INVENTION, ITS RIGHTS AND ENCOURAGEMENT.
TILE imperfect working of the present patent law, for the protec- tion, of the invpntor, or for the advantage of society, is so obvious that we may look for some radical change, though it would be quite impossible to fix the date, even approximately, for the diffi- culties of amendment are almost as great as the existing incon- veniences. The principle upon which the law at present rests is that, if a man strike out a useful invention, calculated to increase the production or value of property belonging to others, he has himself a property in his own idea, and should not be deprived of the fruit of his industry. It is assumed that, beyond the prin- ciple of equity, policy dictates the grant of a protection, since it is for the interest of society to encourage invention. Rather a large deduction must be made from this calculation, since there are grand distinctions between one important class of inventions, and that for which the claim is advanced. All who make pretensions to high scientific standing profess to pursue their discoveries for the benefit of science and of mankind, and, refrain from making any exclusive demand to profit ; while those who claim patents, whether in medicines or mechanical inventions, subject them- selves in some professions to the charge of being quacks, and undoubtedly waive a certain moral rank in seeking a commercial benefit. We have remarked more than once that the most important discoveries for the benefit of mankind have in some cases been made in the pursuit of science for its own sake, and very often without any definite aim at the principal object dis- covered. Thus Volta, Franklin, and other early students of electricity, investigated the subject unselfishly, and certainly did not reap any of those profitable advantages which are claimed by the inventors of the electric telegraph or other novel applications of their discoveries.
The same branch of science, indeed, illustrates the greatest caprices of the patent law. It is to be supposed that a consider- able fortune has been made by the process of electro-plating. In that art, however, one difficulty had to be surmounted ; it was the production of a completely smooth surface on the electro- plated or electro-gilt article, from the first, without the subsequent use of a wire-brush. An ingenious person struck out this great improvement, which necessarily modified the general character of the process ; but we do not learn that he obtained more advantage than some very moderate fee, far less than the honorarium given by the Government to an ingenious gentleman for the simple sugges- tion of perforating the sheet of postage queen's heads. There is a kind of improved pencil which has come into almost universal use and of which we might assume that it has made the fortune of
use, ostensible patentees : we have heard it said that the real inventor was paid 2001. for his discovery. The inventor of Phil- lips's fire-annihilator, the efficacy of which appears to be esta- blished, though the question is still under judgment, seems likely enough not to assist at the final success of his own project. The sewing-machine could probably, if the subject were investigated, trace itself to many authors—the actual merit has been a subject of litigation, and the machine is coming into use under more than one patent. Very often the practicability of an invention depends upon some exceeding trifle, which may be suggested almost by accident. We remember, many years ago, when the making of paper by machinery was still a novelty, seeing a machine upon whi3h, if our recollection serves, 20,000/. had been expended in the endeavour to find that jogging, lateral motion, which imitates the hand of the journeyman paper-maker, without success ; until at last a casual visitor suggested a method of attaining the object, which was realized by the payment of a few shillings,—consider- ably under a pound. On the other hand, successive improve- ments not unfrequently obscure the original authorship, in so much that it would be difficult to allot the proportionate merit to each participator in the project.
Electricity again serves us, in one of its latest applications illus- trating the obscurity and difficulty of thewhole subject. Inthe Times of the 2d September appeared a letter from Mr. Joseph Snape, of Chester, referring to an account of a death by chloroform used as an anaesthetic agent. A great hubbub has been created on that subject, some casual deaths having excited prejudice against one of the greatest improvements of modern times, the use of agents which allay pain in agonizing operations. Now, on the whole field of operation there can be little doubt that, although chloro- form or any other anoesthetic may cause a death which would net otherwise have happened, still, in the main' the saving of agony has spared a far larger proportion of deaths, to say nothing of the suffering for its own sake. The prejudice against chloroform, therefore, is absurd; but not so the preference for any anoesthetic which is mike lir*, more under control, and less hazardous. Mr. Snape described the surprising effect of electricity for this purpose and particularly' in the drawing of teeth. His letter was followed up by one from Mr. Frederick Sass, of Manchester Street, London, explaining the process somewhat more precisely, and as- signkg the merit of the discovery to Mr. J. B. Francis' of Pennsylvania. The plan is this : a small portable electrical inachine stands upon a table near the operating chair • the patient WI& one end of the electrical chain in one hand, the other end of the .chain is conveniently attached to the forceps; in the act of
grasping the teeth the electrical, onirnnnt is completed, and n„
effect is, that the pain is edinibitddl.linimany cases entirely bo" lished. Some operators_ appear to have_failed, probably from notattending to the nice acbustment of ,the details, nut besigt these questions of individual success or failure, there has be es aroused a fierce controversy as to the original merit of the ineeiT tion, or its ultimate value ; some wise persons having tried the electricity without undergoing the process which oconsions agony, but assuming that it must fail since they then felt certain local consciousness in the gums. Mr. Sass had no sooner announced his own successful and constant use of a force already well known than he received notice from Mr. Newton' the patent-agent, of Chancery Lane, claiming to have a patentright over the inven- tion on behalf of the American patentee. Mr. Sass asked evidence as to the existence of "laws forbidding the extraction of teeth without pain." In the meanwhile, a correspondent of the Times, signing himself "Jurist," remarked that, although an idea can be patented in America, it cannot be so circumscribed in Eng- lancl, where a patent must rest upon some concrete form of the idea. Claimants for this form of restriction also appeared : Mr. Waite of Burlington Street simply notified as a fact that the right to patent the electro-galvanic current for surgical purposes had been registered for him before the Great Exhibition of 1851; M. Delveil, of France, and M. Meinig, also exhibited machines in 1851 for the same purpose ; and another claimant was Mr. Mor- risson, of Glasgow, who kindly allowed the free use of his patent to hospitals, but not to private practitioners. Here, it will in seen, is a superabundance of proprietors, whose claims appear in a great degree to neutralize each other. Meanwhile the inven- tion is passing into general use, with immense blessings to those patients who are obliged to seek the aid of the dentist; while it is most probable that some further light will be thrown upon the whole laws of electricity, with their bearing on the laws of life, by this application of a force so well known but even now so little understood.
- In this kind of huiley-burley what becomes of the inventors ? There is another class of inventions, which is also known to be retarded by the absence of any kind of reward for the inventor; it consists of improvements in machinery, such as might be sug- gested by intelligent working men practically handling the ma- chine. Such a man sees money expended on his proposal, and money made by it, and if he geti a five-pound note, which is problematical, he obtains neither a rise of condition, nor even fame. Our present laws, therefore, do not call forth :inventions so rapidly as they might, and do not with any certainty reward the inventor.
It is, indeed, a serious question how far the difficulties of amendment can be surmounted. We have heard a suggestion made that the whole system of patents should be entirely abolished, and a new plan of rewards substituted under some such public body as the Board of Trade. The idea is that the rewards should consists of two kinds, allotted by the public tribunal, on proper evidence. First, a mere honorary fee, consisting of a small amount of money, with some formal testimonial to the merit of the inventor, given to him as soon as possible after the first pro- mulgation of the idea, upon duly considering the merit of the pro- posal simply as a suggestion. Secondly, a more considerable re- ward, calculated with some reference to the ascertained com- mercial value of the suggestion after it should have been in prac- tical use a year or two. The first reward would be in excess of anything yet granted ; the second would be in substitution of the patent rights, which at present work so capriciously. We per- ceive many apparently insuperable difficulties, at least for the present, in applying this suggestion' particularly the second part. That the capitalist not work without patent right is per- haps not absolutely to be assumed, since inventions have been worked, although the inventor has not restricted their use. Dr. Neil Arnot, for example, standing upon his high scientific position, has declined to limit the use of his most valuable suggestions for the improvement of stoves, &c. Mr. Clandet has not patented his most interesting stereomonoscope. The small honorarium would probably have the effect of calling forth a goodly number of in- ventors, without their too greatly burdening the state either for money or responsibility ; and very ingenious persons would not only obtain some advantage from the aggregate honoraria, but would signalize their names in the various branches of prac- tical science by the most direct and public of all testimonials. If it were possible to overcome the difficulties involved in any departure from the present system, a considerable extension might be given to certain departments in Exhibitions like that of 1851, or in the permanent exhibitions of South Kensington, by esta- blishing a constant exhibition of mechanical apparatus ; the ma- chinery to be kept in perpetual motion, and thus to illustrate, for engineers, inventors, mechanists, manufacturers workmen, and students in general, both the actual application of mechanical im- provements, and the opening which still exists for further im- provement. If the state were to undertake any outlay for the encouragement of inventions, or any amendment and restriction of the present patent law, perhaps no expenditure would be so profitable, because so instructive in its results, as the maintenance of such a working museum. The only question is, how far In- ventions might not multiply almost to the extent of overgrowi? their residence ; but this might be met by greater care in select ing typical specimens in each class.
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