The law under which patents are now issued in this country states that "any person, native or foreign, who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, not known or used in this country, and not patented or described in any publication in this or any foreign country, before his invention or discovery thereof, and not in public use or on sale for more than two years prior to his application, unless the same is proved to have been abandoned, may upon payment of the fees required by law and other due proceedings had, obtain a patent therefor." The law further states that the inventor may have for a period of seventeen years the exclusive right to manufacture and sell his invention. Infringement of a patent gives the inventor just cause for appealing to the courts for protection and redress.

Number of Patents Issued by Years: 1895-1917.