VERY person has an obvious right to the products of his own mind, and consequently a right to his inventions. No one could know of the existence of an invention, until after the inventor voluntary revealed it, either by disclosing it to others or putting it into some tangible form. But in the absence of special laws, how can the inventor protect himself in this right? If he attempts to use his invention for himself only, he will in doing this disclose it to others; and while others cannot stop him from using it, he has no power to stop them. Some few inventions may be practised in secret, but most inventions, if used at all, leave some tangible evidence, which, in spite of all the safeguards that may be devised, are liable sooner or later to be discovered or betrayed. Under such circumstances there would be poor encouragement to invent, and those who do invent must try to keep their inventions with profound secrecy. Some have succeeded in so doing and let valuable inventions die with themselves. Without protection, those who conceive of inventions will not work them out, and thus the public is deprived of the advantages. Such was the state of affairs relating to inventions when this country was first

settled, but even then men were keen enough to see that the public at large would be greatly benefited by taking steps to encourage and stimulate inventions. In fact, nearly every nation in the world has given some encouragement and provided some protection for inventions.. Even the North American Indians, it is said, honored the maker of arrow-heads; they always gave him a hearty welcome and at all times gave him free passage through the country, as he carried his stone implements about for sale or exchange. With a view to encourage invention, many of our states in the colonial days, by special acts, from time to time, granted patents to various inventors. The late Senator Wadleigh of New Hampshire is authority for the statement that it is generally believed that the first patent ever issued to an inventor in America was granted in 1646, by the General Court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, to Joseph Jencks, for an improvement in scythes. The improvement changed the short, thick, straight English scythe into the longer, thinner, curved implement with stiffened back, substantially the same as that in use at the present day.

In 1652, the General Court of Massachusetts allowed John Clark ten shillings for three years from every family who should use his invention for sawing wood and warming houses at little cost. After a trial for this period he was granted the

same privilege during his life. This is the earliest record I have found of a royalty or license fee.

In the printed statutes of Connecticut, in 1672:

"It is ordered that there shall be no monopolies granted or allowed amongst us, but of such new inventions as shall be judged profitable to the country and for such time as the general court shall judge meet."

The earliest Connecticut patent found on record was granted in October, 1717, to Edward Hinman of Stratford, for the exclusive right and liberty of making molasses from the stalks of Indian corn, in Fairfield County, for ten years, which grant ended with the words:

"Always provided the said Hinman make as good molasses, and make it as cheap, as comes from the West Indies."

Like many of these colonial patents, this grant covered the practice of the art by any and all processes, without being restricted to the particular process practised by the petitioner.

Such patents were granted for the right to make steel, to make salt, to make glass, to utilize the tide for mills, and for the practice of many other arts. Iron and silk were the subjects of much legislation. An application for a patent for the exclusive use of the steam-engine for factory purposes was refused in 1786.

Other patents were more limited; for example, a patent to the inventor of a clock "that winds itself up by the help of the air, and will continue to do so without aid or assistance until the component parts thereof are destroyed by friction," was limited to the privilege of making and vending said kinds of clocks. Instead of an exclusive right to make and sell, bounties or premiums were sometimes offered. Sometimes the petitioner was allowed to raise money by lottery; and in one instance an unfortunate inventor who had been convicted of altering bills of public credit was restored to his forfeited liberties for having invented "a method of grinding and polishing crystals and other stones of great value, all of the growth of this colony." 1

The constitution of the United States gives Congress the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Our present system has its foundation in this single clause of the constitution. Says Senator Platt in his speech upon the reorganization of the Patent Office:

1 Those who may be interested in a further study of the Colonial patents of Connecticut will find some fifty pages relating thereto in the Patent Office Reports for the year 1850, page 421.