Patent History Materials Index - ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS FOR 1883

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

 

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