NOAH J. BRUMBAUGH.

Noah J. Brumbaugh was born at Union, Ohio, August 2, 1866. He received his education in the public schools of Ohio, the Northwestern Ohio Normal School, Ohio Wesleyan University, Juniata College, Pennsylvania, and Harvard University, taking the degrees of Bachelor of English and Bachelor of Arts respectively from the last two institutions in 1888 and 1896, specializing in Mathematics and Physics at Harvard. He taught school in the public schools of Ohio, at Juniata College and Smith Academy, St. Louis, Mo.

In 1891 and 1892 he traveled in England, Scotland and Wales.

In 1901 he was appointed a Fourth Assistant Examiner in the Patent Office, and assigned to Division 12, and in 1904 to Division 17 in the classes of Machine Elements and Printing and Linotyping respectively. He was appointed a Primary Examiner in 1917 and assigned to Division 14.

He graduated in Law at the National University in 1904, in Patent Law at George Washington University in 1906, and was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia in 1905.

CHARLES H. SHAFFER.

Charles H. Shaffer, the examiner of Division 44, is a native of Garrett County, Maryland, and was born in 1874. He graduated from St. Johns College, Annapolis, in 1896. For the next year and a half he was a teacher at the McDonogh School, near Baltimore. At the beginning of the Spanish War he entered the military service as sergeant major of a Maryland infantry regiment and later was detailed to the Adjutant General's Office in Washington. He became a member of the examining corps in October 1902 and was assigned to Division 32 where he remained until November 1919, when he was

placed in charge of Division 44. He was appointed Examiner in February 1920. He holds the degrees of B. S., L.L.B., and M.P.L., and is a member of the District Bar. Division 44 has charge of cases pertaining to refrigeration, dispensing and packaging fluent materials and bread and pastry making.

BRITISH PATENT OFFICE PROCEDURE.

By KARL FENNING, Assistant Commissioner of Patents.

The Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, Mr. W. Temple Franks, was good enough to afford me an opportunity in 1924 to see something of the inner workings of the British Patent Office at London.

The notes here submitted are neither exhaustive nor polished.

The building, relatively modern and constructed for the use of the Patent Office, seems to be well arranged and not overcrowded.

In 1923 the total fees (including renewal fees of 250,297 Pounds) were 475,189 Pounds contrasted with our receipts of $2,969,907. The total expenditures were 393,391 Pounds against our $3,216,343. Their total employees were 695; ours about 1100. They received 32,621 applications for patents; we 80,653. They sealed 17,073 patents; we 38,860. They received 12,571 applications to register Trade Marks; we 16,817. They registered 7,694 Trade Marks compared to 14,845 registered in the United States Patent Office.

The activities of our Financial Clerk who receives and accounts for about $3,000,000 a year for all sorts of fees are eliminated in the English Office.

Stamped forms are on sale at various points in London and may be procured at any money order office in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The filing fee is represented by a revenue stamp impressed upon the application paper so that the Patent Office does not have to receive or account for the cash. When a case is received, it is given a number after it is determined that all the papers are present. The papers are then forwarded to the listing clerk who makes long hand duplicate lists of the cases, one of which goes to the library and the other to the printer for publication in the weekly Journal. The case then goes to a room where it is placed in a jacket prominently marked "Not open to public inspection". This consists of a folder accompanied by blank forms on which various entries are subsequently made, together with an envelope in which are to be placed copies of prior patents found in the search. The file bears on its face the name of the applicant and title of invention, as well as the name of the Senior Examiner, Examiner and Assistant Examiner, also columns headed "Date", "Sent to", and "For", thus showing the history of the case. The file is forwarded to the clerks who examine the case carefully as to form. These clerks then enter on one of the blanks in the file any objection as to form which they find. The case then goes to other clerks who make entries in large books, the entries being arranged in serial number order and including the name of the applicant and the name of the examiner to whom the case is assigned.

The serial numbers are started anew each year, and it is expected that in referring to the case the applicant will give both the serial number and the year, but there is nothing on the papers given the applicant to indicate this, so that when a letter is received bearing only the serial number, it is necessary to look through the annual index to find in which year the case was filed.

The assignment to the Examiner is based on the title in the application and is subject to correction when actually taken up by the Examiner. The serial number books also include space for entry of dates of actions by the Examiner and applicant, and also space for indicating when the complete specification is filed and when it

is accepted. The book indicates where the file may be found at any time. If the last entry is an amendment, the case is of course with the Examiner awaiting action. If the last entry is an office letter, the case is in the file

room.

After this the case is forwarded to the Technical Examiner. There are about 19 divisions, each made up of a Senior Examiner, two Examiners, and 10 Assistant Examiners. The case reaches the desk of an Assistant Examiner to whom is permanently assigned a certain class of inventions. He pays no attention to form, but makes a careful examination of British patents issued during the last 50 years only. He first prepares on one of the blanks in the file an abridgement for publication in case the patent is issued. This is supposed to be a check on his understanding of the invention. He then writes on one of the other blanks a statement of the particular feature for which he searches, together with the list of classes where the search is conducted and a list of the prior patents found. Below the statement prepared by the clerk who examined as to form, the Assistant Examiner prepares a report indicating what action should be taken and what sort of letter should be sent to the applicant. Some of the questions on the blank in the file to be answered by the Examiners are:

1. Has the nature of the Invention been fairly and particularly described? (s. 3 and Form of Patent.)

Note.-Attention should be drawn to any case which appears to necessitate postdating of the Application.

2. Have the Application, Specification, and Drawings (if any) been prepared in the prescribed manner? (s. 3.)

3. Does the title sufficiently indicate the subject matter of the Invention? (s. 3.)

4. Does the Specification comprise one Invention only? (s. 14 and Rule 13.)

5. Is the nature of the Invention sufficiently disclosed and defined to enable you to make the investigation prescribed by Sections 7 & 8?

6. Are the claims in accordance with the requirements of Rule 14?

7. In the case of an Invention relating to a chemical substance, food, or medicine; are the claims for the product suitably restricted? (s. 38a.)

8. Has the Invention claimed been wholly or in part claimed or described in any specification within the meaning of Section 7?

9. Has the Invention claimed been wholly or in part claimed in any specification within the meaning of Section 8?

10. Is the report a provisional one, under Rule 29? 11. In the case of Application for a Patent of Addition: Is the Invention an improvement in or modification of the Invention of the Original Application? (s. 19.)

12. In the case of an Application under the International Convention; was the invention the subject of an Application in the Foreign State at the date applied for? (s. 91 and Rule 15.)

13. Is the Invention a "manner of new manufacture" within Section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies?

Should the Assistant Examiner find that a search is necessary in any class which he does not examine, he forwards the file to the Assistant Examiner in charge of the other class or classes for further search. The new Assistant Examiner then completes the search and makes his report indicating what he thinks ought to be incorporated in the letter to the applicant. In the file is made a report of the class searched, the time taken in hours, and "Number of drawers searched", signed by the Assistant Examiner's initials. Each Examiner supervises about 5 Assistants and when the Assistant has completed his work, the case is handed over to the Ex