The model required by law should be neatly made, and as small as a distinct representation of the machine or improvement, and its characteristic properties, will admit; the name of the inventor should be printed or engraved upon or affixed to it in a durable manner. Models forwarded without a name, cannot be entered on record, and are therefore liable to be lost or mislaid. When the invention is of "a composition of matter," the law requires that the application be accompanied with specimens of the ingredients, and of the composition of matter, sufficient in quantity for the purpose of experiment.

Proceedings on Applications for Patents, and Appeals from the Decision of the Commissioner. (Act of 1836, sec. 7.)

"That on the filing of any such application, (consisting of petition, specification, model, and drawings, or specimens,) and the payment of the duty hereinafter provided, the Commissioner shall make, or cause to be made, an examination of the alleged new invention or discovery; and if, on any such examination, it shall not appear to the Commissioner that the same had been invented or discovered by any other person in this country, prior to the alleged invention or discovery thereof by the applicant, or that it had been patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, or had been in public use or on sale, with the applicant's consent or allowance, prior to the application, if the Commissioner shall deem it to be sufficiently useful and important, it shall be his duty to issue a patent therefor. But whenever, on such examination, it shall appear to the Commissioner that the applicant was not the original and first inventor or discoverer thereof, or that any part of that which is claimed as new had before been invented or discovered, or patented, or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country as aforesaid, or that the description is defective and insufficient, he shall notify the applicant thereof, giving him briefly such information and references as may be useful in judging of the propriety of renewing his application, or of altering his specification to embrace only that part of the invention or discovery which is new. In every such case, if the applicant shall elect to withdraw his application, relinquishing his claim to the model, he shall be entitled to receive back twenty dollars, part of the duty required by this act, on filing a notice in writing of such election in the Patent Office; a copy of which, certified by the Commissioner, shall be a sufficient warrant to the Treasurer for paying back to the said applicant the said sum of twenty dollars. But if the applicant, in such case, shall persist in his claim for a patent, with or without any alteration of his specification, he shall be required to make oath or affirmation anew, in manner as aforesaid; and if the specification and claim shall not have been so modified as, in the opinion of the Commissioner, shall entitle

the applicant to a patent, he may appeal from the decision of the said Commissioner."-This appeal is to be made to the Chief Justice of the United States Court for the District of Columbia, who may affirm or reverse the decision of the Commissioner of Patents, in whole or in part, and may order a patent to issue: or he may have remedy against the decision of the Commissioner of Patents, or the decision of the Chief Justice of the United States Court for the District of Columbia, by filing a bill in equity in any of the United States Courts, having jurisdiction, as hereinafter explained.

Re-issue to Correct a Defective Description.

When an applicant wishes to cancel an old patent, and to correct a mistake or error, which has arisen from inadvertence, he should state this fact in his application, and expressly surrender the old patent, which must be transmitted to the Patent Office before a new patent will be issued. And no improvement or alteration, made subsequent to the filing of the application upon which the original patent was granted, can be introduced into a patent upon re-issue. Section thirteen of the act of July, 1836, enacts, "That whenever any patent, which has heretofore been granted, or which shall hereafter be granted, shall be inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective or insufficient description or specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming in his specification, as his own invention, more than he had or shall have a right to claim as new, if the error has or shall have arisen by inadvertency, accident, or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner, upon the surrender to him of such patent, and the payment of the further duty of fifteen dollars, to cause a new patent to be issued to the said inventor for the same invention, for the residue of the period then unexpired, for which the original patent was granted, in accordance with the patentee's corrected description and specification."

When the original patent has been lost,-before a re-issue can be granted, the original patent should first be restored, and then surrendered.

In the re-issue, the claim is subject to an examination as in the case of original patents; and if it shall appear that any part of the claim was not original at the time of granting the patent, the re-issue will not be granted, unless such part be omitted in the claim, or a disclaimer filed in the Patent Office. And if there is not any thing which can be claimed, the re-issue cannot be granted, and the surrendered patent cannot be returned. Where the patent was granted before the 15th December, 1836, a model and drawings of the invention, as originally patented, verified by oath, must be deposited in the Patent Office before a re-issue can be granted, unless dispensed with by the Commissioner.

"And in case of the death of an inventor, or of any assignment by him of the original patent, a similar right shall vest in his executors, administrators, or assignees; and the patent so reissued, together with the corrected description and specification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of all actions hereafter commenced for causes subsequently accruing, as though the same had been originally filed in such corrected form before the issuing of the original patent."-Act of July 4th, 1836, sec. 13.

On the surrender of a patent, several patents may be issued for distinct and separate parts of the invention, upon the payment of thirty dollars for every additional patent so issued.

Disclaimers.

The 7th section of the law of 3rd March, 1837, provides as follows:-" And be it further enacted, That whenever any patentee shall have, through inadvertence, accident, or mistake, made his specification of claim too broad, claiming more than that of which he was the original or first inventor, some material and substantial part of the thing patented being truly and justly his own, any such patentee, his administrators, executors, and assigns, whether of the whole or of a sectional interest therein, may make disclaimer of such parts of the thing patented, as the disclaimant shall not claim to hold by virtue of the patent or assignment, stating therein the extent of his interest in such patent; which disclaimer shall be in writing, attested by one or more witnesses, and recorded in the Patent Office, on payment, by the person disclaiming, in manner as other patent duties are required by law to be paid, of the sum of ten dollars. And such disclaimer shall thereafter be taken and considered as part of the original specification, to the extent of the interest which shall be possessed in the patent or right secured thereby, by the disclaimant, and by those claiming by or under him, subsequent to the record thereof. But no such disclaimer shall affect any action pending at the time of its being filed, except so far as it may relate to the question of unreasonable neglect or delay in filing the same."

In cases of patents granted before the 15th of December, 1836, no disclaimer will be admitted for record until a model and drawings of the invention, as originally patented, verified by oath, shall have been deposited, unless dispensed with by the Commissioner.

Interfering Applications.

"Whenever an application shall be made for a patent, which in the opinion of the Commissioner, would interfere with any other patent for which an application may be pending, or with

any unexpired patent which shall have been granted, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to give notice thereof to such applicants, or patentees, as the case may be; and if either shall be dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner on the question of priority of right or invention, on a hearing thereof, he may appeal from such decision, on the like terms and conditions as are provided in the case of applications for inventions not new; and the like proceedings shall be had, to determine which, or whether either, of the applicants is entitled to receive a patent as prayed for. But nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive an original and true inventor of the right to a patent for his invention by reason of his having previously taken out letterspatent therefor in a foreign country, and the same having been published at any time within six months next preceding the filing of his specification and drawings; and whenever the applicant shall request it, the patent shall take date from the time of filing of the specification and drawings, not however exceeding six months prior to the actual issuing of the patent; and on like request and payment of the duty herein required, by any applicant, his specification and drawings shall be filed in the secret archives of the office until he shall furnish the model and the patent be issued, not exceeding the term of one year, the applicant being entitled to notice of interfering applications."-Act of 1836, sec. 8.

A full description of the invention is required to enable the Commissioner of Patents to judge of interferences; and all applications will be examined and patents issued in the order of time in which the proper documents are completed and filed.

Caveats.

The law enacts, "That any citizen of the United States, or alien who shall have been a resident of the United States one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to become a citizen thereof, who shall have invented any new art, machine, or improvement thereof, and shall desire further time to mature the same, may, on paying to the credit of the Treasury, in manner as provided in the ninth section of this act, the sum of twenty dollars, file in the Patent Office a caveat setting forth the design and purpose thereof, and its principal and distinguishing characteristics, and praying protection of his right, till he shall have matured his invention; which sum of twenty dollars, in case the person filing such caveat shall afterwards take out a patent for the invention therein mentioned, shall be considered a part of the sum herein required for the same. And such caveat shall be filed in the confidential archives of the office, and preserved in secrecy. And if application shall be made by any other person, within one year from the time of filing such caveat, for a patent of any invention with which it may in any respect interfere, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to deposit the description, specifications,

drawings, and model, in the confidential archives of the office, and to give notice (by mail) to the person filing the caveat of such application, who shall within three months after receiving the notice, if he would avail himself of the benefit of his caveat, file his description, specifications, drawings, and model; and if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, the specifications of claim interfere with each other, like proceedings may be had in all respects as are in this act provided in the case of interfering applications."-Act of 1836, sec. 12.

From this section it will be seen, that British subjects and all other foreigners are excluded from the benefit arising from entering caveats, unless they are resident in the States; but if the act did not confine this right to natives or resident aliens, the distance from Europe would render it perfectly useless and nugatory.

Extension of a Patent beyond the Fourteen Years.

Section eighteen of the same act provides, "That whenever any patentee of an invention or discovery shall desire an extension of his patent beyond the term of its limitation, he may make application therefor, in writing, to the Commissioner of the Patent Office, setting forth the grounds thereof, and the Commissioner shall, on the applicant's paying the sum of forty dollars to the credit of the Treasury, as in the case of an original application for a patent, cause to be published in one or more of the principal newspapers in the city of Washington, and in such other paper or papers as he may deem proper, published in the section of country most interested adversely to the extension of the patent, a notice of such application, and of the time and place when and where the same will be considered, that any person may appear and show cause why the extension should not be granted. And the Secretary of State, the Commissioner of the Patent Office, and the Solicitor of the Treasury, shall constitute a Board to hear and decide upon the evidence produced before them, both for and against the extension, and shall sit for that purpose at the time and place designated in the published notice thereof. The patentee shall furnish to said Board a statement, in writing, under oath, of the ascertained value of the invention, and of his receipts and expenditures, sufficiently in detail to exhibit a true and faithful account of loss and profit in any manner accruing to him from and by reason of said invention. And if, upon a hearing of the matter, it shall appear to the full and entire satisfaction of said Board, having due regard to the public interest therein, that it is just and proper that the term of the patent should be extended, by reason of the patentee, without neglect or fault on his part having failed to obtain, from the use and sale of his invention, a reasonable remuneration for the time, ingenuity, and expense bestowed upon the same, and the introduction thereof into use,