WEBVTT - How Two Major Fires Changed US Patent Law 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.319 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.520 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.680 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.599 are you? Okay? So to really understand this episode, you 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.000 should really listen to yesterday's episode and get up the speed. 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.920 But justin brief to cover what I talked about yesterday, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.680 I explained what patents are for, and I gave a 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.560 short explanation of how patents and patent law got started 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.240 in the United States, keeping in mind that other countries 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.360 had already had their own patent laws at that time. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.800 It's not like the United States invented patent law. And 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:48.639 I talked about how in seventeen ninety the young government 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:52.479 of the young United States established patent law, which initially 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.560 was incredibly strict, and then it did a one to 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.200 eighty and became the opposite. I mean, like, the first 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.840 year of issuing patents, the US only granted three patents total, 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.120 and then in seventeen ninety three, a big revision to 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.600 the law meant that the office was technically supposed to 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.280 approve any and all patents as long as they had 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.600 the proper application fee, So just from one extreme to 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.479 the other. I concluded yesterday's episode by talking about the 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.280 first superintendent of the US Patent Office, a doctor named 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.120 William Thornton, and now we're going to pick up with 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:31.600 his successor, Thomas Jones, another physician. So Jones changed how 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.240 some things worked at the Patent Office, including a change 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.960 that carries through to modern patents today, that being that 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.080 he started the specification of the invention was allowed to 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.360 reference the accompanying sketches of that invention. It's kind of 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.160 hard to even imagine that there was a time where 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.960 this wasn't a case where you would have a sketch 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.760 and or a model, almost definitely a model, but probably 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.640 a sketch too, and a set of specifications, but they 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:03.240 didn't reference one another. That changed with Jones's tenure as superintendent. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.680 If you read over a modern patent, you'll often see 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.200 that there will be a sketch that's frequently labeled with 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.519 several parts that are called out like part A or 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.320 Part B or sometimes their numbered or whatever, and then 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:21.359 the actual specification will reference those parts and explain how 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:27.480 they work within the grander functionality of the invention. So Jones, 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.480 like doctor Thornton before m felt that patent applications definitely 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.960 needed to meet a threshold of usefulness and inventiveness. So 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.560 both of them had expressed concern that stripping that power 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.120 away from the Patent Office meant that folks with file 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.800 patents for stuff that was already in existence or that 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.520 they just plane didn't work. So both Jones and Thornton 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.880 ignored that revision to the patent law that dated back 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.800 to seventeen ninety three, that bit saying hey, you don't 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.640 have the right to reject patents. They both said, you 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.920 know what, I kind of do. I know the government 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.560 says I don't, but I disagree with that. So they 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.840 took a much harder stance on pattens that you know, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.080 either failed to describe a new invention or were deemed 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:22.400 to not meet the threshold of usefulness or both. William Elliott, 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.760 who was doctor Thornton's chief assistant, he had felt that 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.840 he should have been promoted to superintendent and he was 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:34.720 deeply upset when it's instead went to Thomas Jones. So 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:41.160 he then accused Jones of having opened all the mail 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.440 that was being sent to the Patent office himself Now 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:46.680 you might say, well, what's the big deal with that, 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.160 Why shouldn't the superintendent open the mail that's sent to 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.880 the patent Office. Well, according to Elliott, his accusation was 0:03:54.880 --> 0:04:01.320 that sometimes people would stuff application envelopes with filthy lucre. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.240 That is, you know, they would put cash in their 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.920 application in an effort to grease the wheels of bureaucracy. Essentially, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:14.119 they would include a bribe with their application. So Elliot 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:18.960 said that before Thomas Jones took over as superintendent, the 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.159 Patent Office had it as a matter of fact that 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.960 any money that was sent in this way would be 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.240 returned to Cinder and that way you avoid impropriety, right, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:33.560 you're not taking bribes. But since Thomas Jones was demanding 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.520 that he be allowed to open all the mail personally, 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.560 the implication was that he was possibly pocketing this money, 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.560 that he was essentially taking bribes. Now, whether that accusation 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.440 had any merit or not, or whether the fact that 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:53.480 Jones had a dispute with Elliott because his sons were 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.120 running a business out of the Patent office. One of 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.160 Elliott's sons was a freelance draftsman and was working out 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.120 of the Patent office. And so there's the possibility that 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:07.400 the Thomas Jones was having words with his chief clerk 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.400 because he felt it was inappropriate for the clerk's sons 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:12.880 to be able to run a business out of the 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.320 patent office. That's not what the patent office was for. 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.720 But I don't know if that's the reason why this 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.240 all blew up. I do know that ultimately Thomas Jones 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.080 received a reassignment. He moved on to work in a 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.640 different office within the US government. However, William Elliott didn't 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.280 like get to do a victory lap because he was 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:36.400 also told he had to vacate his position. However, his 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:41.360 son was able to retain his freelance draftsman job at 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:46.000 the Patent Office. That son was named William Parker Elliot. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.240 So he had William Elliott and William Parker Elliott. And 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.040 as a draftsman, he would work with inventors to create 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.120 the sketches of their invention as part of their patent application, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.279 and he would charge the inventors a fee for doing this. 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.280 So that was how he was making his living as 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.760 part of this process for patents. He'll figure more in 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.160 our tail as we continue this journey through the history 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.039 of the Patent Office, which, y'all, if you read over 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.320 histories of the patent office, it sounds like it would 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.440 be the most boring thing in the world, right, But 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:19.719 as you read about these interpersonal conflicts, you start to think, like, wow, 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.880 this is more Game of Thrones than I expected it 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:28.280 to be. Well, anyway, our next superintendent was John D. Craig. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.800 He would serve as the superintendent from eighteen twenty nine 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.800 to eighteen thirty five. Craig was, let's call him a 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:42.240 divisive figure. So, according to historian Kenneth Dobbins, Craig was 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:47.680 quote arrogant, subject to rages, disagreeable to patent applicants and 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:52.280 their agents, and a domineering tyrant towards the subordinate employees 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:56.480 of the Patent Office end quote. So Craig inherited an 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:01.040 office that was really short on cash, Like according to 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.239 Craigzone calculations, the Patent Office was short to the tune 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.320 of around four thousand dollars. And keep in mind, this 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:13.200 is eighteen twenty nine. He suspected hanky and or panky 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.200 had been going on, but he didn't find any evidence 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.360 of it, Like he thought maybe one of his predecessors 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.800 perhaps doctor Thornton had been embezzling money from the Patent Office, 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.080 but he couldn't find any evidence supporting that hypothesis. Now, 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.840 it's also true that during his tenure, when doctor Thornton 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:35.960 was the first Superintendent, he would often request that Congress 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.520 increase funding to the Patent Office, but Congress kind of 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.520 ignored him for the most part. This would become something 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.360 of a time honored tradition for many years. The Patent 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.080 Office would argue it needed more funding, and no one 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:52.320 would seem to care that much at that point. So 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.960 Craig had a different approach to granting patents than Thornton 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.920 and Jones did. So his predecessors had felt like a 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.840 patent review was a vital part of the process that 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.760 it really needed to happen. Craig felt the most important 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.080 part was that the applicant paid their application fee, and 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.200 if that happened, well, then we're good to go. It 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.600 just you know, stamp approved on those patent applications if 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.080 the fee comes in. So Craig wasn't so fussed about 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.960 patent specifications and rarely, if ever, even bothered to read them. 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:27.360 According to contemporary reports, he was adhering to that change 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.400 in patent law, the one that dated all the way 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.840 back to seventeen ninety three. And if any disputes arose 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.360 due to a patent being say a copy of another 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.360 invention that had already received a patent, or any other 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.040 problem like that, well that was a matter for the courts. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.560 It wasn't a matter for the patent office. So he 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.600 was like, Nope, we're going to follow the law and 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.600 get all those fees and not worry whether or not 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.480 the thing where granting a patent for actually works or 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.720 if it's new. He did, however, find the lack of 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:01.320 organization in the office appalling, so he created a system 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:06.040 in which he classified inventions according to subject matter, specifically 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.880 for all the models of the invention, so like models 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.240 that were designed to do things like farm work would 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.280 be grouped together that sort of thing. So he did 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.640 bring a certain kind of organization system to the patent process. Remember, 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.679 at this stage, the patents that were being granted and 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.240 the applications that were being submitted, none of them were 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.040 being numbered. There was no numbering system with patents at 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.719 this point, so as they were starting to mount up 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.360 in the thousands, it was getting more and more difficult 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.240 to keep everything sorted and organized. In a little bit 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:44.320 of foreshadowing, Craig also sought a sizeable grant for the 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:48.240 office for the purposes of constructing a fireproof building into 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.400 which the Patent Office would then move, because he said, 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:55.600 you know, it would be disastrous if there were a fire, 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.400 because we have all these models and stuff. We don't 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:03.520 have copies of these patents. It would be a huge loss. 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:09.080 So Congress surprisingly actually voted to fund the project. But 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.440 before that could happen, Before the building could be built, 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.559 Craig found himself at the center of an investigation. An 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.360 employee at the Patent Office had argued that Craig was 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.000 ill suited for his position and that he should be 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:28.080 dismissed from it. That employee was the son of William Elliott, 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.840 also named William Elliott. You know William Parker Elliott. So 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.920 why did Billy junior take aim at Craig? Well, as 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.280 I mentioned earlier, Elliot the younger was a freelance draftsman 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:44.200 for the Patent Office, and Craig had ended up hiring 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:46.560 one of his former students. He had been a teacher 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.280 in the past, and one of the students had become 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:52.800 a draftsman. So Craig hired this former student to come 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.280 and work at the Patent Office as essentially another freelance draftsman. 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.440 But that meant that this student was a compet editor 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.920 to Elliott Junior, and so, like his father before him, 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.720 Elliot the second filed a complaint against his boss and 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.920 it worked so allegedly, President Andrew Jackson himself signed the 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.800 dismissal papers in eighteen thirty five and JD. Craig had 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.359 to leave as Superintendent of the Patent Office. The Elliots 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:26.120 continued in their role as kingmakers, or at the very least, 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:31.240 as superintendent destroyers. Okay, we're going to take a quick 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:33.880 break to thank our sponsors and we'll pick up with 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:48.120 the next Superintendent of the Patent Office. Okay, So JD. 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:52.360 Craig is out. He's been dismissed from his position as 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:57.760 Superintendent of the Patent Office. So who next leads the office? 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:02.040 That would be James Chamberlain Picket. What a fantastic name. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.679 He was a veteran of the War of eighteen twelve 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.360 and he would become the penultimate superintendent for the Patent 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:13.280 Office in February of eighteen thirty five, but he only 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.520 stuck around for three months. He was not the superintendent 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.560 for very long at all. He actually resigned his position 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.120 because an opportunity opened up in the Department of Treasury 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.800 and he thought that looks like it's better worked for me. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.120 So I don't have very much to say about him 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.320 as leader of the Office because he wasn't around very 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.000 long in that capacity. But then we get to our 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.920 final superintendent of the US Patent Office, a guy named 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.760 Henry L. Ellsworth, another great name. He was said to 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:51.560 be methodical and meticulous. He whipped the office into shape 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.839 where there had been chaos. He instituted order, and he 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.880 would serve as superintendent until eighteen thirty six. But he 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.559 remained the leader of the Patent Office until eighteen forty five. 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.959 So how is that possible? How could he be superintendent 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.400 until eighteen thirty six but lead the office till eighteen 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.680 forty five. Well, it's because in eighteen thirty six, the 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:18.640 US government changed its approach to patent law again. Actually, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.560 this time, the government essentially scrapped all existing patent law 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.000 and started over. So once more, clerks had the legal 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:31.040 authority to screen patent applications, and to deny applications that 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:35.079 were for an obvious invention or a copy of something 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.920 that already existed, or otherwise failed to qualify for a patent. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.240 Since seventeen ninety three, they technically didn't have the right 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.600 to do that. Eighteen thirty six they get the right 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.840 to do it again. The length of protection for a 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.360 patent expanded from fourteen years to twenty one years at 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.840 that point. Now, this would change several times over the years. 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:56.640 I'm not going to go over every single change of 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.320 patent law. That would just be exhausting and and not 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:05.040 really that interesting. I will say that currently patent law 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.920 allows for twenty years of protection from the date that 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.600 the patent is issued, and then you are also able 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:16.680 to file for an extension of up to five more years. Anyway, 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.480 the eighteen thirty six Act officially established a Patent Office 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:24.080 as a division of the State Department. No longer would 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.080 there be a superintendent in charge. Instead, the head of 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.360 the Patent Office would now hold the title of commissioner. 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.600 So you might say, well, that's a kind of fine point. 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:39.000 But it's true that Ellsworth was the last superintendent, but 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.360 he was also the first Commissioner of the Patent Office, 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:46.280 because the title changed while he was holding that position, 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.120 and he took his duties really seriously. One of those 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.000 was that for all new incoming patents, the office would 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:58.560 assign a number to that patent. Finally, we get to 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:04.640 patent numbering, where we actually can see the chronological sequence 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.280 of patents that were granted. The very first patent, in 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.960 case you're curious, Patent number one was for a new 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.359 design for locomotive wheels, as filed by one John Ruggles. 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.960 The changes to patent law happened in the summer of 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.560 eighteen thirty six, but it was the winter of eighteen 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.800 thirty six where we would see another massive change happen 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.360 to patents, this time not because of legislative maneuvers, but 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:39.240 because of a disaster. So on December fifteenth, eighteen thirty six, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.920 the worst case scenario for the Patent Office happened. There 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.120 was a fire in the Patent Office, and it was 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:51.040 a massive fire that essentially wiped out all the patents, 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.480 the models, and the drafts that had been made since 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.840 seventeen ninety. Now at this time, the Patent Office occupied 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:02.960 US section of the Blodget Hotel, which also had a 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:04.800 couple of other tenants in it. Right, you had the 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:11.360 US post Office. But ironically, the other big organization that 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:16.720 had a space in the Blodget Hotel was a fire department. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.280 And as Steve Martin would say in the documentary Roxanne, 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:25.320 we're supposed to be putting them out, But seriously, the 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:29.240 cause of the fire was due to a really dumb 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.280 practice that the US Post Office workers were following. All right, 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.040 so let's set the scene. It's December, it's Washington, DC. 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.840 Things can get really cold. So to keep warm, some 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.920 of the offices had wood burning stoves where you would, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:47.880 you know, put some wood in the stove and burn 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.600 it in order to generate heat and keep the office comfortable. 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.520 So at the end of the workday, the Postal Office 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:58.760 workers would collect the ashes from their wood stove and 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.480 then they would bring those ashes down into the basement 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:06.000 and they would store them in a box at the 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.760 basement of the hotel. And the box was made out 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.480 of wood. And I think you can probably see where 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:17.080 this is going. So on that night in December of 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.399 eighteen thirty six, the ashes that they dumped in this 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.560 wooden box were still hot. There still had some coals 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.359 inside those ashes, those coals ultimately set fire to the 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.359 wooden box, and the wooden box happened to be right 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.800 next to the post offices supply of firewood in the 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:39.199 basement really convenient, right. So the fire grew and in 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.800 the wee hours of the morning, people began to notice 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:45.440 that something was a miss at the Blodget Hotel. As 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.240 for the fire department, it had equipment, but it didn't 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.919 have any firefighters because the firefighter force was a volunteer 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.080 force and for reasons I'm not aware of, I'd need 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.720 to look into it further, but apparently early they had 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:05.240 faced such a discouraging experience that they disbanded, so there 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:09.479 was no actual firefighting force in that fire department. So 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.639 the fire ended up spreading mainly to the areas that 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.000 were inhabited by the Patent Office, and they destroyed thousands 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.359 of documents and models and sketches. The Post Office actually 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.520 got off pretty lightly. Their documents were in a separate 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.959 section of the Blodget Hotel, and so Post Office workers 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.720 were actually able to get in there and rescue important 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.560 stuff from the Post Office before the flames could spread there. Now, 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:40.320 early on, some folks suspected that the fire was actually arson, 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.520 that someone had said it on purpose, and the reason 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.840 was that the US government was currently in the middle 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:51.000 of an investigation into the Post Office itself. There were 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:55.520 various charges of corruption that were playing out with the 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.920 US Post Office, so rumors began to spread that may 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.800 this was actually an effort to remove evidence by burning it, 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.480 that someone working at the Post Office, perhaps a leader, 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.520 had decided to try and do this in an effort 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:18.840 to confound the investigation. But since the actual fire ended 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.400 up impacting the Patent Office but not really the Post Office, 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:28.160 that hypothesis was ultimately rejected, and later investigations showed it 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.880 was more likely this carelessness and bad practice of storing 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.200 ashes in a wooden box in the basement that actually 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:41.000 led to the fire, not intentional arson. Now, former Superintendent 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:45.359 Craig's requests to build a flame resistant Patent office really 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.919 became a top priority. If you remember JD. Craig had, 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:56.119 while he had some really controversial opinions about patents and 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.199 it was apparently a terrible boss, he did really believe 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.600 that the Patent Office needed to move into a more 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.280 fire resistant building, and so he had petitioned Congress to 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:11.000 fund that, and in fact Congress did, but it would 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:12.760 take a while for that to get built. Most of 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.640 the old patents that had been stored in the Blodget 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.080 hotel were lost, and that would also prompt changes to 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.800 how the Patent Office would store patent sentiment that the 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.639 office would require copies of patents to protect against another 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.680 catastrophic loss in the future, so that you're not storing 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.800 the one and only copy of a patent in a 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:36.320 single place. It's a bit hard to believe that no 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.159 one bothered with copies up to that point, but I 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:42.720 guess until there's a disaster, there's not much incentive to 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:46.040 protect yourself. Also, making a copy was not the easiest 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:50.560 thing in the world necessarily at the time, so it 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.400 could be a pretty time consuming process if you don't 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:56.159 have access to the like a printing press or something, 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.400 and so maybe that was part of it as well. Anyway, 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.280 the Office was able to restore around two thy eight 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:09.159 hundred old patents, designating them with a number that was 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:13.560 preceded by the letter X. This distinguished them from new 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.080 patents that were being filed with the office under the 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.359 eighteen thirty six Revised Law, so we do have a 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:24.040 record of some of the patents between seventeen ninety and 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.880 eighteen thirty six, and like I said, they're designated as 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:31.159 X and then a number. But again it's just a 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.920 fraction of all the patents that were received by the 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.040 office leading up to eighteen thirty six. I think there 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.119 was something like more than ten thousand patents total, so 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:45.720 you know, between a fifth and a fourth of them 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.120 survived and all the rest were destroyed. By the way, 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:53.800 the office was actually able to restore patents mostly by 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:58.400 talking to the inventors or patent holders who had filed 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.640 for the patent in the first place, to to recreate 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:06.360 their initial patent and their sketches and stuff like that. 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:12.040 They had to remake them, so it wasn't like there 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:14.600 was just a copy hanging around for most of these. 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:19.119 It would take four years before the Patent Office's new 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:22.560 digs would actually be ready. Most of the new building 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.760 was made of stone and marble, and it was thought 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.680 to be far safer than the Blodget Hotel had been, 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.480 at least with regard to fires, and for nearly four 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:34.840 decades it served as a decent but not perfect place 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:37.800 for the Patent Office. As I mentioned, you know, the 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:42.480 early practice with patents was that inventors were to include 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:46.920 a model of their invention if possible, and models take 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:50.120 up a lot of space. So it wasn't a perfect 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.560 place for the Patent office because there was no such 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:58.760 thing as an office that was accepting models, physical models. 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:01.680 It took up a lot of space. They would rapidly 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:04.920 start to run out of storage space and they would 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.680 have to request things like an extension to the building 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:12.600 or something along those lines. So if you review the 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:16.280 work of the commissioners who held the office from say 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:21.320 eighteen forty onward to like eighteen seventy seven, you see 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.159 a lot of requests for new construction work so that 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.320 they can have more space to store things like models. 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:31.119 But things would change in eighteen seventy seven. The office 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:34.120 made sure to make copies of stuff. With the introduction 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:38.160 of photography, that included actually making photographs of the models. 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:41.480 You know, obviously, it's a much harder thing to make 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:43.720 a copy of a model than it is a copy 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:48.040 of a document, so photographs are largely used as instead 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:50.639 of creating a copy. Obviously, if you made a copy 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:53.639 of every single model, well now you've just doubled the 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:57.920 challenge of storing everything, so they would photograph the models 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:03.679 rather than ask for a replica of a model. But yeah, 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:06.560 they really changed their approach and made sure they had 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:09.280 copies stored in different places, so that should something like 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.760 this happen again, it would not result in as big 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:17.840 a disaster as the eighteen thirty six fire did. And 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:20.200 this sets us up for the second big fire, which 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:23.360 would happen on September twenty fourth, eighteen seventy seven. We're 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:27.080 coming up to the anniversary of that major fire of 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:30.600 the US Post Office, the second major fire. Before we 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:32.919 get into any of that, let's take another quick break 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:46.200 to thank our sponsors. Okay, we're back. So obviously, between 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:48.879 eighteen thirty six and eighteen seventy seven, there were a 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:53.280 ton of different commissioners who led the Patent Office. Most 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:55.720 of them only held the position for like a couple 0:24:55.800 --> 0:24:59.520 of years at most. But in eighteen seventy seven, the 0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:02.960 Commissi was a guy named Ellis Spear. He was a 0:25:03.040 --> 0:25:06.119 veteran of the Civil War on the Union side, I 0:25:06.160 --> 0:25:09.359 should add he had also been a farmer, and he 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:13.480 loved classical literature. He had joined the Patent Office in 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.360 eighteen sixty five, right after the end of the Civil War, 0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:19.959 and by eighteen seventy seven he found himself promoted to commissioner. 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:23.639 And while his time as leader overall has sort of 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:29.080 a positive aspect to it, the eighteen seventy seven fire 0:25:29.160 --> 0:25:32.040 is an obvious exception to that. Right, it's not that 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:38.080