624 



PATENTS. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



The patent is then subject to taxation as fol- 

 lows : 10 each fourth, fifth, sixth, and sev- 

 enth year, and 15 each eighth and ninth year, 

 20 each tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thir- 

 teenth year. Or 50 may be paid before the 

 end of four years, or 100 before the end of 

 eight years. By another change in the law, 

 the patentee is required to swear that he is the 

 original inventor. The first introducer can no 

 longer patent an invention. The charge of 

 American solicitors for procuring an English 

 patent, including the Government fees, varies 

 from $100 to $150. 



Patent Libraries. The best library for general 

 use is the Astor Library of New York. Be- 

 sides this the Peabody Library of Baltimore, the 

 Boston Library, and the Library of Congress in 

 Washington, may be mentioned. Others will 

 be found in leading cities and universities. 



Easiness of the Office in 1883. The following 

 are the principal statements of the business 

 done in the Patent-Office in the year 1883 : 



Number of patents issued, including designs. . . 22,216 



Number of patents reissued 167 



Number of patents expired during the year. . . . 8.874 



Net receipts of office $1,146,240 00 



Excess of receipts over expenditures 471,005 14 



Balance to credit of office in United States 



Treasury 2,676,476 24 



One patent was issued for every 318 inhab- 

 itants of the District of Columbia, and one 

 patent for every 22,188 inhabitants of Missis- 

 sippi. These represent the two extremes among 

 the States of the Union. Among foreign coun- 

 tries, Bermuda, Brazil, Newfoundland, and 

 Venezuela are credited with one patent each ; 

 England with 435, Germany with 235, and 

 France with 179. 



International Conference for the Protection of Pat- 

 ents. A conference to establish an Interna- 

 tional Union, like the Postal Union, for the 

 protection of patents, designs, models, trade- 

 marks, and trade-names, met in Paris, March 

 6, 1883, and adjourned after adopting a draft 

 of a convention at the second sitting, on March 

 13th. The main points were settled at the first 

 conference held at Paris two years before. The 

 convention then proposed was communicated 

 by the French Government to the other par- 

 ticipating states. Some of the particulars were 

 objected to by several of the states, and it was 

 to harmonize their views on these minor points 

 that, the second conference was held. A much 

 larger number of governments were repre- 

 sented. Of those which took part in the con- 

 ference of 1880, Austria and Turkey were un- 

 represented. Representatives were present 

 from the United States, France, England, Italy, 

 Spain, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Norway, 

 Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Roumania, Ser- 

 via, Luxemburg, Brazil, the Argentine Repub- 

 lic, Uruguay, Guatemala, and San Salvador. 

 The plan is, to have a union, sitting at Berne, 

 which will represent the states whose patent 

 laws are sufficiently in harmony, and endeav- 

 or to secure greater assimilation and the en- 

 joyment of the rights possessed by the citi- 



zens of each by the citizens of all the others. 

 One of the main points is, that a patentee or 

 proprietor of a trade-mark or design will have 

 a prior right of registration throughout the 

 union. This will protect him against being 

 forestalled by dishonest agents. Regulations 

 for the protection of patentable devices, de- 

 signs, and trade-marks during international 

 exhibitions are recommended. The conven- 

 tion proposes also to protect trade-names with- 

 out registration, whether they form part of a 

 trade-mark or not. 



PEBWSYLY1MA. State Government. The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Robert E. Pattison, Democrat ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Chauncey F. Black ; Secre- 

 tary of State, William S. Stenger; Treasurer, 

 S. M. Bailey ; Auditor-General, John A. Lem- 

 on; Secretary of Internal Affairs, J. Simpson 

 Africa; Attorney -General, Louis C. Cassidy ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, E. E. 

 Higbee ; Insurance Commissioner, J. M. For- 

 ster. Judiciary, Supreme Court: Chief -Jus- 

 tice, Ulysses Mercur; Justices, Isaac G. Gor- 

 don, Edward M. Paxson, John Trunkey, James 

 P. Sterrett, Henry Green, and Silas M. Clark. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 on January 2d, and adjourned on June 6th. The 

 Governor immediately called an extra session, 

 to begin on the following day, which did not 

 finally adjourn until December 6th. In the 

 call the Governor uses the following language : 



The Constitution commands the General Assembly, 

 "immediately alter each State decennial census,"^ 

 apportion the State into senatorial and representative 

 districts. This imperative mandate has not been 

 obeyed. Equally important and necessary, though 

 not so specifically commanded by law, is the duty of 

 the Assembly to apportion the State into congression- 

 al and judicial districts. 1 therefore designate the ap- 

 portionment of the State into senatorial, representa- 

 tive, congressional, and judicial districts, as subjects 

 for legislative consideration. 



Notwithstanding the length of. the session, 

 only the judicial apportionment was passed. 

 On the others the two houses, the Senate 

 having a Republican majority and the House a 

 Democratic majority, failed to agree. 



Of the 670 bills introduced in the Senate and 

 House, 253 were passed finally. Of this num- 

 ber 60 were vetoed. Among those that became 

 laws were the following : 



To prohibit the receiving and detaining of children 

 in almshouses, and to provide for the care and educa- 

 tion of such children. 



To abolish the contract system in prisons, and regu- 

 late the wages of the inmates. 



Kequiring the assessors to make return of timber- 

 lands. 



To provide payment to the miner for all clean coal 

 mined by him. 



To fix the salaries of county officers in counties con- 

 taining over 500,000 inhabitants. 



Providing that wages of servant-girls, washer- wom- 

 en, cooks, and others shall first be paid from proceeds 

 of sale of effects of insolvent debtors. 



To authorize the discharge of prisoners confined in 

 jail under the insolvent act. 



Directing the investment of moneys remaining to 

 the credit of the several sinking funds of cities of the 



