Method of Obtaining Patents „ 
it most advisable to publish at length the necessary pro- 
ceedings, as detailed in a small pamphlet by Dr. Thorn- 
ton, of the Patent Office, which contains every informa- 
tion on this subject. 
Editor, 
Patent Office, March 5, 1811. 
Having the honour of directing or superintending the 
important duties of issuing patents for arts and inven- 
tions, which were formerly thought worthy of the labours 
of a council composed of the Secretary of State, the Se- 
cretary of War, and the Attorney General of the United 
States, I have thought it a duty to my fellow citizens to 
publish a few lines of information to facilitate the mode 
of acquiring patents, by which many will be enabled to 
dispense with long journies to the seat of government, 
or with troubling their friends with a tedious correspon- 
dence. 
Viewing with astonishment the inventions of my coun- 
trymen, I cannot contemplate them without being im- 
pressed with the idea, that no nation on earth surpasses 
them in genius. Even the unlettered inhabitants of the 
forest have perfected inventions that would have done 
honour to Archimedes ; and I reproach myself for not 
having published long ago a few directions how to pro- 
ceed in securing the advantages of the efforts of their ta- 
lents. This information would have been given, but I 
anxiously waited the proposed revision of the patent law, 
which has been under the consideration of the honoura- 
ble the congress for seven years ; and, if I delay this short 
sketch any longer, I fear it may be said,— 
He who defers his work from day to day, 
Does on a river’s bank expecting stay 
’Till the whole stream, which stops him, should be gone ; 
But, a& it runs, forever ’twill run on. 
