three will appear again in this narrative) took out patents on
means of propelling boats. On the same day Nathan Read received
one on a process for distilling alcohol.

More than fifty patents were granted under the Patent Act of
1790, and mechanical devices were coming in so thick and fast
that the department heads apparently found it inconvenient to
hear applications. So the Act of 1790 was repealed. The second
Patent Act (1793) provided that a patent should be granted as a
matter of routine to any one who swore to the originality of his
device and paid the sum of thirty dollars as a fee. No one except
a citizen, however, could receive a patent. This act, with some
amendments, remained in force until 1836, when the present Patent
Office was organized with a rigorous and intricate system for
examination of all claims in order to prevent interference.
Protection of the property rights of inventors has been from the
beginning of the nation a definite American policy, and to this
policy may be ascribed innumerable inventions which have
contributed to the greatness of American industry and multiplied
the world's comforts and conveniences.

Under the second Patent Act came the most important invention yet
offered, an invention which was to affect generations then
unborn. This was a machine for cleaning cotton and it was offered
by a young Yankee schoolmaster, temporarily sojourning in the
South.



CHAPTER II. ELI WHITNEY AND THE COTTON GIN