S. A mere application of an old device or process to the manufacture of an article is held to constitute only a double use, and not to be patentable. There must be some new process or machinery used to produce the effect. 2 Stor. C. C. 190, 408 ; Gilp. Dist. Ct. 489 ; 3 Wash. C. C. 443 ; 1 Woodb. & M. C. C. 290 ; 2 McLean, C. C. 35 ; 4 id. 456 ; 2 Curt. C. C. 340. But where the new use is not analogous to the old and would not be suggested by it,—where invention is neces sary in order to conceive of the new applica tion, and experiment is required to teat its success, and the result is a new or superior result,—there a patent may be obtained. .
No patent can be granted in the United States for the mere importation of an inven tion brought from abroad ; although it is otherwise in England. The constitution, as we have seen, only authorizes congress to grant these exclusive privileges to the in ventors themselves. The mere fact of having obtained a patent for the same thing in a for. eign country will not prevent the obtaining of a patent here at any time within seventeen years after the date of the foreign patent. But if an invention has bleen introduced into public and common use in the United States, and if it has also been patented abroad more than six months prior to the date of the ap., plication here, the patent will be denied See Act of 1839, 0 6.
9. Of caveats. Tint twelfth section of the act of 1836 authorizes the inventor of any thing patentable—provided be be a citizen,: or an alien who has resided within the United .States for one year next preceding his appli cation and has made oath of his intention to become a citizen—to file a caveat in the pat ent office for his own security. This caveat consists in a simple statement of his invert-, tion, in any language which will render it in telligible. It is always well to attach a draw ing to the description, in order that it may be more easily and thoroughly understood ; but this is nut indispensable. A fee of ten dollars must bo paid to the office at the same time.
The right acquired by the caveator in this unanner is that of preventing the grant of any interfering patent, on any application filed within one year from the day when the caveat was lodged in the patent office, with out 'nig being notified of the sante and having an opportunity of contesting the priority of' invention of the applicant, by means of an "interference," which will be treated of hereafter. In this way an inventor can ob tain a year to perfect his invention, without — the risk of having the patent to which he is entitled granted to another in the mean time. He can also, at any time before the expira tion of the year, renew the caveat for another year, by paying another fee of ten dollars, and so on from year to year, as long as he feels disposed so to do. The caveat idled in
the confidential archives of the office, and preserved in secrecy.
10. Of the application for a patent. When the invention is complete, and the inventor desires to apply for a patent, he causes a specification to be prepared, setting forth in clear and intelligible terms the exact nature of his invention, describing its different parts and the principle and mode in which they operate, and stating precisely what be claims as new, in contradistinction from those parts and combinations which were previously in use. This should be accompanied by a pe tition tc, the commissioner of patents, stating the general nature of his invention and the object of his application. Duplicate draw ings should be attached to the specification, where the nature of the case admits of draw ings ; and, where the invention is for a com position of matter, specimens of the ingre dients and of tbe composition of matter should be furnished. The specification, as well as the drawings, must be signed by the appli cant and attested by two witnesses ; and ap pended to the specification must be an affi davit of the applicant, stating that he verily believes himself to be the original and first inventor of that for which he asks a patent, and, also, of what country he is a citizen. The whole is then filed in the patent office. A model must also be furnished to the office, in all cases which admit of a representation by model. This, by the rules of the office, should not exceed one foot in any of its di mensions, where it can practically he brought within that limit.
11. By the old law, a citizen of a foreign country was required to pay a higher.patent fee than an American citizen, or an alien who bad resided a year in the United States and had made oath of his intention of be coming such citizen. But the act of March 2, 1861, has done away with this difference, except as against the citizens of those coun tries which discriminate against our own citizens who apply for patents there. This discrimination is believed to be limited to the inhabitants of some of the British North American provinces which still refuse patents to the people of the United States' on the same terms on which they are granted to their own citizens. The patent fee required qf the inhabitants of such British province is five hundred dollars, instead of thirty-five dollars, which is all that is required of any other applicant.