-
tion was inferred with his bones
In 1886 fire practically wiped out the
establishment. Some 1000 models
were lost, and many have never been
restored, even in the form of sketches.
One of the losses included Robert
Fulton's own sketches of his Cler-
mont machinery and the vessel as it
proudly steamed up the Hudson in
1907.
This loss stirred Congress to ac-
ton. In 1852 the Seventh street wing
was built, followed by the Ninth
street wing, and the quadrangle was
SoihpLclcd ny int u street extension
in 1857, the total expense up to that
time being s3,000,000. Later altera-
tions, up to 1900, cost s2.000,o00 addi-
tfonal In 1877 a fire razed the west
ern wing and destroyed $1,000 models.
approximately three acres Of ground
are occupied by the Patent Office whose
commissioner is now Thomas e Rob-
erston. The first assistant is William A.
kinnon and the assistant Karl Fenning
More than 1000 people are employed in
the office, which is only three stories
high. Early architects, evidently beliey-
ing two stories to climb was a small
matter to the public. included only two
elevator shafts
The business has grown from the
start OF three patents in a year to an
average of more than 500 weekly
Dozens of patent attorneys do nothing
but look up prior claims, and hundreds
of clerks handle the paper work. which
has grown to enormous proportions.