Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-08-21

The period Of depression through
which the country has been passing has
had the effect of enhancing what many
people believe to be its cause.-The in
creased use Of machinery. Idle because,
In many cases, they have been thrust
out of employment by machines, thou
sands of people have turned to inven-
ton, and the last fiscal year saw the
greatest number Of patents issued ever
granted by any nation in the history of
the world
1t is said that every American has
in the back of his head vagrant idea
for a play and another for an inven-
ton. With time on their hands, they
have speeded up their inventive faculties
and attempted to perfect and express
tangibly these dormant ideas. The
market for plays having suffered
severely and the rewards CT playwrights
being almost as low in times of de-
preston as the rewards of ordinary
labor, chief attention has been given
to the embryonic mechanical inventions.
Yankee ingenuity has been working
overtime.
The United States stands far ahead
of all other nations in the matter of
inventions patented. Since letters patent
were first granted, 10 foreign nations
have issued protection to 1895, 493
patenteeS. The United States has issued
1,797 $50 in a comparative period-be-
tween one-third and one-half as many
as all the other nations combined.
France ranks second with S25, 1892,
England third with 754,054 and Ger
many fourth with SCI ,681 patents. 1t
will be noted that the American patents
exceed the total of any two OF these
other leading countries in spite Of the
fact that they have been granting pat
ents longer than this country. The
fundamental patent law is regarded as
the statute Of mon1polies" enacted in
England in 1923, century and a half
before the United States came INTO the
game as an issuer of patents. Before
the independence Of the United States
| Colonists who perfected inventions
| might have them patented in England,
and such patents figure IN the British
rather than the American list today
Yet the American list Is twice that OF
Britain today. Some of the Colonies
did grant patents, but as they were
| British colonies, the classification be-
longs to Great Britain. the first pat
ent granted on this continent so far as
the records go was one issued by the
Colony Of Massachusetts to Samuel
Winslow In 164l for novel method OF
i producing salt.
Pioneers Required Inventions.
The fecundity of the American in
ventive genius is regarded as the best
| illustration of the adage that neces-
| sity is the mother of invention. In a
wilderness land, with nothing but the
/ bounty Of nature to hand and with the
| hostility of nature to combat, the
American pioneers were confronted
with the necessity of finding ingenious
ways and means Of overcoming obsta-
Giles.
| Size, in a measure, while one Of the
chief riches Of the new America, was
also one Of the chief problems. The
very hugeness Of the American scale
was ofttimes difficulty in reducing
the native wealth to marketable proper
tions. Fields and forests were larger
and distances more magnificent than
anything known in the old country
New tools were needed to bring these
resources under control and new means
/ of transportation were necessary to
shorten distances. Although busy with
the affair Of conquering a continent
the pioneer workers took time to meet