Evening star., 1948-05-25
By Frsscis p. Desliss

typical examining room in grounded
room, (section 10 but one Is not Disibl
The Patent ONCE is stin suffering from
wartime eviction that was to have been tenn
porary but which has begun to look uncom-
fortably permanent. It's patience is about ex-
hausted, as its hopes for an early return to all
Of its original home in the Department OF
Commerce fade with each passing week.
The Patent once, always dignined and re-
ticent, has no quarrel to pick with the Mari
time Commission. the agency which still clings
to what was once Patent Office space. 1t does
not much blame the commission for wanting
to stay where 1t Is. Its impatience is directed
at the continued delays Of the Government in
fulfilling its promise that the pre-empted space
would be restored when the war was over.
And it feels that if anybody is to be incon-
venienced further, it should be some agency
other than the Patent Office.
Compressed into smaller space in the Com
merce Department Building than 1t occupied
before the war. but with more personnel and
more work, the agency Is operating under con-
ditons reminiscent of stringent war days.
Patent Commissioner Lawrence c. Kings
land, appearing before the House Appropria
tions Committee. was questioned about the ef-
feet the patent examiners Of the unsatis-
factory working conditions. Mr.. Kingsland
said that while he could only guess, he would
say that the examiners efficiency was cut 10
or IS per cent
Crowding Is Costly.
The committee report said:
"A major recommendation resulting from 4
committee investigation Of the Patent ONCE is
for additional space for the examiners and for
providing them with individual cubicles where
in they might work without interruption.
by not allocating adequate space for this
activity the (Commerce) Department is not
only losing money for the country, 1t is losing
money for the Federal Government in view of
the fact that at one time this office was self
sustaining and 1t should again become self
sustaining"
The Commerce Department., however gen.
orally is sympathetic to the space need OF the
Patent once But the Commerce Department
has no control over its wartime guests, the
Maritime Commission.
The Maritime Commission has contracted its
space requirement to some extent. At one
time it had 29l 900 square feet; now it has 49,
600 square feet occupying the fourth floor and
parts of the third, fifth, sixth and seventh
floors in the Commerce Building.
In November. 1s41, before the dislocations
Of war. the Patent ONCE had 375,40s square
feet of space OF all types. including 18s,477
square feet Of ONCE space. The difference is
made up of basement storage space. search
room and libraries. At that time the personnel
numbered 1850. Last month space was COM
puted at 33a,774 square feet OF all types. Of
which 161 1856 square feet was OF ofhce space.
once personnel numbered 1914.
Space Affects Efficiency.
The present ONCE space works out to 30
square feet per worker. Before the war is was
a comfortable 145 square feet The generally
accepted figure for proper space Is 100 square
feet per Office worker.
In January, 1912, part Of the Patent Once
was moved to Richmond and the Maritime
Commission moved into the Commerce Build
ing. Patent Office employees were assured 1t
was a wartime expedient.
Quartered in a tobacco warehouse, the per-
sonnel of 81 Patent once divisions came to
regard Washington and the old Patent Once
quarters as 4 promised land, their sojourn in
Richmond as a sort of Babylonian captivity.
The war over, some of the Richmond per-
sonnel was moved back to Washington in jan
uary, 1916. In the following September the
rest was moved almost to Washington-to
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The final move to the old quarters came
few months later
But the promise that seemed so fair in
Richmond turned out to be decidedly without
sparkle.
An inspection of the ofhces yesterday dis
closed numerous Offices consisting of one bay
off a corridor, with about 800 square feet and
two windows, and containing four desks. This
allows about IS square feet per man.
Rows Of "Shoe Cases"
But in addition the examiners have to have
files of patents in the field in which they work.
These are kept in wooden file cases-called
shoe cases-the patents lying fiat in shallow
drawer These shoe cases take up space.
In addition, each division usually accumu-
lates a small but workable law library for
ready reference. These books take up space
also.
Chairs used to hold stacks of papers are
not an infreouent sight. On the sixth and
seventh floors at the south end of the build
ing, where some of the divisions are quar-
tered, much of the area is loft space without
partitions. The shoe cases have been placed
to form corridors and divisions between offices.
The space is light and airy. but crowded.
Not all rooms are our-person rooms. There
as II or II persons are at work, examiners
and typists together.
Some divisions haye been moved to the
seventh floor from the third floor to make
space for the Commerce Departments export
control Office.
Much of the work OF the Patent Once in
wolves technical examination or search to de-
termine whether the patent applied for is new
development in the field, and whether it inter-
feres with previous patent. Such search
requires library atmosphere.
Congestion Is Distraeting.
Such an atmosphere is lacking for the exan,i-
ner conducting q search at his desk while the
chief examiner of the division confers with two
other examiners at adjoining desks and 1T =
fourth desk another examiner Is holding con-
| ference with . patent attorney.
The Maritime Commission also has ySoms
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