Evening star., 1940-04-07
ROBERT FULTON,
InUentor of the steamboat.
-Under1Uood Photo.

ing about some improvement to in
troduce into it, and often his
thoughts lead to fine inventions or
useful improvements
Mr.. Bally of Switzerland would
probably swoon from amazement
over American invention today.
Because the patents issued between
1880 and January /, 1877, num-
bered only 1859. Ten times as
many have been issued in the SO
years since 1877.
But among the patents granted
prior to 1877 were some covering in
ventions that have put mankind
under lasting obligation to their
authors. For the Temporary Ma
tional Economic Committee three
months ago Conway P. Coe, the
present commissioner Of patents,
listed nine of these pre-1877 basic
American inventions whose infu-
ence and benefits are still among
our heritages," as he said.
Leading Products.
In the group are the telephone
of Alexander Graham Bell G876),
the cotton gin of Eli Whitney Q794).
the rubber valcanization process of
Charles Goodyear 1844, Cyrus
McCormick's reaper G834 and the
telegraph of Samuel F. B. Morse
Q840.
To these Commissioner Coe adds:
The air brake of George Westing-
house 1869. Were it not available,
says Mr.. Coe, the great railroad
systems could not handle enough
trains to carry on the business of
the country.
The celluloid-making process of
John w. Hyatt, jr. and Isaiah S.
Hyatt 1870), on which rests the
$133 100000 industry supplying many
OF our toilet articles, films for our
cameras and motion pictures and
a thousand and one needs of our
complex civilization.
The barbed wire of J. F. Glidden
d87D, which made possible the
cheap and efficient fencing of the
vast areas of our farms with a re-
sultant saving in an immense
amount of wood for other pur-
poses and conservation's sake.
Half-tone printing, the airplane.
the electric light-the list of inven-
tions fitted into the course of our
daily lives is endless.
All the letters patent issued-eX-
cept those destroyed in Blodgett's
fire-are on file in the Patent Office.
In the long. high chamber at the
office known as the search room"
hundreds of inventors and patent
lawyers each day are looking up
old patent records.
For so many are the inventions
that an inventor is wise to discover
whether anybody has beaten him
to the gun on his latest discovery.
If his invention is original, he pays
$50 to the Patent Office for his
letter patent.
The library of the Patent Office
contains 100000 foreign patents.
On its staff are 703 examiners,
header by IS principal examiners,
each of whom must be a lawyer
and an engineer. They get $4,000
a year. The Patent Office appro-
priation for this year is $4,468 900.
Its receipts from inventors are
enough to enable it to pay its own
way.
Monopoly Battle.
The latter years of the American
patent systems second century
probably will bring a great battle
over the monopolistic aspects of
patents, with perhaps a substitute
for the old patent system. The
Supreme Court decision is thought
to be just the beginner. In op-
position to those who want to
change the exclusive system Of pat
ent rights Commissioner Coe ofYers
this counter suggestion:
MY conviction Is that the Door
inventor. and through him the pub
lic, suffers injustice precisely for
the reason and to the extent that
the monopoly-the exclusive right
purportedly bestowed on him is
not now fully safeguarded. What we
need Is not to decrease but to en-.
nance the monopoly called q patent.
Genuine protection in that form
would be the last surviving bulwark
standing between the inventor and
the onslaught Of might and ruthless
The inventor, Mr.. Coe says "
explaining his position, may havs
to pay many times over the $6s
cost Of his patent right to proteo
in court from patent theft
Too often the inventor lacks tn
big sums required for litigation
Under this system the poor In.
ventor stays poor and lives no Ho-
ratio Alger story.