Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents to Congress for the year ending December 31, 1883
Laid before the House of Representatives by the Speaker pro tempore January 31, 1884, referred to the Committee on Patents, and ordered to be printed.
Department of the Interior
United States Patent Office
Washington, D.C., January 29, 1884
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:
Receipts
Detailed statement of all moneys received for patents, for
copies of records or drawings, or from any source whatever.
Applications (including caveats, trade marks, and disclaimers)
Cash received $961,785.00
Cash refunded 2,160.00
____________
Net cash 959,625.00
Certificates of deposit 61,040.00
____________
Total cash and certificates 1,020,665.00
============
Copies
Cash received 79,549.15
Cash refunded 1,910.75
_________
Net cash 77,638.40
Certificates of deposit 923.65
_________
Total cash and certificates 78,562.05
=========
Recording assignments
Cash received 28,405.90
Cash refunded 1,390.05
_________
Net cash 27,015.85
Certificates of deposit 603.50
_________
Total cash and certificates 27,619.35
=========
Subscription to Official Gazette
Cash received 13,134.70
Cash refunded 55.90
_________
Net cash 13,078.80
Certificates of deposit 65.30
_________
Total cash and certificates 13,144.10
=========
Registration of labels
Cash received 5,483.00
Cash refunded 120.00
________
Net cash 5,363.00
Certificates of deposit 126.00
________
Total cash and certificates 5,489.00
========
Proceeds of sale of rejected models 760.50
========
Aggregates
Cash received $1,089,118.25
Cash refunded 5,636.70
____________
Net cash 1,083,481.55
Certificates of deposit 62,758.45
____________
Total cash and certificates 1,146,240.00
============
Expenditures
Amount expended under the several appropriations from
January 1, 1883 to January 1, 1884
Salaries $543,169.15
Contingent expenses (to June 30, 1883) 10,642.99
[By act of Congress, approved March 3, 1883,
making appropriations for the legislative,
executive, and judicial expenses of the Government
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, it was
provided that the contingent funds of the various
bureaus of the Department of the Interior be
consolidated. The contingent expenses herein
mentioned therefore only cover a period of six
months.]
Official Gazette 34,220.00
Photolithographing 66,091.49
Copies of drawings 14,990.18
Scientific library 6,130.05
__________
Total 675,234.86
==========
Statement of contingent expenses in detail
Stationery and books $267.52
File holders 60.50
Card board 257.00
Furniture 453.71
Hardware 175.33
Painting 139.00
Carpets, etc. 498.84
Services 1,907.70
Ice 447.47
Engraving and printing 401.47
Desks, cases and repairing 2,018.55
Tin shelves 14.00
Washing towels, horse livery, paste, lumber,
telephone, winding clocks, and sundries 4,001.80
________
Total 10,642,99
Receipts over Expenditures
Total receipts $1,146,240.00
Total expenditures 675,234.86
____________
Receipts over expenditures 471,005.14
============
Statement of balance in the Treasury of the United States
on account of the Patent fund
Amount to the credit of the fund January 1, 1883 $2,205,471.10
Amount of receipts during the year 1883 1,146,240.00
____________
Total 3,351,711.10
Deduct expenditures for year 1883 675,234.86
____________
Balance January 1, 1884 2,676,476.24
============
Summary of the Business of the Office
Number of applications for patents for inventions 33,073
Number of applications for patents for designs 1,238
Number of applications for reissues of patents 265
______
Total number of applications relating to patents 34,576
======
Number of caveats filed 2,741
Number of applications for registration of trade marks 915
Number of applications for registration of labels 834
Number of disclaimers filed 18
Number of appeals on the merits 640
_____
Total 5,148
_____
Total number of applications requiring
investigation and action 39,724
======
Number of patents issued, including designs 22,216
Number of patents reissued 167
Number of trade marks registered 902
Number of labels registered 906
______
Total number of patents and certificates issued 24,191
Number of patents expired during the year 8,874
Number of patents withheld for non-payment of final fee 2,366
Patents Issued
Patents issued to citizens of the United States, with the
ratio of population to each patent granted
States and Territories Patents One to
and every
Designs
Alabama 77 16,396
Arizona Territory 14 2,888
Arkansas 59 13,602
California 596 1,450
Colorado 119 1,633
Connecticut 883 705
Dakota Territory 30 4,505
Delaware 36 4,070
District of Columbia 217 818
Florida 11 11,228
Georgia 115 13,410
Idaho Territory 6 5,435
Illinois 1,792 1,717
Indiana 712 2,777
Iowa 445 3,650
Kansas 189 5,270
Kentucky 228 7,231
Louisiana 80 11,749
Maine 183 3,546
Maryland 260 3,595
Massachusetts 2,173 820
Michigan 727 2,251
Minnesota 210 3,717
Mississippi 51 22,188
Missouri 625 3,469
Montana Territory 17 2,303
Nebraska 87 5,200
Nevada 23 2,707
New Hampshire 139 2,496
New Jersey 1,066 1,061
New Mexico Territory 11 10,869
New York 4,359 1,166
North Carolina 87 16,088
Ohio 1,604 1,993
Oregon 76 2,299
Pennsylvania 2,168 1,975
Rhode Island 327 845
South Carolina 47 21,182
Tennessee 124 12,438
Texas 208 7,652
Utah Territory 21 6,855
Vermont 109 3,048
Virginia 122 12,398
Washington Territory 21 3,576
West Virginia 82 7,542
Wisconsin 394 3,338
Wyoming Territory 5 4,157
United States Army 6 --
United States Navy 3 --
Total 20,957
Patents issued to citizens of foreign countries
Of patents issued to foreigners there were granted
to citizens of --
Australia 10
Austria 33
Belgium 20
Bermuda 1
Canada 251
Central America 3
Cuba 5
Denmark 7
East Indies 2
England 435
France 179
Germany 235
Hawaiian Islands 2
Holland 2
Italy 3
Japan 2
Mexico 2
Newfoundland 1
New Zealand 4
Norway 4
Peru 2
Russia 5
Spain 2
Sweden 12
Switzerland 22
Turkey 3
United States of Columbia 2
Venezuela 1
Victoria 4
West Indies 4
Total 1,259
Comparative statement of the business of the Office from 1837
to 1883, inclusive
Years Applica- Caveats Patents Cash Cash Surplus
tions Filed Issued Received Expended
1837 435 $29,289.08 $33,506.98
1838 520 42,123.54 37,402.10 $4,721.44
1839 425 37,260.00 34,543.51 2,716.49
1840 765 228 473 38,056.51 39,020.67
1841 847 312 495 40,413.01 52,666.87
1842 761 391 517 36,505.68 31,241.48 5,264.20
1843 819 315 531 35,315.81 30,766.96 4,538.85
1844 1,045 380 502 42,509.26 36,244.73 6,264.53
1845 1,246 452 502 51,076.14 39,395.65 11,680.49
1846 1,272 448 619 50,264.16 46,158.71 4,105.45
1847 1,531 553 572 63,111.19 41,878.35 21,232.84
1848 1,628 607 660 67,576.69 58,905.84 8,670.85
1849 1,955 595 1,070 80,752.78 77,716.44 3,036.54
1850 2,193 602 995 86,927.05 80,100.95 6,816.10
1851 2,258 760 869 95,738.61 86,916.93 8,821.68
1852 2,639 996 1,020 112,656.34 95,916.91 16,739.43
1853 2,673 901 958 121,527.45 132,869.83
1854 3,324 868 1,902 163,789.84 167,146.32
1855 4,435 906 2,024 216,459.35 179,540.33 36,919.02
1856 4,960 1,024 2,502 192,588.02 199,931.02
1857 4,771 1,010 2,910 196,132.01 211,582.09
1858 5,364 943 3,710 203,716.16 193,193.74 10,592.42
1859 6,225 1,097 4,538 245,942.15 210,278.41 35,663.74
1860 7,653 1,084 4,819 256,352.59 252.820.80 3,531.79
1861 4,643 700 3,340 137,354.44 221,491.91
1862 5,038 824 3,521 215,754.99 182,810.39 32,944.60
1863 6,014 787 4,170 195,593.29 189,414.14 6,179.15
1864 6,972 1,063 5,020 240,919.98 229,868.00 11,051.98
1865 10,664 1,937 6,616 348,791.84 274,199.34 74,593.50
1866 15,269 2,723 9,450 495,665.38 361,724.28 133,941.10
1867 21,276 3,597 13,015 646,581.92 639,263.32 7,318.60
1868 20,420 3,705 13,378 684,565.86 628,679.77 52,866.09
1869 19,271 3,624 13,986 693,145.81 486,430.78 206,715.03
1870 19,171 3,273 13,321 669,476.76 557,149.19 112,307.57
1871 19,472 3,624 13,033 678,716.46 560.595.08 118,121.38
1872 18,246 3,090 13,590 699,726.39 665,591.36 34,135.03
1873 20,414 3,248 12,864 703,191.77 691.178.98 12,012.79
1874 21,602 3,181 13,599 738,278.17 679,288.41 58,989.76
1875 21,638 3,094 16,288 743,453.36 721,657.71 21,795.65
1876 21,425 2,697 17,026 757,987.65 652,542.60 105,445.05
1877 20,308 2,869 13,619 732,342.85 613,152.62 119,190.23
1878 20,260 2,755 12,935 725,375.55 593,082.89 132,292.66
1879 20,059 2,620 12,725 703,931.47 529,638.97 174,292.50
1880 23,012 2,490 13,947 749,685.32 538,865.17 210,820.15
1881 26,059 2,406 16,584 853,665.89 605,173.28 238,492.61
1882 31,522 2,553 19,267 1,009,219.45 683,867.67 325,351.78
1833 34,576 2,741 22,383 1,146,240.00 675,234.86 471,005.14
It will be observed that the business of the Office has greatly increased during the past year, and it is now increasing in a steady ratio. With this increase of business there is, of course, a corresponding increase in the receipts of the Office, the amount paid in during the year ending December 31, 1883, being $1,146,240.00, which is $137,020.55 in excess of the amount received during the year 1882, and $471,005.14 in excess of all expenditures by and for the bureau during the year last past.
An Increase of Force Necessary
I wish, in connection with the above exhibit, to respectfully call the attention of Congress to certain facts, which I trust may have some influence in securing the adoption of such measures as will in the future remove all just cause for complaints that reach me from all quarters and sections of the country touching the delay in dispatching the business which comes to this bureau.
I am daily in receipt of communications severely censuring the honorable Secretary and the Commissioner for not employing such additional force as is necessary to bring and keep the work of the bureau up to date. The impression seems to prevail that since the patrons of the Office have provided the funds for the prompt disposition of their business, some blame attaches to the Department or to this Office for not applying the money to the purpose for which it was received. I am daily appealed to by Senators and Members to make applications special, on the ground that if an examination is delayed until the case is reached in its regular order the value of the patent may be to a large measure lost to the inventor. Although well disposed to oblige my friends, I cannot, without violating a well-considered rule of the bureau, comply with these requests. I know these delays are not only vexatious, but in some instances very disastrous to the interests involved. There is no valid reason why a single application should remain a week in the Office without being taken up for action, and as little excuse for compelling assignees of interests in patents to wait several months before their deeds can be recorded. parties entitled to copies of records, which are indispensable as evidence on the trial of pending causes, are compelled to wait several weeks before they can be furnished.
The examining corps is greatly behind with its work simply because it is a physical impossibility with the number employed to keep it up. It has frequently been suggested that the force of the Office does not accomplish as much as ought to be required of it. Since I have taken charge of the Office I have been at pains to ascertain if those employed in the bureau are unfaithful or shirk duty in any wise. I note first that under the rules of the Office shirking is next to impossible, and absence in excess of the thirty days authorized by statute (unless in case of sickness) is not allowed, except in rare instances, and without pay. I am satisfied that no private employer in the country has more faithful and excellent service from his employees than is rendered by those employed in this bureau. There are exceptions, but they are very few, and, I may add, that in such cases what the individuals lack in earnest effort in the discharge of duty here they endeavor to make up by exceptional activity in securing influence and indorsement to induce the Department to retain them in the service and promote them.
It is evident that the Government never intended to make the Patent Office a source of revenue. It was and is desired to make it self-sustaining, and the fees were fixed and are as low as was and is deemed compatible with the possibility of providing ample revenue to secure all necessary facilities of every kind and character for the prompt and thorough dispatch of the business properly coming before it. Not a cent of money expended, directly or indirectly, for the support and maintenance of the Patent Office is raised by taxation. Every dollar is paid by those who have business before the Office -- the inventors of the country. It is beyond question that not only the inventors and those immediately interested in inventions, but the great body of the people as well, are interested in having the business of this bureau done promptly and thoroughly. The inventor does not want a worthless patent, nor are the people willing to pay a royalty when none can be justly claimed, nor do they wish to go into the courts to test the validity of a patent. The inventor not only wants to know whether he is legally entitled to a patent for the subject matter of his application, but he desires and is entitled to have the question speedily determined.
To provide ample accommodations and a thoroughly competent corps of examiners, clerks, and needful help, the inventors have paid to the Government a sufficient fund, which is held in trust for that purpose. Under those circumstances I respectfully submit that force enough should be employed to dispatch the business of the bureau thoroughly and without needless delay. The present force is utterly inadequate, nor will the increase suggested by my predecessor be sufficient.
Increase in Salaries
I concur in what my predecessor said in his report, dated September 14, 1883, to the honorable the Secretary of the Interior in regard to salaries. The examining corps in this bureau should be composed of men of first-class ability and undoubted integrity. It is of consequence to inventors and to the people at large that patents should not be improvidently issued. The examining corps must, in the main, be relied upon to prevent this. Not one patent in fifty comes under the personal supervision of the Commissioner or his assistant. The examiners determine these important questions in the first instance, and in a great majority of cases first and finally. The Government, I submit, can afford (especially when inventors provide the funds) to pay as full compensation for first-class ability and strict integrity as a private individual or corporation. The experience of the Office is, that it is next to impossible to secure, with the hope of retaining for more than a short period, assistant examiners whose thorough fitness renders them especially valuable to the service. They are constantly leaving to accept more lucrative employment outside. Since every conceivable advantage is on the side of just, not to say liberal, compensation, I trust it may please Congress to adopt the suggestions of my predecessor and provide the increase of salaries indicated in the estimates submitted, as well as for the increase of the force employed.
Room
I cannot refrain from repeating what Mr. Commissioner Marble said in regard to the rooms occupied by the bureau. They are inadequate. I am compelled to keep valuable documents and records piled on the floor; some are in rooms so damp the papers are moldy.
Many of the employees occupy small, dark, and damp rooms, and in numerous cases their health has been seriously impaired. Within a few years the entire building now occupied by the Department of the Interior will be required by this Office for the proper accommodation of its force and the safe keeping of its records and files.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Benj. Butterworth
Commissioner