c./ (Report, Conf Pam 12mo #130 RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS. Resolved, That three hundred copies of the Reports of the Commissioner of Patents be printed, to be paid for out of the Patent Fund, fifty of which shall be retained in the office of the Commissioner of Patents, one hundred to be distribu- ted to the present Congress, and one hundred and fifty to the Congress under the Permanent Constitution. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Duke University Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/reportjanuary18600conf CONFEDERATE STATES PATENT OFFICE; > Richmond, January, 1862. ) Sir: In obedience tothe requirements of the Act ''To establish; a Patent Office," &c., approved May 21st, 1861, I have the- honor to lay before Congress the annexed list of the Patents that have issued from this office, prior to the 1st instant, so. classified as to designate under proper heads the subjects to which they relate. Appended also, is an alphabetical list of the patentees with their places of residence. The condition of the office at the close of the past year, as well as its operations from the date of its establishment, up to that time, will be explained by the following tables : Number of applications for patents 304 " " caveats 110 " " patents issued 57 " " of United States Patents and assign- ments thereof, recorded 112 Amount of fees received $9,000 90 Amount of expenditures 6, 1 88 28 Excess of receipts over expenditures. $2,812 62 Statement No. 1 Monies received by the Patent Office, from May 22d, 18G1,. to December 31st, 1861, inclusive : On applications for patents $5^209 00:- On account of United States Patents and as- signments 2,875 73 On account of caveats 798 84 For excess of fees paid 77 50 For recording Confederate States assignments . and for copies of papers 24' 08: Miscellaneous postage 15 75 $9,000 90 ■ Statement No. 2, Expenditures from the Patent Fund, from May 23nd, 1861, to December 31st, 1861, inclusive: For salaries $4,788 34 Temporary clerks 1 1 9 72 Books for library 94 00 Excess of fees refunded 40 00 Contingent expenses : Stationery $375 00 For furniture 309 75 For printing 236 52 For postage 146 95 For seal of office 78 00 1,146 22 $6,188 28 The Patents issued, were distributed among the several States, as follows : To citizens of Virginia 15 " " ** Georgia 9 •" " '' Alabama 7 ^■^ '< '' Louisiana 6 " " " North Carolina 5 <« '' '' South Carolina 4 " '^^ '^ Mississippi 4 *' •" ** Tennessee 3 a a ** Arkansas 2 '^ '<■ "Florida 1 <« " <^ Texas 1 Of the patents that have been allowed, eighteen or nearly one-third of the whole number, cover improvements in fire arms, or other destructive implements of w^ar, a fact which strikingly illustrates .the disposition of inventors, considered as a distinct class of citizens, to contribute each his oflfcr- :ing in furtherance aiid support of the great cause of civil liberty, whose defence and vindication Providence has as- signed to the people of the Confederate States. It would be invidious and improper for me to attempt to discriminate between these improvements, by selecting from among them particular cases for favorable criticism and com- ment. But with the view of showing that some of them have decided merit, I may with propriety, point to the fact that thej have been adopted by the Government, for use against the enemy, after trial, in preference to inventions of a simi- lar character, which, originating in foreign countries, have received there the highest approval of scientific and military men. Among the pending and the rejected cases, the same, or very nearly the same, proportion prevails with respect to the subjects presented by them to the consideration of the office. And it is among the rejected applications especially that there is found the strongest evidence of the stimulating effect which the combined influence of the revolution in which we are engaged, and the yearning behests of patriotism in the Southern; heart, has produced upon the Southern mind within the sphere, at least, of the operations and observations of the Patent Office. Conclusions which the al)lcst scientific men of the world have toiled for years to attain hx regard to certain classes of inventions have been reached by Southern men as by a single intuitive perception, or bound of the mind, under the powerful incentive which an earnest desire to aid the common cause has awakened. Nor is this praise- worthy desire confined to citizens of any particular profes- sion or pursuit. It prevails every where — in the army, in the workshops and in the closet. Inventions, having the one grand object of aiding the country to withstand the at- tacks of its enemy, or to strike damaging blows in return, have come up to the Patent Office from ministers of thC' gospel, from professors in colleges, and from officers and private soldiers in active service in the field, it might be, almost in the very presence of the enemy. A village school- master in the State of Arkansas, presenting his contribu- tion, has received a patent for an instrument for measuring distances without the use of logarithms or other difficult process of calculation, which, if it but fulfil the expecta- tions of the inventor, is likely to be of immediate practical value in the adjustment of artillery to diff*erent ranges, whether in fixed batteries or in service in the field. I am informed that the instrument in question is soon to be tested with guns at Nashville, and there are strong grounds for be- lieving it will prove a complete success. As might be expected from the character and pursuits of our people, a considerable proportion of the mechanical im- provements, for which patents are sought, relate to agricul- tural implements. Among the patents that have been granted, nine are for improvements of this description. In tlie examinations of applications for patents, the office labors under serious disadvantages for the ^vant of books of reference, and I do not perceive any immediate prospect of remedying the difficulty. There is not a polytechnic jour- nal for sale at Richmond, and the supply of other books of the kind required by the office is exceedinprly limited. I have only been able to procure a few cyclopiedias of art and sci- ence, and some treatises upon the subject matter of patents, and though I am extending my encjuiries beyond llichmond, I have no very sanguine hope of adding greatly to the library for some time to come. Mindful of the maxim " that it is better to err on the safe side," I have, from the day the office was organized, acted upon the principle of giving the benefit of all doubt to the applicant. In all cases, therefore, in which the office could not point to the evidence of a want of novelty in the subject on which an application was based, however strong the doubt entertained whether that sulject were really new, the rule has been to let a patent go out. This policy, which, I trust, meets the approval of Congress, in connection with the want, to which I have adverted, of proper books of reference must unavoidably result in the occasional issue of a patent which ultimately the courts will be called upon to set aside. The power with which the courts are clothed of declaring letters patent to be void that have been on any account improperly granted, relieves the policy I have thought it my duty to adopt, as above stated, it will be perceived^ of every possible objection, and secures to the people the reclamation of any rights which might seem to be temporarily AvithdraAvn from them. A less liberal line of action might work irreparable injury to individuals without any compensating good to the public. It will be observed that one hundred and twelve United States patents only have been '' continued in force" up to the 1st instant. A portion of these have been *' continued in force" by assignees for a specified portion of territory only, leaving still to the public the full use and enjoyment of the inventions covered by them outside the limits of the specified portion of territory embraced by the deeds of assign- ment. From the lights before me, it may be safely estimated *that there are at least three thousand United States patents belonging in whole, or in part, to citizens of the Confederate States. That not more than one hundred and twelve have been '' continued in force " by a compliance with the provi- Ksions of the statute, is chieflj to be ascribed, it is believed, to the ignorance of the holders of them of the requirements of the law. The extension of the time within which such patents may be recorded, with a view to revival, secures to many citizens valuable rights which otherwise would have been lost, and it cannot but command the gratitude of all concerned. The considerable excess of receipts over the expenditures, up to the period to which this report extends, and which has resulted in placing a surplus of $2,812 62, in the Treasury to the credit of the Patent fund, sufficiently demonstrates that the Office is most prosperous in its financial department, and that it is entirely self-sustaining. It may be remarked however, that looking to the possible refusal or failure on the part of Congress to extend the limitation in relation to the recording of the United States patents, and to the conse- quent total cessation of receipts from that source, I have thought it the part of wisdom, to administer the Office with as small a clerical force as was possible, without unduly de- laying its current business. I desired, in a word, to accu- mulate a surplus fund, to enable the Office to live in such contingency, until a changed condition of the country, from a state of war to one of peace, the receipts from applicants for patents and caveators might reasonably be expected alone to be sufficient to pay its expenses, with a full working force of examiners and clerks. The policy has borne some- what hardly upon the employees in the office ; but it gives me pleasure to testify in their behalf, that nothing could ex- ceed the cordial zeal and good will, with Avhich every one of them has responded to my wishes in this particular, despite the excessive labor, thus imposed upon them, by a faithful and unremitting attention to their respective duties. In this connection, I beg leave respectfully to ask that the salary, as now fixed for '' recording clerks," be increased to twelve hundred dollars per annum. The very high prices charged for almost every article of personal comfort, as well as for the absolute necessaries of life at this place, make one thou- sand dollars a year, too little to do more than barely sup- port a man of family, and besides the pecuniary condition of the office, justifies the increase of pay to the extent I have suggested. The Act of May 21st, 1861, is, to a very great extent, a mere transcript of several United States statutes in relation to patents, and the United States Patent Office and some of its provisions are inapplicable to this Office, or impossible of 8^ fulfilment. Tlie Act might indeed bo remodelled tliroughout, and many of its present provisions left out with propriety; but, inasmuch as I do not perceive any immediate chance that evil is likely to arise out of its objectionable features, I have deemed it right to refrain alike from an enumeration of them, and from suggestions looking to their amendment. In view too of the exactions of the important duties of a more general and public nature, which doubtless now press upon Congress, and of the rapid approach of the close of its session, the subject may need be deferred to a future day. The whole of the third story of the building known, I believe, as the '* Mechanic's Institute," has been assigned to the Patent Office, and in the large hall which occupies four- fifths of its space, cabinets with glass doors have been con- veniently arranged for the exhibition of patented models, and are free to inspection by all who desire to see them. The collection of models is yet small, and covers but little space, but there are still enough, I may be permitted to say, to show that the Southern people possess inventive genius in an abundant measure, and that it needed but an occasion like that which is upon us, to give to it an active vitality and expression, which, beneficial in a large degree to the living present, cannot fail to be fruitful of magnificent results to coming generations. RUFUS R. RHODES, Commissioner of Patents. To the President of the Confederate States Conorress. 9 H .J O O o CO c3 1 o o o o o o o o o 1 OO 00 OO CO CO oc cc oc oo u b-T t^ CO cT i-H rH C^f CC" 'DO > fcjo fcC > > > ^ -^ :z; ^ -< <^ ^ iz; ^ K, c« ee . . e« §■& ^1 c^. 1 ^ •? - - " S 5 ^ tiO f-ai-ig^ll-s ^^^g^^-^gl-o ft o Ph o fi. Hj ^ o pq zn a a> ^ • Ph • u O 0^ u -M --« ;; H W < r*^ — — . w-( •— t fl sa^c~"^'" !=? = • o 'o >■ J . • ^ • o n o ^ ;^ Eh p^ ^ K^ M J, >« 3 ei Q » > ^ o u 3 « (5 Co -fl C -H , u OS o :t^9 S^ C p, c5 f^^ o 0_ -2 fco ■r! 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