About the BureauО БюроAbout the Bureau
Office Memorandum № A-1887/1 · RevisedСлужебный меморандум № A-1887/1 · С поправкамиOffice Memorandum № A-1887/1 · Revised
The United States Bureau of Impossible Patents was established by Act of Congress on the 14th of April, 1887, upon the joint recommendation of the Commissioner of Patents and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Its founding mandate, as set forth in the enabling legislation, is “to receive, examine, and maintain in trust such patent applications as describe inventions which, though mechanically intelligible and prosecuted in good faith, are incompatible with the natural laws as those laws are presently understood by the scientific authorities of these United States.”
Бюро невозможных патентов Соединённых Штатов было учреждено Актом Конгресса 14 апреля 1887 года по совместному представлению Комиссара Патентного ведомства и Секретаря Смитсоновского института. Учредительный мандат Бюро, изложенный в порождающем законе, гласит: «принимать, рассматривать и хранить впредь до востребования такие патентные заявки, которые описывают изобретения, хотя и механически вразумительные и поданные добросовестно, несовместимые с законами природы в том виде, в каком эти законы поняты ныне научными авторитетами Соединённых Штатов».
The United States Bureau of Impossible Patents was established by Act of Congress on the 14th of April, 1887, upon the joint recommendation of the Commissioner of Patents and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Its founding mandate, as set forth in the enabling legislation, is “to receive, examine, and maintain in trust such patent applications as describe inventions which, though mechanically intelligible and prosecuted in good faith, are incompatible with the natural laws as those laws are presently understood by the scientific authorities of these United States.”
The Bureau was conceived in response to a sharp rise, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, of patent applications addressed to perpetual motion machines, anti-gravity devices, and apparatus for the conveyance of persons through the temporal dimension. The conventional Patent Office, under the direction of Commissioner Charles E. Mitchell, had begun summarily to reject all such applications upon the ground of non-operability; this practice, however, attracted criticism from a faction of the scientific community led by Henry Augustus Rowland, who argued that the impossibility of an invention today is no proof of its impossibility tomorrow, and that the wholesale rejection of such applications constituted a forfeiture of the patent incentive in precisely the domain where it might most be needed.
Бюро было задумано в ответ на резкое возрастание во второй половине девятнадцатого века патентных заявок, посвящённых вечным двигателям, антигравитационным устройствам и аппаратам для перемещения людей через временное измерение. Обычное Патентное ведомство под началом Комиссара Чарльза Э. Митчелла принялось огульно отклонять все подобные заявки на основании неработоспособности; эта практика, однако, привлекла критику со стороны части научного сообщества во главе с Генри Огастусом Роулендом, утверждавшим, что невозможность изобретения сегодня не есть доказательство его невозможности завтра, и что огульное отклонение таких заявок составляет отказ от патентного стимула именно в той области, где он наиболее необходим.
The Bureau was conceived in response to a sharp rise, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, of patent applications addressed to perpetual motion machines, anti-gravity devices, and apparatus for the conveyance of persons through the temporal dimension. The conventional Patent Office, under the direction of Commissioner Charles E. Mitchell, had begun summarily to reject all such applications upon the ground of non-operability; this practice, however, attracted criticism from a faction of the scientific community led by Henry Augustus Rowland, who argued that the impossibility of an invention today is no proof of its impossibility tomorrow, and that the wholesale rejection of such applications constituted a forfeiture of the patent incentive in precisely the domain where it might most be needed.
The Bureau was accordingly established as a separate office, with a distinct register and a separate examining corps, charged with the acceptance and preservation of impossible patent applications without prejudice to their subsequent reduction to practice. The Bureau's examining procedure differs from that of the conventional Office in two principal respects: first, the examiner is not required to find the invention operable, and the standard of substantial mechanical specification is applied in lieu of operability; second, the patent, when issued, is granted not to the inventor in his temporal capacity but rather to the inventor and his future assigns, in such future epoch as the invention may become reducible to practice. The Bureau accordingly maintains its register against the day when the relevant physical laws shall be amended.
Бюро, соответственно, было учреждено как отдельное ведомство с самостоятельным реестром и отдельным составом экспертов, на которое возложен приём и хранение невозможных патентных заявок без ущерба для последующего практического воплощения. Процедура экспертизы Бюро отличается от процедуры обычного Ведомства в двух главных отношениях: во-первых, эксперт не обязан находить изобретение работоспособным, и вместо требования работоспособности применяется стандарт существенного механического описания; во-вторых, патент, будучи выдан, предоставляется не изобретателю в его нынешнем качестве, а изобретателю и его будущим правопреемникам, в ту будущую эпоху, когда изобретение станет воплотимым на практике. Бюро, соответственно, ведёт свой реестр в ожидании того дня, когда соответствующие физические законы будут изменены.
The Bureau was accordingly established as a separate office, with a distinct register and a separate examining corps, charged with the acceptance and preservation of impossible patent applications without prejudice to their subsequent reduction to practice. The Bureau's examining procedure differs from that of the conventional Office in two principal respects: first, the examiner is not required to find the invention operable, and the standard of substantial mechanical specification is applied in lieu of operability; second, the patent, when issued, is granted not to the inventor in his temporal capacity but rather to the inventor and his future assigns, in such future epoch as the invention may become reducible to practice. The Bureau accordingly maintains its register against the day when the relevant physical laws shall be amended.
The Bureau's archive presently contains in excess of 4,400 active filings, spanning the four canonical categories of impossibility (see Classification). Patents are issued upon a rolling basis and are subject to Status Revision at intervals of approximately twenty-five years, the Bureau being responsible for the periodic re-examination of pending filings against the prevailing state of physical understanding.
Архив Бюро в настоящее время содержит свыше 4 400 действующих заявок, охватывающих четыре канонические категории невозможностей (см. Классификацию). Патенты выдаются в непрерывном порядке и подлежат пересмотру статуса с интервалом приблизительно в двадцать пять лет, причём Бюро отвечает за периодическую переэкспертизу находящихся в производстве заявок относительно преобладающего состояния физического понимания.
The Bureau's archive presently contains in excess of 4,400 active filings, spanning the four canonical categories of impossibility (see Classification). Patents are issued upon a rolling basis and are subject to Status Revision at intervals of approximately twenty-five years, the Bureau being responsible for the periodic re-examination of pending filings against the prevailing state of physical understanding.
The Bureau is housed in the East Wing of the Old Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C., and maintains regional reading rooms at Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. The reading rooms are open to the public during ordinary business hours, save during the third week of August, when the staff is at the seaside.
Бюро располагается в Восточном крыле Старого здания Патентного ведомства в Вашингтоне (округ Колумбия) и содержит региональные читальные залы в Бостоне, Чикаго и Сан-Франциско. Читальные залы открыты для публики в обычные рабочие часы, за исключением третьей недели августа, когда штат находится на побережье.
The Bureau is housed in the East Wing of the Old Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C., and maintains regional reading rooms at Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. The reading rooms are open to the public during ordinary business hours, save during the third week of August, when the staff is at the seaside.