whereof it is a branch, or wherewith it may be nearest connected, to make, construct, or use, the same, to the end that the public may have the full benefit thereof, after the expiration of the patent term; which specification shall be filed in the office of the said secretary, and certified copies thereof shall be competent evidence in all courts, and before all jurisdictions, where any matter, or thing, touching or concerning such patent right or privilege, shall come in question.

SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That upon the application of any person to the secretary of state, for a copy of any such specification, and for permission to have similar model or models made, it shall be the duty of the secretary to give such copy, and to permit the person so applying for a similar model or models, to take, or make, or cause the same to be taken or made, at the expense of such application.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall devise, make, construct, use, employ, or vend, within these United States, any art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any invention or improvement upon, or in, any art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, the sale and exclusive right of which shall be so as aforesaid granted by patent, to any person or persons, by virtue and in pursuance of this act, without the consent of the patentee or patentees, their executors, administrators,

or assigns, first had and obtained in writing, every person so offending, shall forfeit and pay to the said patentee or patentees, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, such damages as shall be assessed by a jury, and moreover shall forfeit to the person aggrieved, the thing or things so devised, made, constructed, used, employed, or vended, contrary to the true intent of this act, which may be recovered in an action on the case, founded on this

act.

[Sections 5 and 6 relate to suits in patent cases before the courts.]

SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That such patentee as aforesaid, shall, before he receives his patent, pay the following fees to the several officers employed in making out and perfecting the same, to wit: For receiving and filing the petition, fifty cents; for filing specifications, per copysheet, containing one hundred words, ten cents; for making out patent, two dollars; for affixing the great seal, one dollar; for endorsing the day of delivering of the same to the patentee, including all intermediate services, twenty cents.

Under date of March 31, 1791, Remsen made a report on the state of the patent business, showing that a considerable number of applications were then pending, waiting the proper

specifications, drawings, and models before action could be taken on them by the Board, which consisted of the Secretaries of State and of War and the Attorney-General.* The fees for making out patents amounted to $3.70, and 10 cents for every hundred words of the specification, and were a perquisite of the Chief Clerk and his assistant.

The patent granted to Samuel Hopkins, which was the first one issued, was dated July 31, 1790, and signed by the President, Jefferson, and Edmund Randolph, the Attorney-General. Three patents were issued that year.

The applications were immediately under Remsen's charge, and were acted upon finally by the Board.

In 1793 another act relative to patents was passed, by which the Board was abolished and the Secretary of State alone left as the head of the Patent Office. Remsen continued in charge of it until 1802, when Dr. William Thornton

* Department of State MS. archives,

was appointed a clerk at $1,400 per annum and given control of this branch of the Department's affairs. In 1821 he assumed the title of "Superintendent" of Patents; but it was not until the appropriation act of 1830, after his death, that the designation received legal acceptation. He died in 1828, and was succeeded by Thomas P. Jones, who, in turn, gave place to Dr. John D. Craig in 1830. Craig was the first to make an orderly arrangement, by subjects, of the drawings and models in his charge; but his methods of business were so irregular as to necessitate an official investigation in 1833, under Secretary Martin Van Buren. Craig was censured, and a number of new rules for conducting the patent business were laid down.

In 1810 the Patent Office was given quarters, by Act of April 28, in a building apart from the Department of State, although it still remained under that Department. The salaries of the officers and clerks were paid out of the fees collected, which, under the law, were paid into

the Treasury and drawn upon, and this practice maintained as late as 1868. In 1849, when the Department of the Interior was established, the Patent Office became a part of it. It had, for all practical purposes, been independent of the Department of State for some years.

In addition to the patents, the Department of State became, under the Act of May 31, 1790, the repository for maps, charts, and books for which copyright might be granted by the United States District Courts. Although there are applications for copyright among the old Department archives, it does not appear that the power of granting them ever belonged to the Secretary of State. His office was merely to be the place of final lodgment of the records, and February 3, 1831, a law was passed requiring the Clerks of the District Courts to transmit to him once a year certified lists of all records of copyrights granted, as well as copies

* On the subject of the history of the Patent Office see Official Gazette of U. S. Patent Office, Vol. 12, No. 15, and The Patent System of the United States; a History; by Levin H. Campbell, Washington, 1891.