Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



ment on the development of the American steel 

 industry. In 1881, when steel plates were being used 

 only for locomotive fire-box and boiler construction, a 

 naval board recommended the construction of steel 

 battleships ; and the first contract was awarded in 1883 

 to John Roacli, of Chester, Pa. The specifications 

 were such, however, that no steel manufacturer would 

 undertake to supply the plates, and Roach was forced 

 to build his own mill. Though great pressure was 

 brought upon the Department to modify its specifica- 

 tions, it was successfully resisted, and as a byproduct 

 of the Navy contracts, American manufacturers 

 learned how to make good steel plate. 



Similarly, large steel castings were first made in this 

 country to meet naval requirements, the first being 

 delivered in 1887 ; and at about the same date hydraulic 

 forging equipment was introduced through the efforts 

 of naval engineers who secured permission to use Brit- 

 ish patents. In the chemical field, experiments with a 

 smokeless powder invented by an employee of the naval 

 torpedo station about 1891, led to the development by 

 the American chemical industry of a whole series of 

 nitrocellulose products such as lacquer and fabricoid. 



Numerous other examples could be cited to show the 

 influence of governmental research on the development 

 of industrial processes, but enough has perhaps been 

 written on the subject to serve the present purpose. 

 Other governmental agencies whose research has been 

 of importance in the development of particular in- 

 dustries are the Bureau of Standards, the War De- 

 partment, the Forest Products Laboratory, the Bu- 

 reau of Mines, and the Biological Survey. The latter 

 has contributed extensively to the $50,000,000 Ameri- 

 can fur industry. 



In addition to applying to industrial uses processes 

 developed by Government, provision has been made 

 for research associates employed by industry to make 

 use of governmental laboratories on the same basis as 

 regular Government personnel. These associates con- 

 duct investigations of particular interest to the agen- 

 cies sponsoring them, but work under the auspices of 

 the appropriate Government bureau. The Bureau of 

 Standards has had as many as 100 research associates 

 at one time, and currently has about 60 working in its 

 laboratories. Others are attached to the Bureau of 

 Chemistry and Soils, the Bureau of Fisheries, and the 

 Public Health Service. 



Patent Policies 



There is no uniform folicy on the part of the Federal 

 Government with respect to patents growing out of 

 the work of the research agencies. — Patent policies 

 with respect to inventions by Government employees 



45 



should be such as to further so far as possible the pur- 

 pose for which the given line of research resulting in 

 (he invention was undertaken. The whole question 

 is an old one for which there are varying solutions 

 among different agencies. The present law " provides 

 that the Government shall have free use of any patent 

 developed in its laboratories by any of its employees, 

 but commercial rights may be retained by the inventor 

 unless he was specifically assigned to solve the problem 

 to which his invention is the answer. Application of 

 this law, however, presents certain difficulties which 

 have led to administrative modification and statutory 

 exceptions. 



Retention of Commercial Riglits 



The War and Navy Departments adhere to the letter 

 of the law as rigorously as possible. Progress in the 

 technical phases of national defense depends very 

 largely on new inventions and discoveries, and as the 

 Army Signal Corps points out, the possibility of per- 

 sonal gain from commercial rights serves "as a distinct 

 incentive to employees to develop new ideas and protect 

 them by patents.'' Additional income from patent 

 rights may also in some measure compensate the more 

 able employees for the comparatively low salaries 

 l^aid by Government. The same agency, however, is 

 well awai'e of the difficulties inherent in the policy : 



It is difficult to repress explorations of technical personnel 

 into fields that appear attractive from a patent viewpoint to 

 the neglect of their assigned work in less attractive fields 

 * * * In another way patents are troublesome. An em- 

 ployee granted a patent in strict compliance with the law not 

 infrequently finds himself called upon to pass oflBcial judgment 

 upon contracts involving his patent and although he may 

 not profit directly therefrom, his action nevertheless may 

 serve as the stimulus for commercial application from which 

 he may profit. 



In certain cases Navy employees have made inven- 

 tions of so confidential a nature that patents have not 

 been taken out for fear of disclosing the devices to 

 potential enemies. Under such circumstances, the Sec- 

 retary of the Navy is empowered " to reward civilian 

 employees for "beneficial suggestions," and in a few 

 instances further awards have been made by act of 

 Congress. In these cases, and in others in which na- 

 tional defense is involved to such an extent that the 

 Government has retained all rights, it is doubtful if 

 commercial rights would prove of great value. 



The close relations maintained between the military 

 services and private industry open the way for mis- 

 understandings with respect to patents. It is under- 

 stood, for example, that one of the large commercial 



» United States Code, title 35, paragraph 45. 

 J» United States Code, title 5, paragraph 416. 



