quiry or application, the subject of the invention and the date of filing being always carefully noted.

116. When an agent has filed his power of attorney, duly executed, the correspondence will, in ordinary cases, be held with him only. A double correspondence with him and his principal, if generally allowed, would largely eu. hance the labor of the office. For the same reason, the assignee of the entire interest in an invention is alone entitled to hold correspondence with the office, to the exclusion of the inventor. If the principal becomes dissatisfied, he must revoke his power of attorney, and notify the office, which will then communicate with him.

117. All communications to and from the Commissioner upon official business are carried in the mail free of postage.

118. After a second rejection none of the papers can be inspected, save in the presence of a sworn office, nor will any of the papers be returned to the applicant or agent.

119. Whenever it shall be found that two or more parties whose interests are in conflict are represented by the same attorney, the examiner in charge will notify each of said principal parties of this fact.,

OF THE FILING AND PRESERVATION OF PAPERS.

120. All claims and specifications filed in this office (including amendments) must be written in a fair, legible hand, without interlineations or erasures, except such as are clearly stated in a marginal or foot note written on the same sheet of paper; or, failing in which, the office may require them to be printed. 121. All papers filed in the office will be regarded as permanent records of the office, and must never, on any account, be changed, further than to correct mere clerical mistakes.

OF AMENDMENTS.

122. The applicant has a right to amend, of course, after the first rejection; and he may amend after the second, if the examiner therein present any new references, unless the devices claimed by him in the first amendment were entirely different from those originally relied upon, and not mere modifications of them. After a second rejection, and before appeal to the examiners in chief, the applicant my draw up special amendments, and present the same to the Commissioner, together with an affidavit showing good cause why the amendments were not sooner offered, whereupon the Commissioner may, in his discretion, grant leave to make such special amendments, and allow a reconsideration. No alterations or amendments, except of clerical errors, will be allowed after an appeal to the examiner in chief, or after the patent has been ordered to issue, unless the same are approved by the examiner in charge.

123. All amendments of the model, drawings, or specification, must conform to at least one of them as they were at the time of the filing of the application; and all amendments of specifications or claims must be made on separate sheets of paper from the original, and must be filed in the manner above directed. Even when the amendment consists in striking out a portion of the specification, or other paper, the same course should be observed. No erasure must be made. The papers must remain forever just as they were when filed, so that a true history of all that has been done in the case may be gathered from them. 124. The following are given as specimens of the forms proper to be observed in such cases:

line of the

"I hereby amend my specification by inserting the following words after the word -, in the page thereof;" (here should follow the words that are to be inserted; ) or, "I hereby amend my specification by striking out the line of the page thereof;" or, "by striking out the first and

fourth clances of the claim appended thereto;" or whatever may be the amend rent desired by the applicant.

1:25. The forms of other ameducnis will readily suggest themselves. In cach use the expel word to be striken out or inserted should be clearly described, and the precise poio indicated where any insertion is to be made.

126. The dice may, at its option, return specifications for amenidinent, but in no other case will any person be allowed to take any papers, models,, or samples from the office. If applicants have not preserved copies of such papers as they wish to amene, the office will farish them on the usual terms.

197. No application will be enspended merely because the applicant inay re-, fuse to amend as requested or advised by an examinor in charge; but in such case the application must be examined on its mcrits, as presented, and allowed or rejected, so that the inventor may take an appeal if the decision should be adverse.

128. Placing the affidavit of the applicant on one piece of paper and the specification on another, so that both may be detached and applied to other papers, will be looked upon with suspicion, and any such substitution will be carefully guarded against.

129. No specification will be received unless the sheets are attached togeiber, or unless the oficer who administers the oath has subscribed his name upon coch separate sheet of paper, so as to show that the specification presented is the same that was subscribed and sworn to.

LIBRARY.

130. The library is for the use of the office solely.

1. No persons are allowed to take books from the library, except those employed in the office.

2. All boks take: from the library must be entered in a register kept for the especial purpose, and returned on the call of the librarian.

3. Any book lost or defaced must be replaced by another.

4. Patentees and others doing business with the office can examine the books in the library hall, and there only.

5. All translations ill be made at the usual rates by the office.

REFERENCES.

131. Upon the rejection of an application for a patent for the want of novelty, the applicant will be furnished with a specific reference to the article or articles by which it is anticipated, so that he may be enabled to judge of the propriety Ly renewing its application, or of amending his specification to embrace only that part of the invention which is new. If he desires a copy of the cases so referred to, or of the plates or drawings connected with them, they will be forwarded to him, if in possession of the ofice, on payment of the cost of inaking such copies.

132. The examiners in charge will designate the class to which the references made by them belong, (os C. W. Calioon's patent for a lump ;) and, in asking for a copy of the patent referred to, the applicant must indicate the class, so as to facilitate the search.

OF GIVING OR WITHHOLDING INFORMATION.

133. Aside from the caveats, which are required by law to be kept secret, all pending applications, except for reissues, are, as far as practicable, preserved in like secrecy No information will the.efore be given those inquiring whether any particular case is before the office, or whether any particular person has applied for a patent.

134. But information is given in relation to any case after a patent has issued, or after a patent has been refused, and the further prosecution of the application is abandoned.

135. The models, in such cases, are so placed as to be subject to general inspection. The specifications and drawings in any particular case can be seen by any one having particular occasion to examine them, and copies thereof, as well as of patents granted, will be furnished to any one willing to pay the bare expense of making them. Copies will be made on parchment, at the request of the applicant, on his paying the additional cost.

136. Even after a case is rejected, the application is regarded as pending until after the decision of an appeal thereon, or until after the party has.withdrawn the case from the further consideration of the office; but if a party, whose application has been rejected, allows the matter to rest for two years without taking any further steps therein, he will be regarded as having abandoned his application, so far at least that it will no longer be protected by any rule of secrecy. The specification, drawings, and model will then be subject to inspection in the same manner as those of patented or withdrawn applications.

137. Information in relation to pending cases is given so far as it becomes necessary in conducting the business of the office, but no further. Thus, when an interference is declared between two pending applications, each of the contestants is entitled to a knowledge of so much of his antagonist's case as to enable him to conduct his own understandingly.

138. An application will not be rejected upon a previously rejected one not withdrawn or abandoned, but the original references will be given. Should either applicant, in such case, take an appeal, and the decision be reversed, the other will be notified, so that an interference may be declared, if desired.

139. When an applicant claims a certain device, and the same device is found described but not claimed in another pending application which was previously filed, or on any unexpired patent, information of the filing of such second application is always given to the prior applicant, or patentee, with a suggestion that if he desires to claim a patent for that device he should forthwith modify his specification accordingly, or file an application for a reissue, as the case may be.

140. But where the application, which thus describes a device without claiming it, is subsequent in date to that wherein such device is claimed, the general rule is that no notice of the claim in the previous application is given to the subsequent applicant. But where there are any special reasons to doubt whether the prior applicant is really the inventor of the device claimed, or where there are any other peculiar and sufficient reasous for departing from the rule above stated, the office reserves to itself the right of so doing without its being regarded as a departure from the established rule.

141. The office cannot respond to inquiries as to the novelty of an alleged invention, in advance of an application for a patent, nor to inquiries founded upon brief and imperfect descriptions propounded with a view of ascertaining whether such alleged improvements have been patented, and, if so, to whom; nor can it act as an expounder of the patent law, nor as counsellor for individuals, except as to questions arising within the office. A copy of the rules with this section marked, sent to the individual making an inquiry of the character referred to, is intended as a respectful answer by the office.

142. All business with the office should be transacted in writing. Unless by the consent of all parties, the action of the office will be predicated exclusively on the written record. No attention will be paid to any alleged verbal promise or understanding, in relation to which there is any disagreement or doubt. T. C. THEAKER, Commissioner.

U. S. PATENT OFFICE, August 1, 1867.