INVENTIONS. ' 239 



of employment by improved machinery, and it must be con- 

 fessed there are cases of this kind, attended with evils enough, 

 ahnost, to raise a question in the rnind of the inventor himself, 

 as to the benefit he confei's on mankind. 



The objectors are commonly not aware that changes of this 

 sort are brought about so slowly, as to affect the immediate 

 occupants of a branch of business much less than is usually sup- 

 posed. 



Poverty generally compels the inventor to part with a large 

 interest in his invention, and then arises another great diffi- 

 culty with regard to his patent, because the real property in an 

 invention is not transferable ; for while the art, in relation to its 

 manufacture, is yet new, its chief value lies in the skill, knowl- 

 edge, or reputation of the inventor ; and unless the purchaser 

 and inventor can subsequently harmonize, the patent is usually 

 of but little value, either to the purchaser or to the inventor. 



Another difficulty, as between capitalists and inventors, with- 

 out regard to the men, is attributable to the nature of the 

 business. The capitalist is often as incapable of managing an 

 improvement, as the inventor is ignorant of mercantile busi- 

 ness or practical operations, and these circumstances often render 

 it impossible for the two classes to think alike, or harmonize 

 together. 



If the inventor has parted with a considerable interest in his 

 invention, another serious difficulty immediately arises to prevent 

 the parties realizing pecuniary profits from the patent. The 

 public are apt to regard the purchaser of an interest in a patent, 

 as a speculator, destitute of those equitable claims upon the public 

 which they might concede to the inventor if alone ; overlooking 

 the material fact that the inventor has sold, and the purchaser 

 has bought, a share in the original, equitable, as well as merely 

 legal, business claims of the inventor. The public conscience is 

 thus hardened, and the community, in the case of patents, wit- 

 nesses with coldness and indifference, infringements of vested 

 rights, such as would, in other cases, rouse its warmest indigna- 

 tion ; and thus the inventor is deprived of the protection afforded 



