SEEKING FORTUNE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 110, 3 February 1930, Page 12

SEEKING FORTUNE

EFFORTS BY INVENTORS PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS DIFFICULTIES THAT BESET THE PATH

(By

A. O. H.)

Wealth from a lucky invention! Most people have at some time this vision of fortune, whether they be idle dreamers after ease or whether they really have an idea. Inventing appears to be a profession of fortunate accidents and the thought causes many, maybe, to toy at the breakfast table with the notion of a new salt-shaker or fly swatter which will convulse the world into shaking salt and swatting flies. Only the true inventor knows the thorny path of inventing. However, that there are many Wellingtonians. and New Zealanders generally, joined with the thousands in the world who follow the will o’ the wisp of inventive success, is evidenced upon a visit to the Government Patent Office for New Zealand on Lambton Quay. In the course of a year hundreds of applications for patents are made by New Zealanders alone, and a staff is kept constantly employed dealing with them. Vortex of Hope. Into this vortex are drawn those people who have hit upon an invention which they desire to patent and turn into a commercial reality. They may have chanced suddenly upon a marketable idea, or they may have devoted years of patient toil and research upon the germ of what they have now brought to maturity. With the almost fanatic enthusiasm of the creator they file-their application for the patent that will protect them from those whom they fear may snatch their secret. With limitless satisfaction they submi.t their plans and specifications, pay the fee required, and go away dreaming. ’ It is therefore a cruel buffet of fate, but a not unnatural development, when their application for a patent is refused on the ground that their invention is no indention because it has been forestalled or because it lacks novelty. Xu this way much time, trouble and expense may go for nothing, and the hope of a lifetime may be shattered. Somebody in Brazil or Norway may have patented the idea in New Zealand long before. On the other hand, even if the drawings are approved and a patent granted, the inventor is not a made man overnight; he has still to interest men with capital to take up his invention, manufacture and market it. If he fails in that his efforts have been practically as fruitless. If he has paid to have his invention patented not only in New Zealand but in other countries of the world, his loss is so much the greater and his disappointment the keener. Safeguarding the Inventor.

Is there no safeguard for the inventor? There is, to a certain extent, unless he is too hot-headed'in the first place to protect himself. Upstairs in the Patent Office there is an extensive library for the information of the public, and by referring to this the inventor may save himself a great deal. On the shelves are rows and rows of books containing particulars of patents granted in Now Zealand, Australia, England, and many countries of the world. They are indexed for easy reference, and contain drawings and descriptions of contrivances that have been patented from time to time. Patent journals are received from abroad at regular intervals, and if one can read Spanish, Japanese, or _ some other language, the information is there, in addition to the literature from Englishspeaking countries. From this library, then, the inventor, if he is wise, first ascertains whether his particular contrivance has already been patented; the Patent Office is not required by law to make an examination into novelty (except in cases of opposition), and its efforts in this direction are necessarily restricted. Secondly, the inventor determines the probable value of his invention and decides whether it involves such an advance on other methods or contrivances as to make it worth his while spending the time and money necessary to patent it. But though the results of his invention and inquiries may be satisfactory, and letters patent be granted him, the inventor’s success is very far from being assured. He will still have many difficulties with which to contend, and if he is handicapped by the questionable novelty or value of his invention he will probably find, after payment of heavy charges and fees, that it is useless proceeding further with it. Truly, the Patent Office is the silent port of many forlorn hopes. A Deeper Purpose. However, there are some lucrative bypaths in the business of patents. In the first place, if an inventor in England, say, fails to take out within a year a New Zealand patent for an article he has patented at Home, his patent becomes nublic property in New Zealand, and anybody may take up the manufacture of the article in -the Dominion. The same thing applies to other countries in which the inventor has failed to take out a local patent. The reason for taking out patents abroad is therefore obvious. Secondly, the duration of any patent is sixteen years; that period of time is considered sufficient for an inventor to receive adequate remuneration for his invention, and his patent theji becomes public property. The impression that the purpose of the Government in giving patent protection is solely to encourage the ingenuity of the community is as erroneous as it is widespread. Thg real function of the Patent Office is greater than tha;; it aims also to foster commercial enterprise and encourage capital to invest in inventions, so as to create further industries and bring greater prosperity to the country as a whole. The number of applications received in respect of patents during the year 1927 was 2052, of which 1204 were from New Zealanders,, and the remainder from 27 other countries of the world —chiefly the United States and England. As giving some idea of the contrivances of Wellington inventors, applications by Wellingtonians for patents in the latter part of December last included those for a seatin" and table device, folding cots, water valves, window sash stay, mixture control for internal combustion engines, method for imprinting matter on paper, mechanical hair-brushing machine, a petrol filler and a gas meter. Designs and trade-marks may also be registered at the Patent Office, and hundreds of these, from all over the world, are handled. ' t Farewell to Fortune. Regarding the prospects of inventors in New Zealand, while patents in other countries, with their larger populations, offer the greatest returns to successful inventors, the cost involved in patenting abroad renders previous inquiry into novelty and likelihood of success even more necessary than in local cases. Although there is necessarily a large number of failures, advances, mostly the subject of successful patents, are being constantly made in all directions of industry. These are in most cases the result of careful study and experiment by those engaged in the subject to which the invention relates. Practical ideas may occur to those without any special knowledge of the matter, but they are few and far between, and it may be safely asserted that successful invention is the fruit of close investigation and continual striving for better ways of effecting certain results by those with knowledge of the subjects concerned. The invention most likely to prove a success in New Zealand are naturally those connected with the various industries established in this country, but with its limited population a high return cannot be expected, and inventors may not expett more than moderate remuneraion. ___________

In speed, British railways stdl lead the world, the average express train rates of the four principal countries being:— Britain, 41.9 m.p.h.; the United States, 41.3; France, 40.8; and Germany, 36.6.