390 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



nents of the existing system to begin a war against it. The 

 main arguments of those who favor the abolition of the 

 model-system are, substantially, that in the great majority 

 of eases a model is unnecessary, since the invention can be 

 quite clearly and understanding^ shown by a properly fin- 

 ished drawing ; that the rule making models obligatory, as 

 the law now practically stands, is an unnecessary and bur- 

 densome tax upon the resources of the inventor class, the 

 cost of models being often so great as to deter inventors 

 from patenting their inventions; that, in view of these facts 

 and others of minor impoitance, it is unjust to tax twenty- 

 nine inventors with the expense of a model which experience 

 has shown to be necessary only in the thirtieth case; and 

 that the system should be so changed as to require invent- 

 ors to present models only in cases where, from the nature 

 of the subject, the ideas of the would-be patentee cannot be 

 properly understood by drawings alone, or in cases of suits 

 in interference, etc., where they may be reasonably supposed 

 to be necessary and of service. The conservative element 

 that favors the continuance of the status quo urges in sub- 

 stance, that, so far from being a hardship to the inventor 

 class at large, it is really the best and only trustworthy safe- 

 guard against the wholesale pirating of patented inventions; 

 and that, admitting that models may be in many cases dis- 

 pensed w r ith as unnecessary, and that in certain of such cases 

 the rule requiring models may work individual hardship, 

 the abandonment of the general rule would be unwise, and 

 would operate disastrously upon the inventor class by bring- 

 ing about a general depreciation of property-value in patents 

 a result which, it is strongly maintained, would be sure 

 to follow' the invitation to fraudulent practices which would 

 be afforded by the absence of models, and the consequently 

 greatly multiplied difficulties the examiners must then have 

 to contend with in deciding the question of originality. 



It appears probable, at the time of this writing, that the 

 discussion may result in a modification of the existing laws 

 on the subject, by which the Commissioner of Patents will 

 be vested with larger discretionary powers to demand mod- 

 els only where, in the judgment of examiners, they are deem- 

 ed desirable or necessary. 



