Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-24
patent OFFICES
NEW HOMEJOHAVE
FINEST FACILITIES
Commerce Building Quarters
to Improve Service for
Entire Industry.
WING TO BE OCCUPIED
BEFORE CLOSE OF YEAR
Fashioned to Meet Particular
Needs, 1t Has Vast Search Room
and Large Library.

Improved service for the entire in
dustry of this country which is depend
ent upon careful, yet prompt. action in
the issuance of patents, will be provided
before the close OF the present year.
when the Patent once moves into the
entire north third floor of the new Com
merce Building. At the Patent ONCE
they are now preparing to move 1900
employees and more than 5000 tons OF
material, aside from office furniture,
which is essential to the proper admin
istration of patents.
For more than 100 years the Patent
Office has occupied as lighthouse Tor
American industry the historic reserva-
ton set aside by Maj. L'Enfants plan
for the Capital City for national
church and mauSoleum, and has been
housed in a building the main portico
of which is modelled after the Pantheon
at Rome, and which has been one OF
the historic landmarks intimately con-
nected with the history of the Capital
for nearly century.
The Patent ONCE Is now preparing
to move into the entire north wing OF
the Com rerce Building, the largest
Office building in the world, and this
wing. facing Pennsylvania avenue and
nearest to the Treasury and White
office location in the entire Capital.
This third of the Commerce Building
was designed especially to meet the par
ticular needs of the Patent once and
to give that important branch OF the
Government service the best possible
facilities to serve American business
and the inventive genius of this Nation.
The requirements of the Patent ONCE
are distinctive. because hundreds Of in
dc ~ ont OF
neyS daily make searches in the records
to determine questions of novelty and
infringement.
Has Vast Search Room.
Facilities. which are pronounced
wonderful" for these purposes, have
been provided. These include vast
search room, with a ceiling two stories
high, and a correspondingly large and
well lighted scientific library.
The copies of patents already granted
must be stored in proper condition for
ready access for sale. About 100000
copies are kept in stock, and the Office
sells about 10000 900 copies year at
10 cents a copy, so that the Patent Of
flee is said to conduct the largest 10
cent store in the world disposing OF
only one class of goods.
For more than half century no
mitted with patent applications. Now
only drawings are required, no matter
how complicated the machine may be.
An accumulation of more than 1000
old models were disposed OF several
years ago under authority OF a special
act Of Congress. However. all of the
historical or especially interesting mod
els were preserved in the Smithsonian
Institution for poSterity.
Mt I0@ NFrann los
present home. that historic building, in
the very heart of the business section
of Washington, will be used to house
some independent establishment in the
Government service which now occu-
pies rented quarters.
Considerable opposition has been
voiced, mainly on sentimental grounds
against the moving Of the Patent Once
from the location at which 1t has been
"the lighthouse Of the inventors" for
century The necessity for more room
and up-to-date facilities, however, have
outweighed such sentimental considera-
tons.
Issues 10000 Patents Annually.
The Patent Office issues more than
40 900 patents annually, related to al
most every manufacturing industry and
device used by man. There is still
great patent activity, particularly IN the
radio field. the perfection OF dyes and
| dying processes, as we'll as in the I'M
proved economies in obtaining Pc
troleum products especially motor fuels.
The recent amendment to the patent
statutes, providing for the issuance OF
patents for new species Of plants. flow
erS and fruits has thus far not been
productive of many applications. In
this connection it is interesting to note
that the Patent Office was a forerun-
ner of the present Department OF Agri-
culture. In 1889 an Agricultural Bu-
reau was created as a division OF the
Patent Office, which was then brancn
of the Department Of State. In 1913,
| when the Department of the Interior
| was created. the Patent Office, including
the agricultural branch, was transfer
red to the Jurisdiction of the Interior
Department. While Herbert Hoover was
Secretary of Commerce the Patent Or
flee was again transferred to that de-
partment. The Agricultural Bureau re-
manned under the direct supervision OF
the commissioner of patents until 1867,
and the chief activities were the distr1-
button of seeds and publication OF agri-
cultural information.
Office Organized in 1890.
Lie FdCeIlC OluCe Wdo Vi SohAHCN AL
1890 when the first patent was taken
out by one Samuel Hopkins, July 81,
for making pot or pearl ashes" and
the second by Joseph Stacey Sampson.
August 6, "for the manufacture OF
candles" Before the outbreak OF the
Civil War more than 10000 patents had
been granted and the war so far stimu-
lated inventive genius that by 1870 the
number had risen to 10000.
One of the historic anecdotes con-
nected with the old Patent Office Build
ing concerns DR.. William Thornton, ar
chitect of the Capitol, then Commits
Sioner of Patents. When the British
captured the City of washington in
1914, one of the officers ordered a gun
to be turned on the Patent once
Building. DR.. Thornton rode up and
jumped from his horse in front OF the
gun, demanding: Are you Englishmen
or Goths or Vandals? This Is the
Patent ONCE, the depository OF the m
ventive genius of America, in which
the whole civilized world is concerned.
Would you destroy it? If so, fire away
and let the shot pass through my body
ser .aoov,d inC0In inaugural