employ a colter or a divider in the machine mentioned, provided it be substantially different from that embraced in the patent." 3. Where both a new element and a new combination of elements previously used and well known are embraced in the invention. Here the property in the patent consists in the new element and in the new combination of elements; and no persons may make, use, or vend the machine containing such new elements or such new combination, but if it be capable of use without the patented improvements, they may make, vend, or use it without becoming liable as infringers." 4. Where all the elements of the machine are old, and where the invention consists in a new combination of those elements, whereby a new and useful result is obtained. Most of the modern machines are of this class, and many are of great ability and value. In this class, the invention consists solely in the new combination, and the rule is that the property of the inventor, if duly secured by letters patent, is in all cases exactly commensurate with the invention. However, the invention is but an improvement on an old machine, and, consequently, the patentee cannot treat another as an infringer who has also improved the original machine by the use of a combination substantially different, although the machines may produce the same result. Inventions of this class are just as meritorious as those of any other class, and the property of the inventor is entitled to the same protection." By property of the inventor is meant the exclusive right which the letters patent secure to him, to make, use, and vend to others to be used, the improvement therein described for the term specified in the patent. The patentees have that property in their inventions as secured by letters patent and no other; hence, the courts uniformly hold that patents for inventions are not to be treated as mere monopolies, and, therefore, odious in the eye of the law, but they are to receive a liberal construction, and, if practicable, are to be so interpreted as to uphold and not to destroy the rights of the inventor." 363 Cliff. (U. S.) 639 (1865). 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 9941 9. Manufactures. - Commonly, the term manufacture means the production of articles for use from new or prepared materials by giving to these materials new forms, qualities, properties, or combinations, whether by hand labor or by machinery." As regarded in patent law, the term has a more limited signification in the United States, where there are three other classes of inventions, than in Great Britain, where it is used in the widest sense, including all classes, being there defined to be "anything made by the hand of man.' Hence, it is to be defined specifically as an instrument created by the exercise of mechanical forces and designed for the production of mechanical effects, but not capable, when set in motion, of attaining, by its own operation, to any premeditated results. It receives its rule of action from the external force which furnishes its motive power. A manufacture requires the constant guidance and control of some intelligent agent; a machine operates under the direction of that intelligence with which it was endowed by its inventor when he imposed on it its structural law. The parts of a machine considered separately from the machine itself, all kinds of tools and fabrics, and every other vendible substance, which is neither a complete machine nor produced by the mere union of ingredients, are included under the title manufacture." Examples of manufactures are a wooden pavement;" a bond and coupon register in the form of a book.“ A manufacture has been held to be synonymous with product, though it has been construed to mean the process of manufacturing. It is patentable in the sense of product only when it is new in itself, not merely when it is produced by a new process, or new machinery." In other words, although a new process for producing an article is patentable, the product itself cannot be patented if it be old.“ 40 Cent. Dict. 41 Bouv. Law Dict., citing 8 T. R. (Eng.) 99 (1799). 42 Bouv. Law Dict., citing Rob. Pat., Sec. 182. 432 Web. Pat. Cas. (Eng.) 126 (1843). 44 3 Fed. Rep. 338 (1880). 45 Am. & Eng. Encyc. Law (1st Ed.), Vol. 18. pp. 68, 69, citing 23 Wall. (U. S.) 566 (1874); 94 U. S. 568 (1876); 2 Cliff. (U. S.) 351 (1864); 1 Holm. (U. S.) 208 (1873). 46 111 U. S. 293 (1884). 10. A Composition of Matter. - By a composition of matter is meant a mixture or chemical combination of materials or ingredients. The term is frequently used synonymously with compound and mixture. It is patentable under the patent law of the United States, as has been seen." 11. Improvements. - An improvement, in patent law, is held to mean something in aid of a patentable object which makes it better."8 It has essential reference to a subject-matter to be improved; it is not original, but embraces and either adds to or alters the original;" and it can be patented to the inventor of an invention which is the basis of the improvement." All that the improver can have patented is his improvement." 12. Designs. - A design is an instrument created by the imposition on a physical substance of some peculiar shape or ornamentation which produces a particular impression upon the human eye, and through the eye upon the mind. Its creation involves a change in the substance itself and not merely in the mode of presenting it for sale, and affects, not its abstract qualities nor those on which its practical utility depends, but those only which determine its appearance to the sight." It is held that the acts of congress were plainly intended to give encouragement to the decorative arts." Therefore, any person may obtain a patent who by his own industry, genius, efforts, and expense, has invented and produced any new and original design for a manufacture, bust, statue, altorilievo, or bas-relief; or any new and original design for the printing of woolen, silk, cotton, or other fabrics; any new and original impression, ornament, pattern, print, or picture, to be printed, painted, cast, or otherwise placed on or worked into any article of manufacture, or any new, useful, and original shape or configuration of any article of 47 Bouv. Law Dict.; 7 Wall. (U. S.) 327 (1869); 19 Wall. (U. S.) 433 (1874). 484 Blatchf. (U. S.) 238 (1858). 491 Cliff. (U. S.) 538 (1860). 50 15 How. (U. S.) 122 (1853). 51 Fish. Pat. Cas. 108 (1850). 52 Bouv. Law Dict., quoting Rob. Pat.. Sec. 200. 53 14 Wall. (U. S.) 511 (1871). manufacture, the same not having been known or used by others before his invention or production thereof, or patented or described in any printed publication." Patents for designs are granted for the term of three years and six months, or for seven years, or for fourteen years, as the applicant may elect, upon payment of the fee prescribed and other due proceedings had, the same as in cases of inventions or discoveries. CAVEATS 13. A caveat, in patent law, is a notice filed in the proper governmental office to prevent the issue of a patent on a particular device to any other person until the caveator shall have an opportunity to establish his priority of invention." Its purpose and effect is to protect the inventor from the granting of any patent for an interfering application without his knowledge, and gives the caveator who has exercised due diligence in reducing his invention to practice the right to carry back his invention to the date of the filing of the caveat." In the United States, any citizen, or alien who has resided in that country for one year next preceding the filing and who has made oath of his intention to become a citizen, who has made any new invention or discovery, and desires further time to mature it, may file a caveat. This notice contains a description of the device with its distinguishing features, and a prayer for protection of the caveator's right until he shall have matured his invention. As soon as it is received, the caveat is filed in the secret archives of the patent office and preserved in secrecy. It is operative for one year from its filing, at the end of which time it may be renewed." A caveat need contain nothing as to form except an intelligible description of the invention which the caveator claims. to have made, giving its distinguishing characteristics with sufficient precision to enable the office to determine whether there be a probable interference when a subsequent application is filed. A caveat cannot be withdrawn, but copies may 54 U. S. R. S. 4,929. 55 Bouv. Law Dict. 566 Fish. Pat. Cas. 424 (1873). 57 U. S. R. S., Sec. 4,902. Any correction or addition must be made by be obtained. By filing a caveat, an inventor can obtain a year to perfect his invention, without the risk of having the patent to which he believes he is entitled granted to another in the meantime. Therefore, upon application within one year by another person, covering the same invention claimed by the caveator, it is the duty of the commissioner of patents to give notice of such application to the caveator, who is required to file his description within three months. The caveat is evidence of the date of the invention, but it does not necessarily show that the invention was then completed; the caveator is not concluded by his description of the invention, but may proceed with his experiments." APPLICATION FOR A PATENT PATENT SYSTEM AND PROCEDURE 14. In the United States, the patent office is under the control of the department of the interior. The head of the department is called the commissioner of patents. There is also an assistant commissioner, three examiners-in-chief, a chief clerk, an examiner in charge of interferences, twentyfour principal examiners, twenty-two first, and twenty-two second, examiners. All patents are issued in the name of the United States of America, under the seal of the patent office, and are signed by the secretary of the interior or under his direction by one of the assistant secretaries of the interior, and countersigned by the commissioner of patents. They are recorded together with the specifications in the patent office in books kept for that purpose. The secretary of the interior has no power to revise the action of the commissioner of patents in awarding priority of an invention to an applicant for a patent, such action being quasi judicial. After determining that a patent shall issue, the commissioner acts ministerially in preparing the patent for the signature 58 Rob. Pat., Sec. 445. 59 Ibid., Sec. 438. |