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For copies of drawings a reasonable sum, in proportion to the time occupied in making the same.

Money is frequently lost, owing to an incautious method of securing it to the letter. Fees, when sent direct to the Commissioner in specie, should therefore be firmly attached to the letter, to avoid the danger of loss from becoming loose and wearing through the envelope.

It is recommended to make a deposite with an assistant treasurer, or other officer authorized to receive public moneys, of the fee for a patent or other application, and to remit the certificate. Where this cannot be done without much inconvenience, gold may be remitted by mail at the risk of the appli

cant.

In case of deposite made with the assistant treasurers, or other persons authorized to receive public moneys, a duplicate receipt should be taken, stating by whom the payment was made, and for what object. The particular invention should be referred to, to enable the applicant to recover back the twenty dollars in case of the withdrawal of the petition. The certificate of deposite may be made in the following form:

Office of the

The Treasurer of the United States has credit at this office for dollars in specie, deposited by

the county of

of the town of

in

and State of

the same being

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A. B.

for a patent [or whatever the object may be] for a steam-boiler.

Officers who are authorized to receive patent fees on account of the Treasury of the United States, and to give receipts or certificates of deposite therefor, viz:

Assistant Treasurer of the United States, Boston, Massachusetts.

Assistant Treasurer of the United States, New York, New York.

Treasurer of the Mint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Surveyor and Inspector, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Assistant Treasurer of the United States, Charleston, South Carolina.

Collector, Baltimore, Maryland.

Collector, Richmond, Virginia.

Collector, Norfolk, Virginia.

Collector, Buffalo Creek, New York.

Collector, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Collector, Savannah, Georgia.

Collector, Mobile, Alabama.

Treasurer, Branch Mint, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Assistant Treasurer of the United States, St. Louis, Missouri.

Surveyor of the Customs, Nashville, Tennessee.

Surveyor of the Customs, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Receiver of Public Moneys, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Receiver of Public Moneys, Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Receiver of Public Moneys, Chicago, Illinois.

Receiver of Public Moneys, Detroit, Michigan.
Collector, San Francisco, California.
Depository, Tallahassee, Florida.

Any person wishing to pay a patent or other fee may deposite it with either of the officers above named, and forward the receipt or certificate to this office as evidence thereof.

Money sent by mail is at the risk of the person sending the same. And all money sent from the office by mail is at the risk of the person requesting to have it transmitted in that way. In no case should money be sent enclosed with models.

SEC. XIX. OF PATENT AGENTS.

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There is, in this and other cities, a class of persons denominated "Patent Agents or "Patent Attorneys," whose occupation is to offer advice and render assistance to individuals having business with the office. From certain information which has come to the knowledge of the Commissioner, it is deemed necessary to observe, that, whatever may be said to the contrary, no greater facilities are extended to them than to the inventor who makes his own application. The rules and regulations contained in this pamphlet are as much for their guidance as for the direction of the applicant himself, and as strict a compliance with them is required of one as of the other. Personal influence avails neither. Patents are granted or rejected upon the merits of the cases presented, and there are no circumstances which can, with the knowledge of the undersigned, be brought to bear to turn the office from the strictest impartiality.

To relieve applicants from the expense of employing agents, the examiners will decide questions of novelty and patentability upon papers imperfectly prepared, if sufficiently perspicuous to be understood, when such papers are prepared by the inventor himself. But, if an agent be employed, it is presumed that he is qualified for the business he has undertaken without calling on the office for instructions.

Inventors desirous of examining models before making application, should apply to the Commissioner or chief clerk, who will direct the machinist to aid them in all necessary inquiries. This caution is given to save applicants from impositions to which they are exposed. If the services of Patent Agents are desired, able and faithful ones can be found at their offices in this and other cities.

Patent Agents who have filed a full power of attorney, authorizing them to receive letters patent for the patentees, will be allowed to take them from the office; after which they cannot be returned, with the view to be transmitted to the inventor under the frank of the Commissioner. If agents retain the patents of their clients in their possession after they have been issued, it is a private matter between the patentee and his attorney, with which the office has nothing to do.

It is hardly necessary to state that no fees are received in this office except those provided for by law, and that no offers of sums of money, or payment of the same to third parties, can influence the decision upon a case, or hasten the period of its examination.

SEC. XX. OF CORRESPONDENCE.

In answer to an inquiry addressed to the First Assistant Postmaster General, touching mailable matter, the following letter has been received:

"POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CONTRACT OFFICE,

"TO THOS. EWBANK, Esq., Commissioner of Patents:

August 30, 1849.

"SIR: I hasten to say, in answer to your inquiry of to-day, that what may be sent by mail is specified by acts of Congress to be letters, letters enclosing money, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and all other written or printed matter whereof each copy or number shall not exceed eight ounces, packages thereof not exceeding three pounds in weight; public documents, printed by order of either House of Congress; and books and documents interchanged between the Executives of States. Neither models of machines, nor the substances of which they are usually composed, wood, glass, tin, or other metals, are entitled, by law or regulation, to transmission in the mail; and the mailing and forwarding of them will be refused in every instance where the required care is taken at the post office to exclude unmailable matter. Respectfully, your obedient servant,

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"S. R. HOBBIE,

"First Assistant Postmaster General."

All communications relating to official transactions should be addressed to the Commissioner of Patents; no other can receive attention; and it must not be regarded as discourteous if private letters to employees in office are returned without reply; nor must correspondents complain, even if their letters are properly addressed to the Commissioner, if their business receives no attention from the office, when their signatures are so illegibly written as to render it impossible to decipher them, or when the post office and State (or either of them) are omitted in their address.

No double correspondence can be sanctioned. When an inventor employs an agent, the office will correspond with either, but not with both.

This remark is necessary, from the numerous letters received from applicants asking for information of what their attorneys have done, and often protesting against their acts.

Telegraphic communications, if not received before 3 p. m., cannot be answered till the following day; the greater part arrive after the office has been closed. Moreover, signatures are sometimes so illegibly written that telegraphic operators misinterpret them, and the office is consequently at a loss properly to translate them.

SEC. XXI. PATENT OFFICE REPORTS.

These are generally submitted to Congress in January, and comprehend the transactions of the office during the preceding year; but, from causes over which this bureau has no control, they are seldom printed until the current year has nearly expired. In the mean time letters are constantly being received from citizens of every profession and section of the Union, asking for copies, under the mistaken idea that their distribution is under the control of

the office. So far from this being the fact, a very limited number only is placed by Congress at its disposal, e. g. of the Report for 1847, ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND COPIES were printed, of which THREE THOUSAND were appropriated to the Patent Office. The remaining 132,000 were subject to the orders and disposal of members of Congress. Of the Report for 1848 SEVENTYFIVE THOUSAND were ordered; of these, TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED were sent to this bureau, and of them ONLY FIVE HUNDRED had the list of patents and claims annexed.

It will be perceived that the office does not receive HALF the number inventors and patentees call for; and, as far as possible, it is deemed right first to supply them. Persons, therefore, desiring Reports, should distinctly state the grounds upon which their requests are preferred. If it shall appear that they have contributed to the support of the office by the payment of fees, or to the information contained in the Agricultural Report, their names will be entered upon a list kept for that purpose, and when the document is ready for distribution copies will be sent to their address in the order of their applications. With few exceptions, the office is compelled to refer other citizens to the members of Congress from their districts.

PATENT OFFICE, October 11, 1851.

THOMAS EWBANK,

Commissioner of Patents.

REQUEST.

Congress having authorized the collection and distribution of seeds through this office, a transmission to this place of any rare and useful seeds may confer a great benefit on the community, and will, so far as practicable, he reciprocated by the Commissioner. A history of the seed transmitted, together with the place of production, is respectfully solicited.

NOTE ON PIN-MAKING.

BY THE LATE WILLIAM SERRELL, OF NEW YORK.

In page 413, article "Pin Manufacture," of the Report of 1850, there are a few errors. Lemuel Wellman Wright (not William) was a native of Haverhill, New Hampshire, and a descendant of Mrs. Dustin, of historic notoriety by the slaughter of Indians to whom she was a prisoner, and by which she saved her life. Mr. Wright made his pin-machine between 1820 and 1824, and his specification will be found in Newton's Journal, vol. 9, 1825, page 281. The machinery was built as stated, and in use in 1826. It fed the wire from the reel, straightened and cut it, pointed the shank at two operations, headed it at two more movements-the last delivering the complete pin. The writer has many times turned out sixty pins, an inch long, per minute, by one hand. The difficulty in pointing arose from the fact, that after D. F. Taylor and Wright separated, no workmen, not trained by Wright, could be found to make and adjust, and keep in order, the rotatory files that formed the points. Of all this the writer was personally cognizant up to 1830; but since that time has had no direct knowledge.

About 1825 or 1826, a set of these machines was sent to this country, to be worked under the American patent of 1825. The workman who was to have charge of them was delayed to bring the tools for repairing them, and for building others; but when he arrived, from some cause or other, he found every machine broken, so that he could not repair them. What has become

of them is not known.

Mr. Wright was recently living at Chalford, England; and a history of his inventions, and the difficulties he has gone through, would fill a small volume. It is understood he has done best with his machinery for bleaching woven cotton and linen goods. He is now aged about sixty-three, but still active in the field of invention.

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