PATENTS, or LETTERS PATENT, (open letters,) writings scaled with the great seal, granting a privilege to some person, or authorizing a man to do or en joy that which he could not of himself. They are called patent on account of their form being open, ready to be exhibited for the confirmation of the authority del egated by them. In England and the United States, patents are granted for a term not. exceeding fourteen years. The time in England may be prolonged by a private set, and in the United States by act of eong,ress. In France, patents urn given for five, ten, or fifteen years, at the option of the inventor ; bat this last term is never to be prolonged without a par ticular decree of the legislature.—The carrot is an instrument by which not ice is requested to he given to the person who enters it, whenever any application is mule for a patent for a certain invention, which is therein described in general terms. and must he renewed annually.
It. simply gives notice that the invention in nearly completed, with a request that, if any other person should apply for it pat ent for the same thing, the preference may be given to him who entered it.
PA"l'ERA, in architecture, en orna ment frequently seen in the Doric frieze, and in the tympans of arches. The pa ters was a small dish or vase used by the Roinans in their sacrifices, in which they offered their consecrated food to the gods, and with which they made libations; nod hence, as the Doric was used for temples, it became an ornament of that order. It was also enclosed in urns with the ashes of the dead, after it had been used in the libations of wine and other liquors at the funeral.