[THE ART OF INVENTING.]
BY EDWIN J. PRINDLE.
There are many kinds of invention. The poet, the artist, the playwright, the novelist all exercise or may exercise invention in the production of their works. The merchant may exercise invention in the devising of a new method of selling goods. The department store was an invention of this class.
The subject of my paper is, however, the art of making technical inventions, and particularly patentable inventions. And, first, of its commercial importance; for the engineer is concerned with things having a commercial value. By the art of inventing, wealth is created absolutely out of ideas alone. It usually takes capital to develop an invention and make it productive, but not always. A notable recent example is Professor Pupin's loaded telephone line. He received a very large sum of money, and his expenditures, as I understand, were comparatively trivial.
The certificate of ownership of an invention is a patent, and the importance of the art of invention will be made apparent from a brief consideration of what rights a patent confers and of the part that patents play in the industries.
A patent is the most perfect form of monopoly recognized by the law. As was said in a recent decision:
"Within his domain, the patentee is czar. The people must take the invention on the terms he dictates or let it alone for seventeen years. This is a necessity from the nature of the grant. Cries of restraint of trade and impairment of the freedom of sales are unavailing, because for the promotion of the useful arts the constitution and statutes authorize this very monopoly."
There is an enormous amount of wealth in this country that is based upon patents. As an instance, might be mentioned the fact that the United Shoe Machinery Company is, by means of patents, able to control the sewing machines upon which ninety per cent. of the welt shoes in the United States are sewed. The Bell Telephone Company, and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company and many other corporations of the first importance built themselves up on patents. Patents have become so well recognized a factor in commerce that, in many lines of manufacture, concerns do not depend simply upon cheapness of manufacture, or quality of product, to maintain their trade, but they count on always having a product which is at least slightly better than that of their competitors, and which is covered by patents, so that they do not have to compete with an article of equal merit. And they keep a corps of inventors at work in a constant effort to improve the product, so that, when the patents now giving protection have expired, they will have a better article to offer, which shall also be protected by patents.
Inventing has become almost a recognized profession. Many large concerns constantly employ a large corps of inventors, at liberal salaries. Besides the inventors employed by large corporations, there are many inventors who have maintained their independence, and are free lances, so to speak. Some inventors have become wealthy almost solely by their inventions, such as Edison, Bell, Westinghouse, Marconi, Pupin, Tesla, and Sprague. A considerable number of the smaller manufacturing concerns are built largely or wholly upon the inventions of their principal owners.