65 



The following is a translation of the paragraph referred to : 



"The solidification of the albumen, pectine, and other elements injurious to the 

 sugar being made in the tissue of the pulp itself by the addition of a proper quantity 

 of chalk, either to the water of alimentation or to the pulp itself before its introduc- 

 tion into the macerators." 



Of the English patents that have been issued may be noted the following: In 1813 

 No. 3754, to one Howard, the use of alum, lime, and chalk. 



In 1874, No. 1730, to Johnson, the use of alkaline carbonates prior to treatment of 

 the sugar with alcohol. 



In 1874, No. 1989, to James Duncan, the neutralization of the free acids arising in 

 saccharine solutions by means of carbonate of lime. 



III. 



From the foregoing statements the following conclusions ma'y be drawn : 



(1) That the above patent is held by Mr. Swenson in trust for the use and benefit 

 of the Government and its citizens, the discovery patented having been made by him 

 while specially employed in experimentation, and under an implied contract granting 

 to the Government all property in the results of such experimentation. 



(2) That the thing patented was a suggestion made by an employ 6 specially em- 

 ployed for the purpose, and which only amounted to the curing of a defect in a part 

 of a process already planned in its entirety by another, and which of itself was not a 

 complete invention, and which suggestion would belong to the inventor of the process 

 under whom he was working. 



(3) That the patent is invalid in that the thing patented is not new. 



Under the first head it is sufficient to say that Congress having authorized the 

 making of these sugar experiments at public expense, they are made for the benefit 

 of the public at large, and the results that spring from them become the property of 

 the Government, to the free use of which all citizens are equally entitled. Persons 

 employed in the carrying on of such experiments, so authorized, by the acceptance of 

 the employment waive all personal right to any discoveries they may make in the 

 course of their employment, and by implication contract that such discoveries shall 

 become the property of the Government. It would be incompatible with the object of 

 the act of Congress authorizing the making of experiments, that any personal prop- 

 erty to discoveries made by person semployed under the law should be retained by 

 them, for, if so, then the end had in view, the general benefit of the public, would be 

 destroyed, and public moneys would be expended merely to enable private persons to 

 make discoveries for their own personal use and advantage, and not for the general 

 welfare of the people. Congress would be granting public moneys for private use, 

 and this it can not constitutionally do. 



While there are no adjudicated cases bearing upon the right of a person employed 

 by the Government to make experiments to discoveries made by him in the course of 

 experiments, there is a dictum by Justice Field, in the case of the United States v. 

 Burns, 12 Wallace, page 246, where he says : " If an officer in the military service, not 

 especially employed to make experiments with a view to suggested improvements, devises a 

 valuable improvement, he is entitled to the benefit of it, and to letters patent," etc. 



This may be held to imply the converse, that where such officer was employed to 

 experiment he would not be entitled to patent his improvement. 



Under the second head, it is sufficient to state that the suggestion made by Mr. 

 Swenson makes a case on all fours with the general doctrine laid down in the leading 

 case of Agawam v. Woolen Company (7 Wallace, 583) on the relations between em- 

 ployers and employe's, and that such improvement as he suggested would be for the 

 use and benefit of his employer. 



The doctrine is thus stated in the opinion by Justice Cl fford: 



" Persons employed, as much as employers, are entitled to their own independent 

 inventions, but where the employer has conceived the plan of an invention and is en- 



15449-No. 17 5 



