Journal OF THE Patent Office Society Published monthly by the Patent Office Society Office of Publication 3928 New Hampshire Ave., Washington, D. C. Subscription $2.50 a year EDITORIAL BOARD Single copy 25 cents E. C. Reynolds, Chairman and Editor-in-chief. G. P. Tucker. E. R. Cole Emerson Stringham M. O. Price. M. L. Whitney, Business Manager (Room 57, U. S. Patent Office.) 3928 New Hampshire Ave., Washington, D. C. N. E. Eccleston, Circulation. Entered as second class matter, September 17, 1918, at the post office at Washington, D. C., under the act of March 3, 1879. Publication of signed articles in this journal is not to be understood as an adoption by the Patent Office Society of the views expressed therein. The editors are glad to have pertinent articles submitted. VOL. VI. AUGUST, 1924. No. 12. COMMENT. The Patent Office has been allotted 27,000 square feet of space in the Old Land Office Building on the southwest corner of 7th and F Sts. This space is divided into 72 rooms on the first and second floors, having a total of 163 windows. At the time this is written, the expectation is that divisions 5, 11, 13, 14, 16, 21, 22, 24, 26, 29, 35, 37, 42, 43 and 48 will be housed in this building and that all of the chemical divisions will be placed on the 7th St. side of the third floor of the Patent Office. Numerous other changes will be made within the main build ing. The sales division will be placed in the basement, at the corner of 9th and G Sts. The Financial Clerk and the Mail Room will be on the same floor at the corner of 9th and F Sts., while the Application Room will be at the same corner on the first floor. Issue of Patent No. 1,500,000. On July 1st, 1923, patent No. 1,500,000 was issued to Simon Lake for a submarine vessel designed to operate under the ice. The first patent granted after the creation of the Patent Office was in 1836. The 500,000th patent was issued in 1893 and the 1,000,000th in 1911. It took 57 years to issue the first half million patents, 18 years for the second half million and only 13 years for the third half million. Office Work Report. Considerable progress has been made during the past fiscal year in reducing the number of new and amended cases awaiting action by the Office, which had reached a total of 74,525 on Aug. 17, 1923. The following table shows the comparative condition of the work at the beginning and end of the year. On July 1, 1923 there were 3838 Trade Mark Cases awaiting action, the oldest being 42 months in arrears, while on July 1, 1924 the number had been reduced to 1756 and the oldest date was within 30 days. In the same period the number of Designs awaiting action was reduced from 2792 to 280 and the oldest date from 92 months to less than one month. JAMES H. LIGHTFOOT. Examiner Lightfoot is a native of the State of Virginia. His parents were Colonel Charles E. and Georgiana Chapin Lightfoot, the former of colonial Virgina stock and the latter of colonial Massachusetts stock. His academic education was received at Bethel, a junior collegiate institution formerly in Virginia of which he was a scholarship graduate and where in his final year he took a first year medical course. Existing conditions necessitating a discontinuance of this professional course, he taught school for one year while continuing his studies and the following year was appointed a fourth assistant examiner in this office. After passing seven examinations for promotion, he was appointed a principal examiner on July 1, '09, since which date he has been in charge of Division 25. Mr. Lightfoot is a master and bachelor of laws of George Washington University, having been an honor man and an officer of his class, and is a member of the bar of this District and of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity, and was one of the originators of the Patent Office Society and has been active in proposing and supporting activities of helpful interest to members of the examining corps. JOHN F. MacNAB. John F. MacNab was born in Paterson, N. J., October 28, 1866, but within a few years returned with his parents to their former home in Massachusetts. Most of his early years were spent in Clinton, Mass., where he attended the public schools and graduated from the Clinton High School. In 1887, having taken the course in mechanical engineering, he graduated from The Worcester Polytechnic Institute, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. Immediately after graduation he, with two of his classmates, was engaged to organize and institute a system of manual training in the public schools of the District of Columbia. After completing nearly four years in this work he resigned his position of Director of Iron and Steel Work in the Manual Training Schools to enter the Patent Office. Later he took a course at and graduated from the National Law School at Washington, D. C., receiving the degrees of L.L. B. and L.L. M. and is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. He was appointed a Fourth Assistant Examiner in the Patent Office in April 1891, and was assigned to Division 14, then in charge of the late Principal Examiner L. W. Maxson. He was appointed Principal Examiner July 1, 1909 and placed in charge of Division 5. A DISCRIMINATING SHOOTING IRON. An engine of destruction, but having truly spiritual significance, was invented and granted patent protection in England in 1718. |