and abrD WYSTR

scription, and specification, and the payment of the duty hereinafter provided, the Commissioner shall make or cause to be made, an examination of the alleged new invention or discovery; and if, on any such examination, it shall not appear to the Commissioner that the same had been invented or discovered by any other person in this country, [known and used] prior to the alleged invention or discovery thereof by the applicant, or that it had been patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, or had been in public use or on sale with the applicant's consent or allowance prior to the application; if the Commissioner shall deem it to be sufficiently useful and important, it shall be his duty

But whenever, on sue a patent therefor.

examination, it shall appear to the Commissioner that the applicant was not the original and first inventor or discoverer thereof, or that any part of that which is claimed as new had before been invented or discovered, or patented, or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country [known and used], as aforesaid, or that the description is defective and insufficient, he shall notify the applicant thereof, giving him, briefly, such informa tion and references as may be useful in judging of the propriety of renewing his applica tion, or of altering his specification to embrace only that part of the invention or discovery which is new. In every such case, if the applicant shall elect to withdraw his application, relinquishing his claim to the model, he shall be entitled to receive back twenty dollars, part of the duty required by this Act, on filing a notice in writing of such election in the Patent-office, a copy of which, certified by the Commissioner, shall be a sufficient warrant to to the treasurer for paying back to the said applicant the said sum of twenty dollars. But if the applicant in such case shall persist in his claim for a patent, with or without any alteration of his specification, he shall be required to make oath or affirmation anew, in manner as aforesaid. And if the specification and claim shall not have been so modified as, in the opinion of the Commissioner, shall entitle the applicant to a patent, he may, on appeal, and upon request in writing, have the decision of a Board of Examiners, to be composed of three disinteres ed persons, who shall be appointed for

that purpose by the Secretary of State, one of whom, at least, to be selected, if practicable and convenient, for his [and to be selected for their] knowledge and skill in the particular art, manufacture, or branch of science to which the alleged invention appertains; who shall be under oath or affirmation for the faithful and impartial performance of the duty imposed upon them by said appoint ment. Said board shall be furnished with a

さ

certificate in writing, of the opinion and decision of the Commissioner, stating the particular grounds of his objection, and the part or parts of the invention which he cope siders as not entitled to be patented. And the said board shall give reasonable notice to the applicant, as well as to the Commissioner, of the time and place of their meeting, that they may have an opportunity of furnishing them with such facts and evidence as they may deem necessary to a just decision; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to furnish to the board of examiners such information as he may possess relative to the matter under their consideration. And on. an examination and consideration of the matter by such board, it shall be in their power, or of a majority of them, to reverse the decision of the Commissioner, either in whole or in part, and their opinion being certified to the Commissioner, he shall be governed thereby, in the further proceedings to be had on such application: Provided, however, That before a board shall be instituted in any such case, the applicant shall pay to the credit of the Treasury, as provided in the ninth section of this Act, the sum of twenty-five dollars; and each of said persons so appointed shall be entitled to receive for his services in each case, a sum not exceeding ten dollars, to be determined and paid by the Commissioner out of any monies in his hands, which shall be in full compensation to the persons who may be so appointed, for their examination and certificate as aforesaid.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That whenever an application shall be made for a patent, which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, would interfere with any other patent for which an application may be pending, or with any unexpired patent, which shall have been granted, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to give notice thereof to such applicants, or patentees, as the case may be; and if either shall be dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner on the question of priority of right or invention, on a hearing thereof, he may appeal from such decision, on the like terms and conditions as are provided in the preceding section of this Act; and the like proceedings shall be bad, to determine which or whether either of the appli cants is entitled to receive a patent as prayed for. But nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to deprive an original and true inventor of the right to a putent for his invention, by reason of his having preciously taken Pout letters patent therefor in a foreign country; and the same having been published, at any time within six months next preceding the filing of the specification and drawing. And whenever the applicant shall request it, the patent shall take date from the time of the filing of the specifications and drawings, not

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however exceeding six months prior to the actual issuing of the patent; and on like request, and the payment of the duty herein required, by any applicant, his specification and drawings shall be filed in the secret archives of the office, until he shall furnish the model and the patent be issued, not exceeding the term of one year, the applic int being entitled to notice of interfering applications.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That before any application for a patent shall be considered by the Commissioner as aforesaid, the applicant shall pay into the Treasury of the United States, or into the Patent-office, or into any of the deposit-banks to the credit of the Treasury, if he be a citizen of the United States, or an alien, and shall have been' a resident in the United States for one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to become a citizen thereof, the sum of thirty [40] dollars; if a subject of the King of Great Britain, the sum of five hundred dollars; and all other persons the sum of three hundred dollars; for which payment duplicate receipts shall be taken, one of which to be filed in the office of the Treasurer. And the monies received into the Treasury under this Act, shall constitute a fund for the payment of the salaries of the officers and clerks herein provided for, and all other expenses of the Patent-office, and to be called the patent-fund.

Section 10 unaltered.]

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That every patent shall be assignable in law, either as to the whole interest, or any undivided part thereof, by any instrument in writing; which assignment, and also every grant and conveyance of the exclusive right under any patent, to make and use, and to grant to others to make and use, the thing patented within and throughout any specified part or portion of the United States, shall be recorded in the Patent-office within three months from the execution thereof, for which the assignee or grantee shall pay to the Commissioner, the sum of three dollars.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That any citizen of the United States, or alien, who shall have been a resident in the United States one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to become a citizen thereof, who shall have invented any new art, machine, or improvement thereof, and shall desire further time to mature the same, may on paying to the credit of the Treasury, in manner as provided in the ninth section of this Act, the sum of twenty dollars, file in the Patent-office a caveat, setting forth the design and purpose thereof, and its prinScipal and distinguishing characteristics, and praying protection of his right, till he shall have matured his invention; which sum of twenty dollars, in case the person filing such

caveat shall afterwards take out a patent for the invention therein mentioned, shall be considered a part of the sum herein required for the same. And such caveat shall be filed in the confidential archives of the office, and preserved in secrecy. And if application shall be made by any other person within one year from the time of filing such caveat, for a patent of any invention with which it may in any respect interfere, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to deposit the description, specifications, drawings, and model, in the confidential archives of the office, and to give notice, by mail, to the person filing the caveat, of such application, who shall, within three months after receiving the notice, if he would avail himself of the benefit of his caveat, file his description, specifications, drawings, and model; and if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, the specifications of claim interfere with each other, like proceedings may be had in all respects as are in this Act provided in the case of interfering applications: Provided, however, That no opinion or decision of any board of examiners, under the provisions of this Act, shall preclude any person interested in favour of or against the validity of any patent which has been or may hereafter be granted, from the right to contest the same in any judicial court in any action in which its validity may come in question.osga aid

10[No material alteration in Section 13.] And be

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in any action for damages for making, using, or selling the thing whereof the exclusive right is secured by any patent heretofore granted, or by any patent which may hereafter be granted, a verdict shall be rendered for the plaintiff in such action, it shall be in the power of the court to render judgment for any sum above the amount found by such verdict as the actual damages sustained by the plaintiff, not exceeding three times the amount thereof, according to the circumstances of the case, with costs; and such damages may be recovered by action on the case, in any court of competent jurisdiction, to be brought in the name or names of the person or persons interested, whether as patentee, assign es, or as grantees of the exclusive right within and throughout a specified part of the United States, 397 Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That the defendant in any such action shall he permitted to plead the general issue, and to give this Act and any special matter in evidence, of which notice in writing may have been given to the plaintiff or his attorney, thirty days before trial, tending to prove that the description and specification filed by plaintiff does not contain the whole truth relative to his invention or discovery, or that it contains more than is necessary to produce

the described effect; which concealment or addition shall fully appear to have been made for the purpose of deceiving the public, or that the [patentee was not the original and first inventor or discoverer of the] thing patented, or of a substantial or material part thereof claimed as new, or that it had been described in some public work anterior to the supposed discovery thereof by the patentee, or had been in public use, or on sale with the consent and allowance of the patentee before his application for a patent, or that he had surreptitiously or unjustly obtained the patent for that which was, in fact, invented or discovered by another, who was using reasonable diligence in adapting and perfecting the same; or that the patentee, if an alien at the time the patent was granted, had failed and neglected for the space of eighteen months from the date of the patent, to put [in operation and use in the United States] and continue on sale to the public, on reasonable terms, the invention or discovery for which the patent was issued [or in case the same, for any period of eighteen months after it shall have been put in operation and use, shall cease to be so used or put on sale], in either of which cases judgment shall be rendered for the defendant, with costs. And whenever the defendant relies in his defence on the fact of a previous invention, knowledge, or use of the thing patented, he shall stute, in his notice of special matter, the names and places of residence of those whom he intends to prore to have possessed a prior knowledge of the thing, and where the same had been used: Prorided, however, that whenever it shall satisfactorily appear that the patentee, at the time of making his plication for the patent, believed himself to be the first inventor or discoverer of the thing patented, the same shall not be held to be void on account of the invention or discovery or any part thereof having been before known or used in any foreign country, it not appearing that the same or any substantial part thereof had before been patented or described in any printed publication. And provided, also, that whenever the plaintiff shall fail to sustain his action on the ground that in his specification of claim is embraced more than that of which he was the first inventor, if it shall appear that the defendant had used or violated any part of the invention justly and truly specified and claimed as new, it shall be in the power of the court to adjudge and award as to costs as may appear to be just and equitable.

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Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That whenever there shall be two interfering patents, or whenever a patent on application shall have been refused on an adverse deci. sion of a board of examiners, on the ground that the patent applied for would interfere

with an unexpired patent previously granted, any person interested in any such patent, either by assignment or otherwise, in the one case, and any such applicant in the other case, may have remedy by bill in equity; and the court having cognizance thereof, on notice to adverse parties and other due proceedings had, may adjudge and declare either the patents void in the whole or in part, or inoperative and invalid in any particular part or portion of the United States, according to the interest which the parties to such suit may possess in the patent or the inventions patented, and may also adjudge that such applicant is entitled, according to the princi ples and provisions of this Act, to have and receive a patent for his invention, as specified in his claim, or for any part thereof, as the fact of priority of right or invention, shall in any such case be made to appear. And such adjudication, if it be in favour of the right of such applicant, shall authorise the Commissioner to issue such patent, on his filing a copy of the adjudication, and otherwise complying with the requisitions of this Act. Provided, however, that no such judgment or adjudication shall affect the rights of any person except the parties to the action and those deriving title from or under them subsequent to the rendition of such judgment.

[Section 17 unaltered. section is entirely new.]

The following

Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That whenever any patentee of an invention or discovery shall desire an extension of his patent beyond the term of its limitation, he may make application therefore in writing to the Commissioner of the Patenl-office, setting forth the grounds thereof; and the Commissioner shall, on the applicant's paying the sum of forty dollars to the credit of the Treasury, as in the case of an original appli cation for a patent, cuuse to be published, in one or more of the principal newspapers in the city of Washington, and in such other paper or papers as he may deem proper, published in the section of country most interested adversely to the extension of the patent, a notice of such application, and of the time and place when and where the same will be considered, that any person may appear and show cause why the extension should not be granted. And the Secretary of State, the Commissioner of the Patent-office, and the Solicitor of the Treasury, shall constitute a board to hear and decide upon the evidence produced before them both for and against the extension, and shall sit for that purpose at the time and place designated in the published notice thereof. The patentee shall furnish to said board a statement, in writing, under oath, of the ascertained value of the invention, and of his receipts and ex

penditures, sufficiently in detail to exhibit a true and faithful account of loss and profit in any manner accruing to him from and by reason of said invention. And if, upon a hearing of the matter, it shall appear to the full and entire satisfaction of said board, having due regard to the public interest therein, that it is just and proper that the term of the patent should be extended, by reason of the patentee, without neglect or fault on his part, having failed to obtain, from the use and sale of his invention, a reasonable remuneration for the time, ingenuity, and expense bestowed upon the same, and the introduction thereof into use, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to renew and extend the putent, by making a certifi cate thereon of such extension, for the term of seven years, from and after the expiration of the first term; which certificate, with a certificate of said board of their judgment and opinion as aforesaid, shall be entered on record in the Patent-office; and thereupon the said patent shall have the same effect in law as though it had been originally granted for the term of twenty-one years. And the benefit of such renewal shall extend to ussignees and grantees of the right to use the thing patented, to the extent of their respective interest therein: Provided, howerer, that no extension of a patent shall be granted after the expiration of the term for which it was originally issued.

Sec. 19 [18]. And be it further enacted, That there shall be provided for the use of said office, a library of scientific works and periodical publications, both foreign and American, calculated to facilitate the discharge of the duties hereby required of the chief officers therein, to be purchased under the direction of the Committee of the Library of Congress. And the sum of fifteen hundred dollars is hereby appropriated for that purpose, to be paid out of the patent fund.

[Section 20 unaltered.]

Secs. 21 [20]. And be it further enacted, That all Aets and parts of Acts heretofore passed on this subject, be, and the same are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That all actions and processes in law or equity sued out prior to the passage of this Act, may be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, in the same manner as though this Act had not been passed, excepting and saving the application to any such action, of the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth sections of this Act, so far as they may be applicable thereto. And provided, also, That all applications or petitions for patents, pending at the time of the passage of this Act, in cases where the duty has been paid, shall be

Sir,--The annexed drawing is a section of an universal centre-punch, which was contrived by me four years ago; but I have since been told that others have previously invented the same thing, which, from its extreme simplicity, is highly probable. Be this as it may, I have found it of great use in centeringpieces of iron, &c. for turning between centre, and I therefore think it worthy points in the lathe, or for finding a lost of being more generally known, as will be seen from the drawing; it is merely a hollow cone terminating at the point in a small tube, which tube contains a cylindrical steel punch, fitting it accu rately, and which is truly in the centre