FORTUNE SEEKERS

Evening Star, Issue 20428, 8 March 1930, Page 29

FORTUNE SEEKERS

DO INVENTIONS PAY?

SOME DUNEDIN PATENTS

[Written by “ A.0.H.,” for the ‘ Evening Star.’]

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 bo a profession of fortunate accidents, but only the true inventor knows the thorny path of inventing. However, that there arc many residents of Dunedin joined with the thousands who follow the will-o’-the-wisp ot inventive success is widen cell upon a visit to the Government Patent Office for New Zealand on Hamilton quay, Wellington. In the course of a year hundreds of applications tor patents are made by New Zealanders alone, and a staff is kept constantly employed in dealing with them. VORTEX OF HOPES. 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 to tho germ of what they have now brought to maturity. With tho almost fanatic enthusiasm of tho creator they file their application for a patent that will protect them from those who may snatcli their secret. With limitless satsfactiou they submit their plains and specifications, pay the fee required, and go away dreaming. It is therefore a cruel buffet of late, but a not unnatural development, when their application for a patent is refused on the ground that their invention is no invention, because it has been forestalled or because it lacks novelty, in 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 tho idea in New Zealand long before. On the other hand, even if the drawings are approved aud a patent is granted the inventor is not a made man overnight; he lias still to interest men with capital to take up his invention, manufacture and market it. Jf he fails in that —and has not the capi tal himself—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, his loss is so much the greater and his disappointment the keener, SAFEGUARDING THE INVENTOR Is there no safeguard lor 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 1 extensive library for the information of the public, and by referring to this the inventor may save nimself a great deal. On the shelves are rows and rows of books containing particulars of patents granted in New Zealand, Australia, Groat Britain, the United! States of America, and many countries of tho 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 such language the information is there, in addition to the literature from English-speaking countries. From this library, then, the inventor, if he is wise, first ascertains whether his partcuhir contrivance lias already been patented; the Patent Office is not required by law to make an examination into novelty (except in cases ot opposition), and its efforts in this direction are necessarily restricted. Secondly, the inventor determines tho probable value of his invention aud decides whether it involves such an advance on other methods or contrivances as to make it worth his while spending the money and time necessary to develop it. But though the results of his invention aud inquiries may be satisfactory and letters patent bo granted him, the inventor’s success is very far Irom being assured. He will still have many difficulties with which to contend, and if ho is handicapped by the questionable novelty or value of his invention ho will probably find, after payment of heavy charges and fees, that it is useless proceeding further with it. Truly the Patent Office is the port of many forlorn hopes. A DEEPER PURPOSE. *

However, there arc some lucrative by-paths in the business of patents, in the first place, if an inventor in England, say, fails to take out within a year a New Zealamd patent for an article he lias patented at Home, his invention, if previously published, becomes public property in New Zealand, and anybody may take up the manufacture of the article in the dominion without liability. The same thing applies to other countries m which the inventor has I axled 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 tor an inventor to obtain adequate remuneration, and ins invention then becomes public property. The impression that the Government’s provision of patent protection is solely to encourage the ingenuity of the community is as erroneous as it is widespread The functon of tho i’atent Office is also to foster commercial enterprise and encourage capital to invest in inventions so as to create further industries and bring greater posperity to the country as a whole. The number of applications received by tho Patent Office in respect of patents during the year 1927 was 2.052, of which 1,20-1 were from Now Zealanders and the remainder from inventors in other countries of the world—chiefly tho United States and Great Britain. As giving some idea of the inventions of Dunedin residents, applications by Dunedinitcs for patents during tho last few months included those for gas water heaters, a cleaning apparatus, vaporiser for internal combustion engine, skylights, scrapers and disc harrows, coupon printing machine, system of packing fragile goods, hedge-cutting machine, rotary and olevatory clothes line, method of protecting orchards from frost, switchboard casing, nozzle for acetone gas torches, small arms and ammunition, a garter, protective device lor coin machines, bed joints, aluminium solder, vermin-proof wooden building, and many others. PA RE WELL 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, tho cost involved in patent-

ing abroad renders previous inquiry ino novelty aud likelihood ot success even more necessary than in local cases. Although there is necessarily a large number of failures, advances, mostly the subject of successful,inventions, are being constantly made in all directions ot 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 tho matter, but they are few and far between, anti 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 inventions most likely to prove a success in New Zealand are naturally those connected with the various industries established in this country, but with the limited populaion of the dominion a high return cannot be expected, and inventor may not look for more than moderate remuneration.