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RULES AND DIRECTIONS

FOR

PROCEEDINGS IN THE PATENT OFFICE.

The following information and regulations are designed to be in strict accordance with the acts of Congress applicable to the subject of patents; which acts are printed in pamphlet form, and will be forwarded by the office to any one who may desire them.

WHO IS ENTITLED TO A PATENT.

1. Any person, whether citizen or alien, may obtain a patent for any invention or improvement made by him, and not before known. For greater particularity, see act of 1836, sections 6 and 7; act of 1842, section 3; and act of 1861, section 10; see also rule 4 below.

2. In case of the death of the inventor, the patent may be applied for by, and will issue to, his legal representatives.-(Act of 1836, section 10.)

3. Joint inventors are entitled to a joint patent; but neither can claim one separately.

WHAT WILL PREVENT THE GRANTING OF A PATENT.

4. Although an applicant may have actually made an invention, a patent therefor will not be granted him if the whole or any part of what he claims as new has been patented, or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, or been before invented or discovered in this country, (act of 1836, section 7;) nor if he has once abandoned his invention to the public, or for more than two years consented and allowed it to be in public use or on sale.-(Act of 1836, section 6; act of 1839, section 7.)

5. The mere fact of prior use, invention, or discovery abroad, will not prevent the issue of the patent, unless the invention has been there patented, or described in some printed publication.--(Act of 1836, section 7; also act of 1836, section 15.)

6. Merely conceiving the idea of an improvement or machine is not such an "invention" or "discovery" as is above contemplated. The invention must have been reduced to a practical form, either by the construction of the machine itself or of a model thereof, or at least by making a full drawing of it, or in some other manner equally descriptive of its exact character, so that a mechanic would be enabled, from the description given, to construct a model thereof, before it will prevent a subsequent inventor from obtaining a patent.--(See Hildreth vs. Heath, and Perry vs. Cornell, decided by Judge Cranch on an appeal from the Commissioner.)

MODE OF PROCEEDING TO OBTAIN A PATENT.

APPLICATION.

7. All applications must be completed for examination within two years after the filing of the petition; and in default, all such will be regarded as abandoned, unless it be satisfactorily proved to the office that such delay was unavoidable. 8. The application must be made by the actual inventor, if alive, (act of 1836, section 6,) even if the patent is to issue to an assignee, (act of 1837, sec

tion 6;) but where the inventor is dead, the application and oath may be made by the executor or administrator.-(Act of 1836, section 10.)

9. The application must be in writing, in the English language, signed by the applicant, and addressed to the Commissioner of Patents. So much of the 13th section of the act of July 4, 1836, as relates to the grant of letters patent for an additional improvement has been repealed; and for the future, and in all cases where additional improvements would have been allowed by that act, independent patents must be applied for. The following is a suitable form, to Le varied according to circumstances:

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10. The apicnt must set forth in his specification the precise invention for which he claims a patent.

11. In all applications for mere improvements the specification must distinguish between what is admitted to be old and what is described and claimed to be the improvement, so that the office and the public may understand exactly for what the patent is granted.

12. Two. or more distinct and separate inventions may not be claimed in one application; but where several inventions have a necessary and dependent connection with each other, so that all co-operate in attaining the end which is sought, they may be so claimed.

13. If more than one invention is claimed in a single application, and they are found to be such that a single patent may not be issued to cover the whole, the office requires the inventor to divide the application and confine the claim to whichever invention he may elect.

14. The specification must be signed by the inventor, (or by his executor or administrator, if the inventor be dead.) It should describe the sections of the drawings, (where there are drawings,) and refer by letters and figures to the different parts. The subs antial requisites of the specification are set forth in the act of Congress of 1836, section 6. The following may be taken as a specimen of the proper form:

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, John Fitch, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadel-. phia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and improved mode of preventing steam-boilers from bursting; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in providing the upper part of a steamboiler with an aperture in addit n to that for the safety-valve, which aperture is to be closed by a plug or disk of alloy, which will fuse at any given degree of heat, and permit the steam to escape, should the safety-valve fail to perform

its functions.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation. I construct my steam-boiler in any of the known forms, and apply thereto gauge-cocks, a safety-valve, and the other appendages of such boilers; but, in order to obviate the danger arising from the adhesion of the safety-valve, and from other causes, I make a second opening in the top of the boiler, similar to that made for the safety-valve, as shown at A, in the accompanying drawing; and in this opening I insert a plug or disk of fusible alloy, securing it in its place by a metal ring and screws, or otherwise. In general, I compose this fusible metal of a mixture of lead, tin,

and bismuth, in such proportions as will insure its melting at a given temperature, which must be that to which it is intended to limit the steam; it will, of course, vary with the pressure the boiler is intended to sustain.

I surround the opening containing the fusible alloy by a tube, B, intended to conduct off any steam which may be discharged therefrom. When the tem perature of the steam in such a boiler rises to its assigned limit, the fusible alloy will melt and allow the steam to escape freely, thereby securing it from all danyer of explosion.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the application to steam-boilers of a fusible alloy which will melt at a given temperature and allow the steam to escape, as herein described, using for that purpose the aforesaid metallic compound, or any other substantially the same, and which will produce the intended effect.

Witnesses:

ROBERT FULTON,

OLIVER EVANS.

JOHN FITCH.

When the application is for a machine, the specification should commence thus : Be it known that I, of, in the county of and State of -, have invented a new and useful machine for [stating the use and title of the machine; and, if the application is for an improvement, it should read thus: a new and useful improvement on a, or on the, machine, &c.,] and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which figure 1 is a perspective view; figure 2 a longitudinal elevation; figure 3 a transverse section, &c.; (thus describing all the sections of the drawings, and then referring to the parts by letters. Then follows the description of the construction and operation of the machine; and lastly the claim, which should express the nature and character of the invention, and identify the parts claimed separately or in combination. If the specification is for an improvement, the original invention should be disclaimed, and the claim confined to the improvement.)

15. The specification must be signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses. (Act of 1836, section 6.)

16. The applicant must make oath or affirmation, (as required by the act of 1836, section 6,) to be substantially as follows:

Oath.

CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA,

State of Pennsylvania.

On this

day of

Ss:

186-, before me, the subscriber, a personally appeared the within named John Fitch, and made solemn oath (or affirmation) that he verily believes himself to be the original and first inventor of the mode herein described for preventing steam-boilers from bursting, and that he does not know or believe the same was ever before known or used; and that he is a citizen of the United States, [or citizen of other country, as the case may be.] A. B., Justice of the Peace.

17. Citizens of the British provinces should state specifically the provinces of which they are citizens, and not merely that they are subjects of the Crown of Great Britain.

18. The oath may be taken before any person authorized by law to administer oaths.

19. The oath may be taken in a foreign country before any minister plenipotentiary, chargé d'affaires, consul, or commercial agent, holding commission

under the government of the United States, or before any notary public of the country in which the oath is taken, being attested in all cases by the proper official seal of such notary.-(See act of 1842, section 4.) Applicants for patents are requested that, upon paying the final fee, they will notify the office how many copies of the specifications they desire to have furnished them. These copies will hereafter be printed and furnished at about half the rate heretofore charged for written copies. This information from applicants is necessary to enable the office to determine how many copies to have printed in each case.

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20. The applicant for a patent is required by law, (see act of 1836, section 6, and act of 1837, section 6,) to furnish duplicate drawings where the nature of the case admits of them. They should be neatly and artistically executed, in fast colors, generally in perspective, and with such detached sectional and plain views as to clearly show what the invention is, its construction and operation. Each part must be distinguished by the same number or letter wherever it appears in the several drawings. The name of the invention should be written at the top, the shortest side being considered as such. Each sheet should be fifteen inches from top to bottom, and ten inches across, that being the size of the patent; or it may be twenty inches across, so as to be folded. One of the duplicates must be on thick drawing paper, sufficiently stiff to support itself in the portfolios of the office, for which it is intended. Tracings upon cloth pasted on thick paper will not be admitted. This must be signed by the applicant and attested by two witnesses, and must be sent with the specification. The other duplicate need not be forwarded until the patent is ordered to issue, to which it is to be attached. It must have, for that purpose, a margin of one inch on the right hand, and should be on tracing muslin, which will bear folding and transportation, and not on paper. The convenience of the office requires that there shall be uniformity in the size of the drawings. The following is furnished as a form:

10 inchos.

21. Applicants are a lvised to employ competent artists to make the drawings, which will be returned if not executed in conformity with these rules. Thick drawings should never be folded for transmission.

Model.

22. A model is required in every case where the nature of the invention admits of such illustration.

23. The model must be neatly and substantially made of durable material, and not more than one foot in length or in height, unless a larger mudel is necessary to exhibit the invention. If made of pine or other soft wood, it should be painted, stained, or varnished. Models filed as exhibits, in interference and other cases, may be returned to the applicant, at the discretion of the Commis

sioner.

24. A working model is always desirable, in order to enable the office fully and readily to understand the precise operation of the machine. The name of the inventor, and also of the assignee, (if assigned,) and also the title of the invention, must be affixed upon it in a permanent manner.

25. When the invention, is a composition of matter, a specimen of each of the ingredients and of the composition must accompany the application, (see act of 1836, section 6,) and the name of the inventor and of the assignee (if there be one) must be permanently affixed thereto.

26. When a work of design can be sufficiently represented by a drawing, a model will not be required.

27. Photographs are admitted for the illustration of works of design only, and must be pasted upon thick drawing paper and tracing muslin, of the size prescribed for drawings; but in every case where this mode of illustration is employed by an applicant, he will be required to deposit in this office the glass or other "negative" from which the photograph is printed, so that exact official copies may be made therefrom when desirable.

Completion of the application.

28. No application can be examined, nor can the case be placed upon the files for examination, until the fee is paid, the model or specimen deposited, and the specification, with the petition, oath, and drawings, (when required,) filed. It is desirable that everything necessary to make the application complete should be deposited in the office at the same time.

OF THE EXAMINATION.

29. All cases in the Patent Office are arranged in classes, which are taken up for examination in regular rotation; those in the same class being examined and disposed of, as far as practicable, in the order in which the respective applications are completed. When, however, the invention is deemed of peculiar importance to some branch of the public service, and when, for that reason, the head of some department of the government specially requests immediate action, the case will be taken up out of its order. These, with applications for reissue, are the only exceptions to the rule above stated in relation to the order of examination.

30. When an application has been once rejected, either in whole or in part, and the applicant desires a second examination, either with or without amendment, he will be entitled to it with as little delay as may be practicable, so that he may be in condition to appeal, if desirable, without loss of time.

31. The personal attendance of the applicant at the Patent Office is unnecessary. The business can be done by correspondence or by attorney.

32. When an application has been finally decided, the office will retain the

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