Part 4

It is true that, before and since this patent was issued, many patents have been refused for what I have called generic designs. One man having designed a tack head, ornamented with radial lines, was compelled to take out one patent for his tack with six radial lines, and another for the same tack with eight. There are other instances of like character, but they only serve to show that the practice of the Office has not been uniform, and that the true practice is still to be adopted and followed.

I have no hesitation in saying, in view of the premises, that a valid patent may be granted for a new genus or class of ornaments as well as for specific ornaments, though I do not doubt that, under the statute, every species, variety, and individual having distinct characteristics under such a genus might also be patented, the patent being subordinate and tributary to that which covered the class. From the nature of this subject-matter there must always be more latitude in the issue of patents for trifling changes, or form, or outline, since it is only necessary that such changes should constitute a new "design" to entitle them to a patent of this class.

The second question relates to the elements of utility in patents for designs.

Upon this point, it is said by my predecessor, in Jason Crane _ex parte_ Commissioners, December-May, 1869, p. 1, that the construction which has been given to the act of 1842, by the Office, ever since its passage, is that it relates to designs for ornament merely; something of an artistic character as contradistinguished to those of convenience or utility.

The Board of Examiners-in-Chief, in the present case, say "The practice of the Office has been uniform from the beginning, and has always excluded cases like the present from the benefit of the laws relating to designs." And, again, "The general understanding has always been that the acts of 1842 and 1861 were intended to cover articles making pretensions to artistic excellence exclusively."

In thus denying that a new "shape or configuration" of an article, whereby utility or convenience is promoted, is the proper subject of a patent under the acts referred to, the Office would seem to have involved itself in the absurdity that if a design is useless it may be patented; whereas, if it be useful, it is entitled to no protection.

Fortunately no such "uniform practice" has existed, and the Office is relieved from so grievous an imputation. The practice seems to have been taken for granted by the appellate tribunals, and, so far from being as stated, is, as nearly as possible, the reverse of it. Articles have been, and are being, constantly patented as designs which possess no element of the artistic or ornamental, but are valuable solely because, by a new shape or configuration, they possess more utility than the prior forms of like articles Of this character are designs for ax heads, for reflectors, for lamp shades, for the soles of boots and shoes, which have been heretofore patented as designs, and to this class might be added, with great propriety, that class of so-called "mechanical" patents, granted for mere changes of form, such as plowshares, fan blowers, propeller blades, and others of like character.

When, therefore, my learned predecessor in Crane's case added to this number a box so designed as to hold with convenience a set of furs, he did but confirm and not alter the practice of the Office, so far as it can be gleaned from the patented cases. I am of opinion that the class of cases named in the act as arising from "new shape or configuration" includes within it all those mere changes of form which involve increase of utility. This I take to be the spirit of the decision in Wooster _vs_. Crane, 2 Fisher 583. The design was of a reel in the shape of a rhombus. The learned Judge says "In this case, the reel itself, as an article of manufacture, is conceded to be old and not the subject of a patent. The shape applied to it by the complainant is also an old, well-known mathematical figure. Now although it does not appear that any person ever before applied this particular shape to this particular article, I cannot think that the act quoted above was intended to secure to the complainant an exclusive right to use this well known figure in the manufacture of reels. The act, although it does not require utility in order to secure the benefit of its provisions, does require that the shape produced shall be the result of industry, effort genius, or expense, and must also, I think, be held to require that the shape or configuration sought to be secured shall, at least, be new and original as applied to articles of manufacture. But here the shape is a common one in many articles of manufacture, and its application to a reel cannot fairly be said to be the result of industry, genius, effort, and expense. No advantage whatever is pretended to be derived from the adoption of the form selected by the complainant, except the incidental one of using it as a trademark. Its selection can hardly be said to be the result of effort even; it was simply an arbitrary chance selection of one of many well-known shapes, all equally well adapted to the purpose. To hold that such an application of a common form can be secured by letters patent, would be giving the act of 1861 a construction broader than I am willing to give it"

It would seem from this language that if there had been "advantage," that is, utility in the adoption of the form of the rhombus, that it would have found more favor in the eyes of the Court.

This subject has been well discussed in the opinion of Commissioner Foote in Crane _ex parte_. I concur in that opinion, except as to the recital of the former practice of the Office, which a careful examination has shown to be erroneous.

The third question may be readily disposed of. Modes of operation or construction, principles of action, combinations to secure novelty or utility of movement, or compositions of matter, can hardly be said to be "shapes, configurations, or designs," but where the sole utility of the new device arises from its new shape or configuration, I think it may fairly be included among the subjects which the act of 1842 was designed to protect.

The present case may, in view of the foregoing consideration, be disposed of without difficulty. Letters patent are asked, by applicant, for a new design for a rubber eraser, which consists in giving to the eraser a cylindrical body, with ends beveled to an edge. The claim is for the "cylindrical rubber eraser provided with a wrapper or case, as herein shown and described"

In the body of the specification the applicant describes the mode of making the eraser, and he also enumerates its advantages over erasers of the ordinary forms.

The Examiner does not object to the application because of the utility of the eraser, although the Board of Examiners in Chief seem to base their decision upon that point alone, but he pronounces the form already old in its application to artists' stumps, and he insists that the mode of composition or construction can form no element, for the claim for a design patent.

In the latter statement he is undoubtedly right. These patents are granted solely for new shapes or forms, and the form being new it is immaterial by what process that form is attained. The composition of matter or the mode of construction is neither "design," "shape," nor "configuration," and must be protected, if at all, under a patent of another kind. I cannot say that the presence of such matter in the specification would be objectionable if description merely, but it could in no way be allowed to enter into, or to modify the claim.

As to the first ground of rejection, I think the Examiner is in error. This purports to be a new form or shape of a distinct article of manufacture, to wit: rubber erasers. If it be new, as thus applied, it is immaterial whether pencils, or stumps, or pen holders, or anything else may or may not have been made cylindrical. If they are not substantially the same article of manufacture as erasers, the old form applied to this new article is unquestionably entitled to protection.

The applicant has not defined his invention with entire accuracy. He should strike from his claim the words "provided with a wrapper or case," as those relate to construction and not configuration, and he should insert the words "having the ends beveled to an edge" in lieu of the phrase erased, or he should adopt the usual form of claim for designs, viz: "The design for a rubber eraser, as shown and described."

As the claim stands, it ought not to be allowed, and the decision must be affirmed, but the applicant will be allowed to amend as suggested.

(Signed) S.S. FISHER.

Commissioner of Patents

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Inventions Patented In England by Americans.

[Compiled from the "Journal of the Commissioners of Patents."]

PROVISIONAL PROTECTION FOR SIX MONTHS.

3,201.--SEWING MACHINE.--H.A. House, Bridgeport, Conn. November 4, 1869.

3,211.--BORING TOOL.--Alexander Allen, New York city. November 5 1869.

3,215.--MODE OF AND DEVICES FOE SECURING STAIR RODS.--H. Uhry, New York city. November 6, 1869.

3,229.--TRANSPORTATION OF LETTERS, PARCELS, AND OTHER FREIGHT BY ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH.--A. E. Beach, Stratford, Conn. November 9, 1869.

3,303.--RELOADING CARTRIDGE SHELL.--R.J. Gatling, Indianapolis, Ind. November 16, 1869.

3,342.--WOODEN PAVEMENT.--I. Hayward and J.F. Paul, Boston, Mass. November 20, 1869.

3,358.--MACHINERY FOR DISTRIBUTING TYPE.--O.L. Brown, Boston, Mass. November 20,1869.

3,219.--WEIGHING MACHINE.--M. Kennedy, New York city. November 10, 1869.

3,260.--BRAN DUSTER.--W. Huntley and A. Babcock, Silver Creek, N.Y. November 12, 1869.

3,339.--RAILWAY CARRIAGE.--E. Robbins, Cincinnati, Ohio. November 19, 1869.

3,341.--REVOLVING BATTERY GUN.--R.J. Gatling, Indianapolis, Ind. Nov. 19, 1869.

3,360.--SASH FASTENER.--S.L. Loomis, South Byron, N.Y. November 20, 1869.

3,363.--MAGNETIC MACHINES AND MAGNETS.--J. Burroughs, Jr., Newark N.J. November 20, 1869.

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Russ' Improved Wood Molding Machine.

A comprehensive description of this excellent machine was given upon page 230, Vol. XVIII., of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. We now present our readers with an engraving of it and a summary of its important features, which doubtless render it equal if not superior to any machine of the kind in market. The frame in which the feed rollers are arranged is so hung to the frame-work of the molding machine, that it can be raised or lowered at pleasure, in order to properly adjust the feed rollers for action upon the "stuff," and it is also so constructed as to permit the feed rollers to yield in case of variations in the thickness of the "stuff" passing under them. The spindle of the side cutter-heads is hung in a vertical frame arranged to be moved up and down, and laterally, to adjust the cutter-head for action, and is provided at its upper end with a box or bearing, whereby the bearing of the box is always kept upon the spindle instead of at different points of the same as in other machines, and this without interfering with the adjustability of the side cutter-head. Thus uneven wear is avoided.

The bed of the machine is formed with a series of slots or openings provided with bridge bars so that the cutters may act upon the edges of the stuff without danger of injury from striking the bed. The presser shoe is also made adjustable for different thicknesses of the "stuff" and self-yielding to variations in thickness, by a peculiar method of hanging the bar, which carries the presser shoe, to the framework of the machine.

The clamp which holds the press block which acts upon the "stuff" after it has passed through the cutter, is of novel construction, and the spindle of the side cutter-heads is so arranged in connection with a loose pulley and the pulley-drums, that both cutter-heads are driven by one belt and in the same direction.

The bed plate is provided with springs through which the side cutter-heads are arranged, to move laterally or transversely with a bridge-plate or plates, susceptible of adjustment independent of the cutter-heads, whereby an adjustable support to the "stuff" is given as it passes over the line of the openings in the bed.

Most machines have weighted pressure feed, but this having steel springs adjustable by a screw and hand wheel, a heavy or light pressure can be applied according to the work done or size of molding. The cutter-heads are square and slotted so that any style of molding can be stuck by putting cutters on all sides of the head, thus equalizing the cost and lessening the power. The pressure shoe is arranged to hold the "stuff" at the very point of contact with the cutters, and, as we have shown, is readily adjusted to a long or short cutter, so that a small molding can be made as smooth as a large one, and so as not to require any finishing with sandpaper or a hand tool.

The machine has also a bevel track very useful for picture frame molding, and a patent cap of great value for the cutters, and readily applied to any slotted head or common head. The wrenches that go with the machine, and the common malleable iron caps for the top cylinder, are shown in detail. These machines are now running in Worcester, Boston, and Fitchburg, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.: Philadelphia, Pa.; Brattleboro, Vt.; Whitesboro, N. Y.; Charleston, S. C., and other places, and, it is claimed, are capable of doing better work and more of it than any machine now in use.

This machine is covered by several patents taken through the Scientific American Patent Agency. It is manufactured by R. Ball & Co., of Worcester, Mass, to whom write for further information.

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A Lost Civilization.

At the last regular meeting of the American Geographical and Statistical Society at its rooms in the Cooper Institute, Professor Newberry, of Columbia College, delivered an address on the subject of his explorations in Utah and Arizona Territories. The speaker commenced by giving a short history of the circumstances under which the two government expeditions to which he was attached were organized. He then confined his remarks to the subject of the latter expedition, no account of which has yet been published. Its aim was principally to explore the region embraced by what is known as the old Spanish trail from Santa Fe to California. After giving an interesting account of the topography of the region traversed, he proceeded to speak of the traces which were found on every hand of a former occupancy by a numerous population now extinct. These were most numerous near the course of the San Juan river. There were found ruins of immense structures, a view of one of which he exhibited, built regularly of bricks, a foot in thickness, and about eighteen inches in length, with the joints properly broken, and as regularly laid and as smooth as any in a Fifth Avenue mansion. This structure he said was as large as the Croton reservoir. Inside were rooms nicely plastered as the walls of a modern house. There were also traces of extensive canals, which had been constructed to bring water to these towns, which were received into large cisterns. The lecturer also exhibited pieces of pottery which he said abounded everywhere, showing that in a former age all this vast region had been inhabited. He gave it as his opinion that the depopulation of this region was attributable to the fact that both to the north and the south were warlike hordes, and from the incursions of one and the other of these, the peaceable Aztecs, who had been the former denizens of the country, had been gradually wiped out. The only people left here now were the Mokies, who lived in towns inclosed within high, thick walls, and who were almost inaccessible. These people were visited, and the explorers were received by them with great hospitality. The speaker concluded by giving a short account of the manners of the people and their customs, as far as an opportunity was had to observe them.

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GIRARD'S "PALIER GLISSANT."

The term "_palier glissant_," which does not admit of being very happily translated into an English term of equal brevity, is the name given by the inventor, Mr. Girard, to a frictionless support, or socket, designed to sustain the axes of heavy wheels in machinery. Since it is a contrivance deriving its efficacy from hydraulic pressure, it may, without impropriety, be considered here. The friction of axles in their supports is the occasion of a considerable loss of power in every machine.

The loss of power itself, though a real disadvantage, is nevertheless a matter of secondary consequence compared with the attendant elevation of temperature, which, were not means carefully provided for reducing friction to the lowest point possible, might soon be so great as to arrest the operation of the machine itself. It was stated in a public lecture delivered in May, 1867, before the Scientific Association of France, that, in a certain instance within the lecturer's knowledge, the screw shaft of a French naval propeller became absolutely welded to its support, though surrounded by the water of the sea, in consequence of the great heat developed by its revolution.

The ordinary means of reducing friction is to apply oil, or some other unctuous substance, to the parts which move upon each other. Some disadvantages attend this expedient, but till a better is suggested they have to be endured. The cost of the oil expended in maintaining in proper condition the axles of the machinery in a foundery, or of the rolling stock of a railroad, amounts to a large sum annually; while the want of neatness which its use makes, to a certain extent, inevitable, and the labor which must be constantly employed to prevent this want of neatness from becoming much greater than it is, are serious items to be set off against its positive usefulness.

The object of Mr. Girard is to get rid of all these drawbacks by the simple expedient of substituting water for oil. It would not avail to apply water precisely as oil is applied. Though any one's experience may tell him that two smooth pieces of metal will slide more smoothly on each other when they are wet than when they are dry, yet every one knows also that oil facilitates the movement much more perceptibly than water; and also, that in the case of oil there is no difficulty in maintaining the lubricating film, whereas water easily evaporates, and in case of the accident of even a moderate elevation of temperature, it would be expelled from the joint entirely. Mr. Girard proposes, therefore, to employ the water to act, first, by its pressure, to lift the Journal to be lubricated; and secondly, by its fluidity, to form a liquid bed or cushion between the journal and its box, on which the journal may rest in its revolution, without touching the metal of the box at all.

The construction will be understood by referring to the figure. One of the journals is represented as removed, and in the cylindrical surface of the socket are seen grooves occupying a considerable part of the area exposed. These grooves communicate, by an aperture in the middle, with a tube which is represented externally, and which sends a branch to the other journal, through which water under a heavy pressure is introduced into the box beneath the journal. The effect of the hydraulic pressure is to lift the axle, opening a passage for the escape of the compressed water, which at the same time, because of its release from compression, loses the power to sustain the weight. If, therefore, by the first impulse, the axle is thrown upward to any sensible distance, it will immediately fall back again, once more confining more or less completely the water. After one or two oscillations, therefore, the axle will settle itself at length in a position in which, while the water will escape, it will escape but as a film of inappreciable thickness. In this condition the journal turns upon a liquid bed, and the resistance to its revolution is so excessively small that a slow rotation given by hand to a wheel sustained by it will be maintained for many minutes without perceptible retardation. In fact, the most striking illustration which can be given of the immense superiority of the _palier glissant_ over a support lubricated in in any other way, is furnished by placing two precisely similar wheels or disks side by side, weighing five or six pounds each, with a diameter of seven or eight inches, and journals of half an inch in diameter; one of them furnished with _paliers glissants_, and the other with boxes lubricated with fine oil. Give each of them a velocity of rotation of about one revolution in a second; the one lubricated with oil will come to rest before the other begins to give evidence of any sensible retardation; but if at any moment the stop-cock which supplies the water to the second be turned, this one will also stop, and its stopping will be instantaneous.

It might be supposed that a journal supported in the manner above described would be unsteady and liable to injurious vibrations. This is not the case, and it is easy to see why not. When the journal is truly in the middle of the socket, that is to say when there is an equal distance between it and the wall of the socket on either side, it will be equally pressed from both sides. But if it is in the least displaced laterally, the pressure on the side toward which it moves will instantly increase, while that on the other side will correspondingly diminish: both causes transpiring to resist the displacement, and to maintain the journal in the position of true equilibrium.

The water pressure by which these "slippery supports" are supplied must be created by a force pump worked by the machine itself. The reservoir need not be large as the expenditure of water is very minute in volume. To the objection which may naturally be made, that the working of the pump must be a tax on the motive power without return, a reply at once simple and satisfactory is found in the experience of Mr. Girard, that the working of the pump does not consume so much as half, and sometimes not more than one one quarter, of the power which is lost in friction when the ordinary modes of lubrication are employed; so that by the adoption of this expedient the available power of the machine is very sensibly increased after deducting all that is expended in the performance of this additional work.

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BEES BENEFICIAL TO FRUIT.--Dr. A. Packard, editor of the _American Naturalist_, replies to a query in regard to the effects produced upon fruit by the agency of honey bees, that all the evidence given by botanists and zoologists who have specially studied the subject, shows that bees improve the quality and tend to increase the quantity of fruit. They aid in the fertilization of flowers, thus preventing the occurrence of sterile flowers, and, by more thoroughly fertilizing flowers already perfect, render the production of sound and well developed fruit more sure. Many botanists think if it were not for bees, and other insects, many plants would not bear fruit at all.

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Steamboats on the American plan are to be introduced on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. This will add very greatly to the comfort and pleasure of tourists on that beautiful lake.

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

MUNN & COMPANY, Editors and Proprietors.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT NO. 37 PARK ROW (PARK BUILDING), NEW YORK.

O.D. MUNN. S.H. WALES. A.E. BEACH.

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"The American News Company," Agents, 121 Nassau street, New York