370 



ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS FOR 1849. 



THE Report of the Commissioner of Patents, Mr. Ewbank, for 1849, 

 has been sent to Congress, but is not yet printed, though portions of 

 it have been published in New York. In addition to the usual matter, 

 Mr. Ewbank gives essays on the " Origin and Progress of Invention," 

 " The Motors Chief Levers of Civilization," and on " The Propulsion 

 of Steamers." 



The ^number of patents issued is larger than ever before, though 

 over 1,400 applications have been rejected. On January 1st, 1849, 

 539 claims remained unacted upon, but the force having been in- 

 creased, this number was reduced to 9 on January 1st, 1850. The 

 inventors' fund amounts to $169,505.17, exclusive of $50,000 appro- 

 priated for the completion of the Patent-Office. Mr. Ewbank proposes 

 to devote this to the " publication of the specifications and drawings," 

 to the "preparation of a general analytical and descriptive index of dis- 

 coveries and inventions," and to a fund for " national premiums," the 

 interest of $100,000 to be distributed once in four years. He proposes 

 medals of Franklin, Fulton, and Whitney, and a prize of $10,000 for 

 an economical locomotive plough ; $20,000 for an improvement en- 

 abling a vessel to make three consecutive trips across the Atlantic at 

 the rate of 20 miles per hour, $20,000 for the same at 25 miles per 

 hour, and $100,000 for a means of using electricity, or atmospheric 

 pressure, as a propelling power, or for the development of an explosive, 

 or other prime mover, to take the place of steam. 



WHOLE NUMBER OF PATENTS ISSUED TO CITIZENS OF THE SEVERAL 



STATES FROM 1790 TO 1849. 



[^Abridged from a table in the Report of the Commissioner of Patents for 1848, which is 

 evidently the product of laborious investigation.] 



Included in the totals for the States in which these cities are situated. 



