HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PATENT SYSTEM. The century just closed stands out pre-eminently as the century of invention. It is therefore a fitting time briefly to refer to the origin, establishment, and development of our patent system, to call to mind the debt the United States owes to inventors, and at the same time to point out the advantages that have followed the farseeing wisdom of the framers of the Federal Constitution in incorporating in that instrument paragraph 8 of section 8 of Article I. of the Constitution, which gave to Congress the power "To promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries." pro One hundred years ago the population of the United States was less than 6,000,000, and there was not a single city within our borders having a population of 75,000. The population of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston was less than the present population of Minneapolis. The latter city and its sister city of St. Paul, Chicago, Omaha, and Kansas City were unknown. Not a steam pelled vessel was in use, nor was there a mile of railroad in the United States. The electric telegraph and telephone were unknown. Our exports consisted of agricultural products. There was scarcely any well-developed line of manufacture, and our wants in that line were supplied by imports. It had been the policy of England to suppress manufacturing in its colonies. In 1634 a law was passed in Virginia for the encouragement of textile manufactures, but it was promptly annulled by England. In 1731 she enacted a law prohibiting the carriage of woolen goods and hats from one colony to another. In 1750 a woollen hat factory in Massachusetts was declared to be a nuisance and suppressed. No carpets were made in the colonies until after 1776, except rag carpets. In 1800 carpets were in this country a luxury. Even up to 1850 there was not a power loom for carpet making in the United States. What is true in the textile art is equally true of most of the other arts. Though the country was an agricultural one, little progress had been made in the manufacture of agricultural implements. It was not until 1819 that an iron plow was produced in this country. The reaper appeared in 1833 and a successful thresher not until 1850. Up to the time of the Civil War there is no question but that the country continued to be an agricultural one. It is true that during the first sixty years of the last century our manufactures steadily and rapidly increased in kind and in extent, but our population increased even more rapidly, so that we consumed what we manufactured and were still largely dependent upon the import of manufactured articles. But in the last few years a great reversal, not only in sentiment but in conditions, has occurred; the commercial relations of the United States with the great trading nations of the world have rapidly changed, so that the excess of imports of manufactured articles has turned into an excess of exports of such articles. One need not look far for the cause of this. It lies in the economy of manufacture arising from the use of labor-saving devices, mainly the invention of our own people, which has enabled us to compete in many lines of manufacture, notwithstanding the higher scale of wages paid in this country, with similar articles manufactured by any or all nations. To employ these devices to the best advantage requires the intelligence of the American workmen, and the result is due to the combination of witty inventions and thinking men. Witless men behind witty machines would be of no use. To the patent system more than to any other cause are we indebted for the industrial revolution of the century. President Washington realized the importance of formulating a law to stimulate inventions, and in his first annual message to Congress, in 1790, said: "I can not forbear intimating to you the expediency of giving effectual encouragement as well to the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad as to the exertion of skill and genius in producing them at home.' Congress was quick to act, and on April 10, 1790, the first law upon the subject was enacted. It constituted the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney-General a board to consider all applications for patents. Owing to the fires that have destroyed the early records of the Patent Office, some question has arisen as to the number of patents issued under this act; but from the best information obtainable I place the number at fifty-seven. The first patent issued was to Samuel Hopkins, July 31, 1790, for making pot and pearl ashes. The act of 1793 superseded the act of 1790, and remained in force as amended from time to time until the act of 1836 was passed. The act of 1793 was the only act ever passed in this country which provided for the issuance of Letters Patent without the requirement of an examination into the novelty and utility of the invention for which the patent was sought. The act of 1836, with modifications, remained in force until the revision of the patent laws in 1870. This revision was largely a consolidation of the statutes then in force. Under the revision of the statutes of the United States in 1874 the act of 1870 was repealed; but the revision substantially re-enacted the provisions of the act of 1870. Under the acts of 1790 and 1793 Letters Patent were granted for a term of fourteen years. There was no provision for extension; but while the act of 1793 was in force Congress extended some thirteen patents. The act of 1836 provided that Letters Patent should be granted for a term of fourteen years, and provision was made for an extension for a term of seven years upon due application and upon a proper showing. Until 1848 petitions for extensions passed upon by a board consisting of the Secretary of State, the Commissioner of Patents, and the Solicitor of the Treasury. After that time power was vested solely in the Commissioner of Patents. were The patent act of March 2, 1861 (section 16), provided that all patents thereafter granted should remain in force for a term of seventeen years from the date of issue, and the extension of such patents was prohibited. The consolidated patent act of 1870, while providing that patents should be granted for a term of seventeen years, also provided that patents granted prior to March 2, 1861, might. upon due application and a proper showing, be extended by the Commissioner of Patents for a term of seven years from the expiration of the first term. By the revision of the patent laws in 1874 the prohibition against the extension of patents was dropped, and since that time Congress has had the power to extend Letters Patent. Congress extended five patents granted under the act of 1836, and in nine instances authorized patentees to apply to the Commissioner of Patents for extension of their patents. So far as I have been able to discover, no patent granted for a term of seventeen years has been extended by Congress. It was not until 1842 that the statute was passed authorizing the grant of patents for designs. Under that act design patents were granted for seven years. Subsequently provisions were made for granting them for terms of three and one-half, seven, and fourteen years, at the election of the applicant. By the act of March 2, 1861, the Board of Examiners-in-Chief was established. Prior to that time, and during the incumbency of Commissioner Holt, temporary boards of examiners to decide appeals had been appointed by him, and later on he created a permanent board of three examiners who were to decide on appeal rejected cases and submit their decisions to him for approval. The act of 1870 made the first provision for an Assistant Commissioner and an Examiner of Interferences. Another provision in that act was the power given the Commissioner, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to establish regulations for the conduct of proceedings in the Office. On January 1, 1898, an act passed March 3, 1897, went into force. Some of the provisions of this act were that applications for patents should be completed and prepared for examination within one year after the filing of the application and that the applicant should prosecute the same within one year after an action thereon or it should be regarded as abandoned (prior to that time two years was the limit); that an inventor should be debarred from receiving a patent if his invention had been first patented by him or his legal representatives or assigns in a foreign country, provided the application for the foreign patent had been filed more than seven months prior to the filing of the application in this country, and that if the invention for which a patent was applied for had been patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country for more than two years prior to the application a patent could not issue. The first provision for affording accommodations for the Patent Office was in 1810, when Congress authorized the purchase of a building for the General Post-office and for the office of the Keeper of Patents. The building purchased was known as "Blodgett's Hotel," and stood on the site now occupied by the south front of the building until recently occupied by the Post-office Department, and now used by several bureaus of the Interior Department. The east end of this building was used for the records, models, etc., of the Patent Office. This building was destroyed by fire December 13, 1836. On July 4, 1836, an act was passed appropriating $108.000 for the erection of a suitable building for the accommodation of the Patent Office, and within that month the erection of the building was begun. It was the present south front of the Patent Office, excluding the south ends of the east and west wings. The basement (which is now the first or ground floor) was to be used for storage and analogous purposes, the first or portico floor for office rooms, and the second floor was to be one large hall with galleries on either side, and to have a vaulted roof. This hall was to be used for exhibition purposes, for the display of models of patented and unpatented inventions, and also as a national gallery of the industrial arts and manufactures. In During the erection of the Patent Office building temporary quarters were provided in the City Hall. the spring of 1840 the building was completed and the Office moved into it. The sum of $422.011.65 was expended on this building. The patented models were then classified and exhibited in suitable glass cases, while the national gallery was arranged for exhibition of models and specimens. By the act of March 3, 1849, the Interior Department was established and the Patent Office attached thereto. This same act appropriated $50,000 out of the patent fund to begin the east or Seventh street wing, which was completed in 1852 at a cost of $600,000, $250,000 of which was taken from the revenue of the Patent Office. In 1852 the plans for the entire building, as it now stands, were prepared. The west wing was completed in 1856 and cost $750,000. Work on the north or G street wing was begun the same year. In 1867 this wing was finished at a cost of $575,000. The entire building cost $2,347,011.65. Since July 28, 1836, 667,173 patents for inventions, and since 1842 34,018 patents for designs have been issued by this office. Many of these patents are for minor improvements, but among them may be found a very large number covering the most remarkable and valuable inventions, which have added untold sums to the world's wealth, revolutionized the old arts, created new ones, brought oldtime luxuries within the reach of all, and made life doubly worth living. These contributions have come from men and women, white and colored. To many inventors more than a hundred patents have been issued. The following are some of the inventors who have received more than that number between 1872 and 1900, both years inclusive: Thomas A. Edison. George Westinghouse. 742 619 444 374 293 280 276 Depoele (de 245 239 John W. Hyatt. 209 Freeborn F. Raymond, 2d. 182 en. It is a fair estimate that out of every 1,000 patents one is granted to a woman. As a rule women take out but one patent, although there are many exceptions. While the majority of patents granted them are for improvements in wearing apparel and in articles for household use, they have invented and received patents for adding machines, windmills, horseshoes, agricultural implements, and fire escapes. To some 165 colored inventors about 400 patents have been issued. Twenty-eight patents have been issued to one and to another 22. So far as the records show, Henry Blair, of Maryland, was the first colored patentee. In 1834 he received a patent for a corn planter, and in 1836 one for a cotton planter. The character of their inventions follows lines suggested by their employment. Employed in the field and in the house, improvements in agricultural implements and articles of domestic use predominate. The sphere of their inventive effort has widened with the added opportunities afforded them to engage in mechanical vocations. They have made contributions to the electric arts and steam engineering, and many improvements in railway appliances and paper-bag machines. Before the Civil War the master of a slave living in Mississippi made application for a patent, but the Attorney-General held in an opinion reported in vol. 9, Attorney-General's Opinions, page 171, that an invention of a slave, though it be new and useful, could not be patented. In May, 1802, President Jefferson appointed Dr. William Thornton as a clerk at $1,400 per year, to have charge of the issuance of patents. He took the title of Superintendent, and continued to act in that capacity until his death, March 28, 1828. He was succeeded by Dr. William P. Jones, who acted until his removal in the early part of President Jackson's administration. John D. Craig followed Dr. Jones, and in 1834 he was succeeded by B. F. Pickett, who served but a brief period. The last Superintendent was Henry L. Ellsworth, who became the first Commissioner under the act of 1836, and served until 1845. The other Commissioners under that act were: Edmund Burke. May 4, 1845. Joseph Holt, September 10, 1857. Commissioner Fisher continued as Commissioner for a short time under the act of 1870. Other Commissioners under that act have been: M. D. Leggett, January 16, 1871. M. V. Montgomery, March 23, 1885. Commissioner Fisher was the first to publish his decisions and to have the copies of the specifications and drawings made by photo-lithography. He also instituted the practice of requiring competitive examinations for entrance to and promotions in the examining force of the office. Beginning in 1843 and annually thereafter the Patent Office reports were published, which, until 1853, contained merely an alphabetical index of the names of the inventors, a list of the expired patents, and the claims of the patents granted during the week. In 1853 and afterward small engraved copies of a portion of the drawings were added to the reports to explain the claims. The act of 1870 authorized the Commissioner to print copies of the claims of the current issues of patents and of such laws, decisions, and rules as were necessary for the information of the public. In conformity with this provision there was published weekly a list giving the numbers, titles, and claims of the patents issued during the week immediately preceding, together with the names and residences of the patentees. This list was first published under the name of The Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, on January 3, 1872. In July, 1872, portions of the drawings were introduced to illustrate the The claims in the patented cases. Official Gazette has now become one of the most valuable and important of Government publications. Each Senator and Representative is authorized to designate eight public libraries to receive this publication free. One copy is also furnished free to each member of Congress. It is also sent all over the world in exchange for similar publications by other Governments, and its paid subscription list is constantly increasing. The American patent system is known and spoken of as the "examination system," in contradistinction to the English system, which has been mainly followed by other nations. The examination system is the ideal system, provided the examination can be made with sufficient care to minimize the likelihood of the issue of pat ents for inventions not of a patentable nature. The field of search, however, yearly increases, and it becomes more and more difficult through lack of time to make a perfect examination. Something more than two million domestic and foreign patents have been issued while the number of scientific publications has enormously increased. It is only by means of a perfect classification that this great mass of matter can be so divided as to be conveniently accessible for use in the examination of any individual case. Of our patent system it has been well said: "It is generally recognized by the most profound students of our institutions, both at home and abroad, that no one thing has contributed more to the pre-eminence of this country in the industrial arts and in manufactures than the encouragement given by our Constitution and laws to inventors and to investors in patent property." The system is by no means perfect; but it is generally acknowledged that the patent laws of the United States are more liberal than those of any other country, and that the examination, imperfect though at times it be, gives a value to a United States patent not possessed by a patent issued by a country not having an examination system. It is undoubtedly true that the practice before the Patent Office lacks stability and uniformity by reason of the frequent changes of Commissioners, which prevents the establishment of definite policies. The salaries paid to the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner, to the examiners in chief, and to the examiners of the various grades are inadequate. It is also true that too many appeals are permitted, and interference proceedings are rendered onerous and complicated by the number of motions and appeals provided by the laws and rules. The most serious defect, however, follows from the power to keep applications in the Office for indefinite times through delays in amending the same. The act of March 3, 1897, was intended to prevent or check this evil; but it has failed of its purpose. At the present time about 75 per cent of the patents granted are issued within one year after being filed, and were it not for the fact that applications are unduly delayed at least 90 per cent would issue within that time. The rights of the public would be protected and very seldom would an injustice be done to an inventor if provision was incorporated into the patent laws providing that unless an application became involved in an interference it should not be permitted to remain in the Patent Office more than three years without abridging its life of seventeen years. The records of the Office show that there were pending in 1900, 4,829 applications. filed prior to January 1, 1898. Three of these applications were filed in 1880, one in 1881, four in 1882, three in 1884, three in 1885, thirteen in 1886, seven in 1887, thirteen in 1888, nineteen in 1889, twenty-three in 1890, forty-five in 1891, sixty-four in 1892, one hundred and three in 1893, one hundred and fifty-four in 1894, three hundred and sixty-eight in 1895, nine hundred and ninety-two in 1896, and three thousand and eleven in 1897. It will be seen, therefore, that an application may be kept alive indefinitely, if it be desired. While the list above given embraces only such applications as were filed under the law as it existed prior to January 1, 1898, yet ten years later a similar list will undoubtedly be given, provided the statutes are not amended, for the only difference lies in the fact that amendments now have to be made within a year after the official action instead of two years under the prior act. A law which permits this should be corrected. It should continue to be the policy of the government of a nation whose inventors have given to the world the cotton-gin and the reaper, the sewing machine and the typewriter, the electric telegraph and telephone. the rotary web perfecting printing press and |