national defense research committee 33 



Handling Suggestions from the Public 



Americans are an inventive people and quite properly see no reason why 

 any small group of individuals should be considered to have a monopoly 

 of good ideas on any subject. The war in Europe had naturally turned 

 public imagination toward the invention of instruments of warfare; and 

 the creation of the NDRC made it inevitably the target for inventions. 

 At the first informal meeting of the Committee, Coe pointed out that 

 during World War I such suggestions were received at the rate of ap- 

 proximately 2000 per week. Obviously the handling of such suggestions 

 would require a substantial staff and if it were to be done by NDRC would 

 leave litde time for original thinking by the members and staff of the 

 Committee. 



Fortunately, plans were being considered for handHng suggestions from 

 the public in a different manner. On July 11, 1940, the Secretary of Com- 

 merce created the National Inventors Council within the Department of 

 Commerce. The Council performed a valuable service but one quite dif- 

 ferent from that which NDRC had been established to perform. Cordial 

 relations were established between the Committee and the Council. Com- 

 missioner Coe was a member both of the Committee and of the Council 

 and so was in a position to keep each informed of the activities of the other. 

 Even after the creation of the National Inventors Council suggestions con- 

 tinued to be received by NDRC from the public. These were normally 

 sent direct to the Council for evaluation and reply to the sender, although 

 in a few cases suggestions from persons of established reputation bearing 

 directly upon some project under way under NDRC auspices were sent 

 directly to the division supervising the project. 



It may be noted in passing that the Inventors Council established a 

 procedure for referring to the Army and Navy suggestions which had 

 passed through its screening process. The method by which the Army and 

 Navy submitted requests to the NDRC will be discussed later; that proce- 

 dure envisaged the possibility that one of the Services might request the 

 NDRC to do further work upon a suggestion referred to the Services by 

 the Council and upon which the Services wished additional work to be 

 done. 



The Beginnings of Liaison 



Close working relations with the Army and Navy were of prime impor- 

 tance to successful NDRC operations. Both Services had been consulted in 

 detail prior to the establishment of NDRC and the order establishing the 

 Committee was issued with their full concurrence. High Army and Navy 



