156 Intelligence atid Miscellaneous Articles. 



the specification, to examine its sufficiency, and to answer all legal 

 questions concerning it, without disclosing the secret. 



Do you know upon what grounds tiie specification is kept se- 

 cret? — It is commonly upon the ground that the invention shall not 

 get away to foreigners. 



What is your opinion of the policy of such a provision ? — I think 

 it is always improper, that there should be any thing like a secret 

 specification, under any circumstances whatever. 



May it not operate unjustly against individuals, who, without 

 knowing any thing of it, may be expending large sums of money in 

 endeavouring to carry the same thing into effect? — Decidedly so; 

 and as a means of keeping our inventions from foreigners, it is the 

 highest premium that can be offered to an inventor, to go, or send 

 it, abroad himself, because he will have no competition in the foreign 

 country, and can obtain a patent there; it also offers a high premium 

 to all the workmen to go abroad, who first get a knowledge of the 

 invention (and who in that character, are for a time very important 

 to both nations which shall get their services), whereas if foreigners 

 can get intelligibly written specifications from the offices, for a small 

 sum of money, they prefer setting their own men to work on such 

 instructions, to the expense of taking our workmen away; or they 

 do not begin at first, to seduce our workmen ; and after a time when 

 they do begin, we have got several instructed, so that the loss of a 

 few is not felt. I know practically, the evils which have been expe- 

 rienced from useful workmen being enticed abroad, in order by 

 their means, to steal secret inventions, of which they possessed an 

 exclusive knowledge : the best remedy was to take out a patent in 

 France, and I was sent there to solicit the patent, and thus prevent 

 their exercising the invention there, after they had stolen it. That 

 French patent has one of the most complete specifications I ever 

 made ; it is in the French language, and is now deposited in Paris ; 

 but no specification of the same invention exists in England, or in 

 English. After that French patent was so obtained, a very consi- 

 derable manufactory was established under it there by Englishmen ; 

 but the origin of the measure was to prevent seduction of workmen, 

 which would not have happened until a later period when it would 

 have been of no consequence, if foreigners could have got a spe- 

 cification from our patent offices; for they would have set their own 

 men to work on it by preference. 



Does not the claim of originality, with respect to a single minor 

 point which is not original, vitiate the whole patent ? — It does. 



Do you not think that that is very impolitic ? — It is a most exces- 

 sive hardship and injustice, and every way impolitic ; the reason for 

 it is, that so long as patents are granted merely upon the request of 

 the inventors, and whilst they are left at liberty to specify what they 

 please, if there were not some limiting penalty of that sort, they 

 would put inventions nd infinitum into their specifications, for the 

 chance, that if one hook did not catch, anotlier might. 



Do not you think that the proper course would be to set aside 

 that part which is not original? — Decidedly, that is justice ; and yet 

 it should not be allowed to the inventors to put an unlimited num- 

 ber 



