Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-12
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star


ture article on the
Eorly Doys of the origin and growth of
Potent Office the Patent Office,
which was then
nearing the hundredth anniversary of
its founding. The following extracts
from the story give some interesting
sidelghts on the early history of the
institution:
Next April the Patent Office will cele-
brate its centennial. 1t will be hundred
years old, and the big marble building
up on F street will be gay with flags and
bunting. 1t is an interesting place to
every American, for within its walls is
represented century of wonderful
progress
THE honor of founding the Patent
Office belongs to Thomas Jefferson, who
was the protector of the patent system
of the country and to the day of his
death took a personal interest in it's
workings. He was an inventor himself,
though he never applied for a patent.
For several years after the act establish
ing the department went into effect
Jefferson alone had the power of grant,
ing a patent, as he was Secretary of
State. and that was one of his many
perogatives. The President and Attor-
ney General were also obliged to affix
their signatures to the document to make
it of any USE After Jefferson became
President he did not have so much time
at his disposal and his successor did not
interest himself in the matter, so the
duties of the office were assigned to a
single clerk.
In those early days this clerk was not
kept very busy. The first year there
were but three patents granted out of
five applications, so the clerk, DR..
Thornton, had plenty of time for di-
version. He had desk in the old State
Department and many day when the
doctor had nothing to do he used to get
our his fishing tackle and take a turn
with the black bass and perch in the
upper Potomac, for he was disciple Of
Izaak Walton. A queer character the
good old doctor must have been, and for
over a quarter of century he ruled the
inventors of the country with almost
autocratic power. His superior officers
had the most implicit confidence in him
and would sign every paper which he
submitted without question. So he
granted patents to whom he pleased and
kept back those that did not please him.
He loved his patents like children, and
an old clerk in the Office likes to tell
good story of 1872, when the war with
Great Britain was going on and the
English had captured and were in pos
session of the city. They had set the
Capitol on fire as well as the White
House and the cannon were turned on
the Patent Office and other buildings.
The guns were just In front Of the build
ing, so the story runs, and firing was
about to commence when the doctor
rushed out in a frenzy, shouting. Are
you Englishmen, or only Cloths and van
dals? This is the Patent ONCE, a de-
pository of the ingenuity of the Amer
lean Nation, in which the whole civilized
world is interested. Would you destroy
It? If so, fire away, and let the charge
pass through my body
whether or not this single eccentric
clerk of the Patent Office really did use
such language is not known, but the
Office was not destroyed.
"A memorable year in the history of
the Office was that Of 1886, from which
year the real organization of the bureau
dates. Before that time 1t was in en-
bryo and there was little system. It was
In this year that the, FIRST commissioner
was appointed, and though the bureau
remained under the supervision Of the
State Department, it was more independ-
ent" ...s ...--