CHAPTER XL.TREASURES AND CURIOSITIES OF THE PATENT OFFICE—THEMODEL ROOM—ITS RELICS AND INVENTIONS.
The Patent Office Building—Grace and Beauty of its Architecture—Four “Sublime” Porticoes—A Pretty Large Passage—The Model Room—“The Exhibition of the Nation”—A Room two hundred and seventy Feet in Length—The Models—Recording our Name—Wonders and Treasures of the Room—Benjamin Franklin’s Press—Model Fire-Escapes—Wonderful Fire-Extinguishers—The Efforts of Genius—Sheep-Stalls, Rat-Traps, and Gutta Percha—An Ancient Mariner’s Compass—Captain Cook’s Razor—The Atlantic Cable—Original Treaties—The Signatures of Emperors—An Extraordinary Turkish Treaty—Treasures of the Orient—Rare Medals—The Reward of Major Andre’s Captors—The Washington Relics—His Old Tent—His Blankets and Bed-Curtain—His Chairs and Looking-Glass—His Primitive Mess-Chess and old Tin Plates—The Old Clothes of the “Father of His Country”—Military Relics of Well-known Men—Original Draft of the Declaration of Independence—Washington’s Commission—Model of an Extraordinary Boat—Abraham Lincoln as an Inventor—The Hat Worn on the Fatal Night—The Gift of the Tycoon—The Efforts of Genius—A Machine to Force Hens to Lay Eggs—A Hook for Fishing Worms out of the Human Stomach—The Library of the Patent Office.
The lawful fees for issuing patents having accumulated into a considerable fund, Congress added an appropriation, and directed that the whole amount should be invested in a new building to be called the Patent Office.
From that double fund has arisen the majestic structure which, next to the Capitol, is the most august building in Washington. The southern front of the Treasury is of superlative beauty, and from several other points itsarchitectural grace cannot be surpassed; but its whole effect is marred by the dingy, unbroken outline of its Fifteenth-street side. The advantage of the Patent-Office is, that from any point which you choose to survey it, it impresses you as supremely grand. Occupying two blocks, or an entire public square, standing upon a prominence, it spreads and towers into space incomparable in mass and majesty. You may approach it from four opposite directions, and on each side you lift your eyes to four sublime porticoes towering before you. They are supported by double rows of Doric columns, eighteen feet in circumference, made of gleaming crystallized marble. The entire building is of pure Doric architecture, strong, simple and majestic. Its southern front is an exact copy of the Pantheon at Rome, and the eastern portico is modelled after that of the Parthenon at Athens.
The length of the building, from Seventh to Ninth streets, is 410 feet, and its width, from F to G streets, 275 feet. Its original design was made by Mr. William P. Elliot, at that time surveyor of the City of Washington. The plan was largely executed by Mr. Mills, architect of Public Buildings; while the grand northern portico has been consummated under the superintendence of Mr. Edward Clark, the present architect of the Capitol.
We enter the eastern door of the basement-story, into a spacious passage running from east to west, the whole length of the building. Through it, large-wheeled machines can be drawn. On each side of this hall are rooms for the deposit of fuel, large and heavy models and department offices. In the centre springs a semi-circular stone staircase, with three flights of steps, which ascend to the second, third and last story. The corridor in the firststory is like the one that we entered below, and on each side of the hall, doors open into commodious apartments for the accommodation of the commissioners, examiners, clerks, etc.
Ascending the stone staircase, we come to the Model Room—par excellence, the Exhibition Room of the nation. For architectural simplicity and space, and the purpose for which it was designed, it is unsurpassed in the whole world. Standing here, we look down a vista two hundred and seventy-four feet in length, and its perspective is enchanting to the sight. A double row of stone columns supports a succession of brick arches, finely proportioned, and corresponding in depth with the rooms below. The floor is paved with tessellated stone, and the light streams in from numerous windows on each side.
The models and other articles are arranged in glass cases on each side of the room, leaving ample space in the centre for promenading. There are two rows of cases, one above the other—the upper row being placed within a light gallery of iron, reached by iron stairways, and extending entirely round the east, north and west halls. The ceiling is supported by a double row of pillars, which also act as supports to the galleries, and both the walls and ceiling are finished in marble and frescoes.
Entering, we find a large register, with pens and ink, at the right of the door, in which we may record our name and the date of our visit, if we please.
THE MODEL ROOM, PATENT OFFICE.—WASHINGTON.This room contains the fruits of the inventive genius of the whole nation. More than 160,000 models are here deposited.
THE MODEL ROOM, PATENT OFFICE.—WASHINGTON.This room contains the fruits of the inventive genius of the whole nation. More than 160,000 models are here deposited.
THE MODEL ROOM, PATENT OFFICE.—WASHINGTON.This room contains the fruits of the inventive genius of the whole nation. More than 160,000 models are here deposited.
The first case on the right of the entrance contains Benjamin Franklin’s press, at which he worked when a journeyman-printer in London. It is old and worm-eaten, and is only held together by means of bolts and iron plates, and bears but little resemblance to the mightymachines by which the printing of to-day is done. Then come models of “fire-escapes,” some of which are curiosities and well worth studying. The impression left by the majority, however, is that if they constitute one’s only hope of escape, in case of fire, an old-fashioned headlong leap from a window may just as well be attempted at once.
Near by are the models of those inventive geniuses who have attempted to extinguish conflagrations by discharging a patent cartridge into the burning mass. The guns, from which the cartridges are thrown, are most remarkable in design.
Then follow tobacco-cutting machines, of various kinds, all sorts of skates, billiard-table models, ice-cutters, billiard-registers, improved fire-arms, and toys, of different designs, among which is a most ingenious model of a walking-horse. Having reached the end of this row of cases, we cross over to the south side of the hall. The first cases contain models of cattle and sheep-stalls, vermin and rat-traps, and are followed by a handsome display of articles in gutta percha, manufactured by the Goodyear Company.
In the bottom of one of the cases is an old mariner’s compass of the year 1604, presented by Ex-Governor Wise, of Virginia, then United States Minister to Brazil, in the name of Lieutenant Sheppard, U. S. N. The ticket attached to the compass is written in the bold, running hand of the ex-rebel statesman. Near by is a razor which belonged to the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook. It was recovered from the natives of the island upon which he was murdered, and is hardly such an instrument any of those who behold it would care to use. A piece of the Atlantic cable is just below it.
Several of the cases following contain the original treaties of the United States with foreign powers. They are written upon heavy sheets of vellum, in wretchedly bad hands, and are worn and faded. All, save the treaties with England and the Eastern nations, are written in French, and are all furnished with a multiplicity of red and green seals; the first is the treaty with Austria, and bears the weak, hesitating signature of Francis I. The signature of Alexander I., attached to the first Russian treaty, has more character in it. The treaty of peace with England, in 1814, which ended our second war with that power, bears the signature of the Regent, afterwards George IV. The treaty of 1803, with the Republic of France, is signed “Bonaparte,” in a nervous, sprawling hand. Bernadotte’s smooth and flowing hand adorns the first treaty with Sweden.
The original treaty with Turkey is a curious document. It consists of a number of long slips of parchment, covered with columns of Turkish characters. Near by it hangs a bag, in which it was conveyed to this country. The bag is its legal covering, or case, and is provided with a huge ball of red wax, by way of a seal. Next to it is the first treaty of alliance with France—the famous one of 1778—which gave the aid of the French king to the cause of the suffering and struggling States of the new republic. It is signed by the unfortunate Louis XVI. The “Louis” is written in a round, phlegmatic hand; but the lines are delicate, as if the pen did not press the paper with the firmness of a strong will. The French treaty, of 1822, bears the autograph of Louis XVIII.; and that of 1831, the signature of Louis Phillippe. Don Pedro I., Emperor of Brazil, has affixed his hand to the Brazilian treaty,and the name of Ferdinand (the last, and least) is affixed to that of Spain.
In the glass cases with the treaties are several Oriental articles,—a Persian carpet and horse-cover, presented to President Van Buren, by the Imän of Muscat; and two magnificent rifles, presented to President Jefferson, by the Emperor of Morocco. These rifles are finished in the highest style of Eastern art, and are really beautiful. In the same cases are collections of medals, some of European sovereigns, and others of American celebrities. Among them is a copy of the medal, awarded by Congress, to the captors of Major André. Near these are several splendid Eastern sabres, presented by the great Ali Pacha, the Bey of Egypt, to Captain Perry and the officers of the U. S. ship-of-war,Concord, at Alexandria, (Egypt,) in 1832.
The next cases contain the Washington relics, which are amongst the greatest treasures of the nation. They consist of the camp-equipage, and other articles used by General Washington, during the Revolution. They are just as he left them at the close of the war, and were given to the Government, for safe keeping, after his death. Here are the tents which constituted the head-quarters, in the field, of the great soldier. They are wrapped tightly round the poles, just as they were tied when they were struck for the last time, when victory had crowned his country’s arms, and the long war was over. Every cord, every button and tent-pin is in its place, for he was careful of little things. His blankets and the bed-curtain, worked for him by his wife, and his window-curtains, are all well preserved. His chairs are perfect, not a round being broken; and the little square mirror in his dressing-caseis not even cracked. The wash-stand and table are also well kept. His knife-case is filled with plain horn-handle knives and forks, which were deemed “good enough for him,” and his mess-chest is a curiosity. It is a plain wooden trunk, covered with leather, with a common lock, the hasp of which is broken. It is divided by small partitions of thin wood, and the compartments are provided with bottles, still stained with the liquids, tin plates, common knives and forks, and other articles pertaining to such an establishment.
In these days of luxury, an ordinary sergeant would not be satisfied with so simple and plain an establishment. His cooking utensils, bellows, andirons, and iron money-chest, all of which went with him from Boston to Yorktown, are in the same case, from the side of which hangs the suit of clothes worn by him upon the occasion of his resignation of his commission as Commander-in-Chief, at Annapolis, in 1783. A hall lantern, and several articles from Mount Vernon, a “travelling secretary,” Washington’s sword and cane, and a surveyor’s compass, presented by him to Captain Samuel Duvall, the surveyor of Frederick county, Maryland, are in the same case, as are also a number of articles taken from Arlington House, and belonging formerly to the Washington family.
A coat worn by Andrew Jackson, at the battle of New Orleans, and the war-saddle of the Baron De Kalb, a bayonet used by one of Braddock’s soldiers, and found on the fatal field upon which that commander met his death-wound, together with the panels from the state-coach of President Washington, make up the collection. The original draft of the Declaration of Independence, with the signatures of the Continental Congress attached, isframed and placed near the Washington case. It is old and yellow, and the ink is fading from the paper. Near it hangs Washington’s Commission as Commander-in-Chief of the American army, bearing the characteristic signature of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress.
In the same case is a plain model, roughly executed, representing the frame-work of the hull of a Western steamboat. Beneath the keel is a false bottom, provided with bellows and air-bags. The ticket upon it bears the memorandum, “Model of sinking and raising boats by bellows below. A. Lincoln, May 30, 1849.”
By means of this arrangement, Mr. Lincoln hoped to solve the difficulty of passing boats over sand-bars in the Western rivers. The success of his scheme would have made him independently wealthy, but it failed, and, twelve years later, he became President of the United States. During the interval, the model lay forgotten in the Patent Office, but, after his inauguration, Mr. Lincoln got one of theemployésto find it for him. After his death, it was placed in the Washington case.
The opposite case contains another memento of him—the hat worn by him on the night of his assassination.
In a couple of cases, filled with machinery for making shoes, we see a number of handsome silk robes and Japanese articles, of various kinds, presented to Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln, by the Tycoon of Japan. The remainder of the hall is filled with models of machines for making leather harness and trunks, models of gas and kerosene oil apparatuses, liquor distilleries, machines for making confectionery, and for trying out lard and fat. Also, methods of curing fish and meat, and embalmingthe dead. A splendid model of a steel revolving tower, for harbor defence, stands near the door, and is one of the most conspicuous ornaments of the room. The other halls are devoted exclusively to models of patented machinery, and other inventions. The cases above and below are well filled; models of bridges span the spaces between the other cases, and those of the larger machines are laid on the floor of the hall.
Models of improved arms, clocks, telegraphs, burglar and fire alarms, musical instruments, light-houses, street cars, lamps, stoves, ranges, furnaces, peat and fuel-machines, brick and tile-machines, sewing-machines, power-looms, paper-making machinery, knitting-machines, machines for making cloth, hats, spool cotton, for working up hemp, harbor cleaners, patent hooks-and-eyes, buttons, umbrella and cane-handles, fluting-machines, trusses, medical instruments of gutta percha, corsets, ambulances and other military establishments, arrangements for excluding the dust and smoke from railroad cars, railroad and steamboat machinery, agricultural and domestic machinery of all kinds, and hundreds of other inventions, line these three immense halls. Among the most remarkable is a machine to force a hen to lay eggs, and a silver worm hook, invented to fish worms out of the human stomach.
A large library, of great value, is attached to the Patent Office, containing many volumes of the highest scientific value. Under judicious arrangement, a collection already rich and ample is forming, of every work of interest to the inventors, and that new, increasing, important class of professional men—the attorneys in patent cases. Upon its shelves may be found a complete set of the reports ofthe British Patent Commissioners, of which there are only six copies in the United States. The reports of French patents are also complete, and those of various other countries are being obtained as rapidly as possible. A system of exchanges has been established, which employs three agents abroad; and, in addition to various and arduous duties, the librarian annually dispatches several hundred copies of the reports.