PATENTS. 



147 



epistles is absent here. It is the practical missionary 

 who is speaking, advising, and exhorting his younger 

 brethren. How far this modifies style every one knows 

 who has attempted it. Huther remarks on this differ- 

 ence of style, but only to defend the genuineness, (c) 

 The historical difficulties are met by the theory of a 

 release from imprisonment at Rome and a subsequent 

 reimprisonment, during which the last of the pastoral 

 epistles (2 Timothy) was written. This allows suffi- 

 cient time for the development of church organization 

 and of error which the epistles indicate. For example : 

 according to this theory 1 Timothy was addressed to 

 Ephesus about A. D. 63. In A. D. 58 the church had 

 a body of elders, and these are warned against the 

 impending danger of erroneous teaching (Acts xx. 

 1 7-31 ). The five years' interval is long enough for the 

 implied development. (f>) The internal evidence of 

 Pauline authorship is very strong. The personal allu- 

 sions are not only frequent, but of such a character as 

 to reveal the same great heart that manifests its 

 presence in the Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians. 

 Allusion lias already been made to the minute details 

 which indicate the genuineness of the epistles. It 

 seems impossible to discuss the bearing of internal 

 evidence with one who could believe that 2 Tim. iv. 6-8 

 was written by a forger, posing as the Apostle Paul. 



.S. While there are differences of opinion in regard 

 to some details of the theory of a second Roman im- 

 prisonment, the following summary presents the main 

 points of the apostle's life after the first Roman im- 

 prisonment, accepting the pastoral epistles as genuine 

 and historically accurate. He was probably released 

 from prison in A. D. 63, before the persecution under 

 Nero began (A. D. 64). His first journey was probably 

 to Ephesus, where he left Timothy (1 Tim. i. 3), pro- 

 ceeding thence to Macedonia, where 1 Timothy was 

 written. His next journey was to Crete, passing 

 through Troas and Miletus. In Crete Titus was left 

 (Tit. i. 5), as Timothy had been in Ephesus. Their 

 work was that of missionary superintendents, not that 

 of local "bishops." How long they remained in this 

 labor is not known. During this interval of freedom 

 Paul seems to have spent a winter at Nicopolis (Tit. 

 iii. ] 2) after writing the Epistle to Titus. Of further 

 journeys we have hints in the Fathers, but no definite 

 historical traces. He was rearrested, and during this 

 imprisonment wrote a second letter to Timothy. 

 Shortly afterwards lie was Ix'headed at Rome, but the 

 date is variously assigned between A. D. 66 and 68. 



See further in article PAUL. The whole question is 

 fully discussed in Schaff's Hixtory of the. Christian 

 Church (new ed., vol. i., pp. 798-808). (jr. B. R.) 



PATENTS. Previous to the Declaration of In- 

 dependence patents were occasionally 

 See Vol XVIJ. gra ,,ted to individuals by the British 

 A Re ) colonial governments in North America. 

 This power was exercised by theGeneral 

 Court of the colony of Massachusetts as early as 1(541. 

 In 1652 Connecticut in a statute prohibiting monop- 

 olies also provided for granting patents for new and 

 beneficial inventions for such times as the General 

 Court should deem meet. Such patents were, how- 

 ever, rare and our information in regard to them is 

 vague and indefinite. 



After the close of the revolutionary war there was 

 considerable activity among American inventors, espe- 

 cially with regard to the application of steam-power to 

 vessels and machinery of various kinds. (See EVANS, 

 OUVKR.) The States of New York, New Jersey, 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia granted to in- 

 ventors whose projects seemed to promise success mo- 

 nopolies of navigating their waters with the aid of 

 steam. The conflicting claims of inventors under 

 powers derived from the Stale authorities had an in- 

 fluence in leading the Constitutional Convention in 

 1787 to incorporate among the powers of the general 

 government that of grunting patents. 



My Art. I., BCC. 8, of the Constitution of the United 



' States power was vested in Congress "To promote the 

 j progress of science and useful arts by securing for 

 limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive 

 right to their respective writings and discoveries." 



It is upon this provision that our copyright and 

 patent laws are based. The first Congress in 1790 

 ! passed an act regulating the issue of patents for inven- 

 tions. By its provisions the inventor was required to 

 present a petition to the secretary of state, the secre- 

 tary of war, or the attorney-general, setting forth the 

 nature of his invention and asking for a patent. If 

 this was approved by the above-named officers or any 

 two of them the description of the invention was cer- 

 tified to by the attorney-general and the issuing of the 

 patent was directed by the President. It was recorded 

 in the office of the secretary of state and by him de- 

 livered to the patentee or his agent under the great 

 seal of the United States. 



Various other statutes were-fmacted subsequently, 

 but the essential features of the law remained un- 

 changed until 1836. Patents were granted on appli- 

 cation with little or no scrutiny, and the duty of decid- 

 ing whether the patentee was justly entitled to a 

 patent was devolved wholly upon the courts. Hardly 

 any attempt was made to prevent the issuing of a 

 patent up6n insufficient grounds. The interests of 

 the public were supposed to be sufficiently protected 

 by allowing the validity of the grounds upon which 

 the patent was granted to be called in question at any 

 time in case of a suit for infringement. After an ex- 

 perience of nearly half a century the inconvenience 

 and injustice of this system had become manifest. 



In 1836 the Patent-office was burned and many of 

 the records destroyed. Congress embraced the op- 

 portunity to thoroughly revise the whole system. By 

 an act passed in that year prior acts were substantially 

 repealed and the present system substituted; 



As at present organized the Patent-office is attached 

 to the department of the secretary of the interior. It 

 consists of the following officers : One commissioner, 

 one assistant-commissioner, and three examiners-in- 

 chief, all appointed by the President by and with the 

 advice and consent of the Senate. All other officers, 

 clerks, and employe's are appointed by the secretary 

 of the interior on the nomination of the Commissioner 

 of Patents ; they are : One chief-clerk, one examiner 

 in charge of interferences, one examiner in charge of 

 trade-marks, 24 principal examiners, 24 first assistant - 

 examiners, 24 second assistant-examiners, 24 third 

 assistant-examiners, one librarian, one machinist, ',', 

 skilled draughtsmen, 3_5 copyists of drawings, one 

 messenger and purchasing clerk, one skilled laborer. 

 16 attendants in the model-room, one examiner of de- 

 signs. The combined salaries of these officers amount 

 to $261,200 per annum. The principal object of the 

 great force of examiners above mentioned one hun- 

 dred in all is to prevent the granting of patents for 

 alleged inventions which are really not new and useful, 

 and so to prevent individuals from acquiring a monop- 

 oly of inventions and improvements to the use of 

 which the public were already entitled. 



The general principles of the law of patents are the 

 same in this country and in England. Among the 

 peculiarities of the patent laws of the United States 

 it luny be mentioned that the term for which they are 

 granted, seventeen years, is longer than in any other 

 country. The development of the patent system in 

 the United States far exceeds that of any other nation. 

 For several .years the number of patents issued in the 

 United States has been nearly equal to the number 

 issued by all other civilized nations together. A pam- 

 phlet containing the Patent Laws and Laws relating 

 to the Reffiftrahon of Trade-marks and Labels, and one 

 containing the Rules of Practice in the United Swfei 

 1'iiin it-Office are published by the office and can be 

 obtained free of charge by any one desiring them on 

 application by mail to the Comniissioner of Patents. 

 It is, however, practically impossible for an inventor 



