Method of Obtaining Patents. £77 
only an evidence that the inventor has formally confided 
his secret to the public, but also a declaration of the pro- 
tection of the right from infringement; nevertheless of 
the infringement of the right, by others, a jury of the 
country is only competent to decide. 
The general law, concerning the issuing of patents, 
will be found in the second volume of the Laws of the 
United States, page £00. This law provides for citizens 
only ; but a subsequent law (vol. 5, page 88) provides 
also for applicants who have resided two years, or up- 
wards, in the United States, and who are not citizens. 
In applying for a patent it is necessary to attend to 
every legal form ; for, in consequence of inattention 
to forms only, some of the patents issued formerly, have, 
in the courts of law, been declared to be null and 
void.^ 
Mode of Application. 
u Every inventor, before he presents his petition to the 
Secretary of State, signifying his desire of obtaining a 
patent, shall pay into the treasury of the United States 
thirty dollars,! f° r which he will be furnished with du- 
plicate receipts, one of which he shall deliver to the Se~ 
cretary of State when he presents his petition ; and the 
money, thus paid, shall be in full for the sundry services 
to be performed in the office of the Secretary of State, 
consequent to such petition.^} This petition must be 
addressed to the Secretary of State, and may be in the 
following, or in a similar style : 
* Oliver Evans’s, among the number. 
f Notes of any of the banks of the United States 
i See Laws of the United States, vol. 2, chap § 11, p. 2©5„ 
