November, 1923
I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Each patent for the preparation of a food or medicine shall be subject to a compulsory license granted by the Commissioner. Any person applying for this license may be permitted to use the invention for the production of food or medicine, but not otherwise. So wide are the powers of the Commissioner that he may settle the terms of the license, the law merely stipulating that he have due regard to the desirability of placing the substance in the hands of the public and a t the same time giving the inventor a proper reward for his invention.
INTERFERENCES If two independent inventors file applications covering the same invention, a board of arbitrators shall be appointed to award the patent to one of the claimants. I n the United States, such a decision is rendered by a special official in the Patent Office, from whose decision one may appeal to various other officials and the courts. I n Canada, one of the arbitrators is chosen by each applicant and the third by the Commissioner. If either applicant fails to choose his arbitrator, the patent shall issue to the other. If there are more than two claimants, the Commissioner may appoint the three arbitrators, provided the claimants do not unite in selecting them. The arbitrators are given the full powers vested in a Civil Court to investigate the matter and the award signed by any two of the three arbitrators shall he final. RESTORATION AND REISSUEOF PATENTS
If a Canadian patent has become void under the terms of the old patent act, through failure to pay fees or to manufacture in Canada or because of importation, the patentee has a chance under the new act to have his patent revived within two years from the date of its becoming void, but any third party who has commmced lawfully to make, use, or sell in Canada, during
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the period when the patent was void, may continue to use the invention just the same as if the patent had not been revived. A reissue to correct inadvertent mistakes in a patent must be obtained within four years from the date of the patent; but any patent which is now alive may be reissued if the application is filed before June 13, 1924. This provision is important, since it gives a patentee whose Canadian patent was granted before his United States patent an opportunity to revise the Canadian patent in agreement with the other case and thus incorporate in it such claims as have stood the test of patent searches in this country. VALUEOF
A
CANADIAN PATENT
Canada is a country of about 9,000,000 people and has over I n many industries its importance for manufacturing purposes is far out of proportion to its population, since the United Kingdom is its market. The decision, therefore, whether or not to take out a Canadian patent should be made only after considerable study into the advantages of manufacturing in Canada, or of licensing a Canadian under the patent, as well as the particular conditions which affect the market in Canada and the British Empire. Since the patent cannot be attacked for a t least three years, that period may be sufficient for one to get his market established. If an application is filed the patentee thereby secures a period of grace within which he may decide as to the value of Canadian patent protection. He can then take his time in analyzing the problem as to whether he will manufacture in Canada, grant licenses or merely do nothing and wait until the patent is attacked before taking any steps to work the patent. The last course is one that is often adopted with reference to British patents. Undoubtedly, a Canadian patent is worth while in a large number of cases.
40,000 miles of railroads.
Personals Alan R. Albright has resigned his position in the Jackson Lab-
oratory of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company to organize a research laboratory for Gumpert & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. Raymond F. Bacon, C. H. Kidwell, and Elizabeth N. Kidwell have reorganized the firm of Kidwell & Bascom, Inc., under the name of Kidwell & Co., Inc., chemists and chemical engineers. The newly elected officers of the company are: C. H. Kidwell, president and treasurer; Raymond F. Bacon, vice president; Elizabeth N. Kidwell, secretary. The company will continue its research and consulting business a t its office and laboratory a t 27 Thames St., New York City. Andrew Balfour, for the past ten years director-in-chief of the Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research, London, resigned on October 31. C. M. Wenyon, who for the past nine years has been director of research in the tropics a t the Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research, has been designated as his successor. Joseph S. Bates, formerly manager of the Research Division of the Marcus Hook, Pa., plant of the National Aniline & Chemical Co., is now employed by the Textile Service Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Russell W. Brandt, formerly development chemist for the U. S. Gypsum Co., Fort Dodge, Ia., has taken charge of the chemical work of the General Fireproofing Co., Youngstown, Ohio. Samuel Byall, formerly assistant research chemist a t the sugar mill of Penick & Ford, Marrero, La., has resigned t o become chief chemist of the International Sugar Feed Co., Memphis, Tenn. P. G. Daschavsky, senior and supervising chemist of the laboratories of the Cudahy Co., Omaha, Neb., has found it necessary t o take an indefinite leave of absence on account of continued ill health. F. S. Dickson has resigned his position as assistant to the president of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, New York City, to go into private business. Richard Fischer, formerly of the Chemistry Department of the University of Illinois, has accepted a position as research chemist a t the laboratories of the Combustion Utilities Corp., Long Island City, N. Y.
H. C. Howard has been appointed assistant professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri. For some time Dr. Howard has been research chemist on the staff of the B. F. Goodrich Company. Karl G . Krech has recently been appointed assistant process superintendent of the new Parco refinery of the Producers 81 Refiners Corp., Parco, Wyo. Max Kuniansky, formerly analyst for the American Cast Iron Pipe Co., Birmingham, Ala., has accepted a position as chemist with the Lynchburg Foundry Co., Lynchburg, Va. The honorary degree of doctor of science was conferred by the University of Liverpool upon G . N.Lewis, professor of chemistry, University of California, during the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. James W. Martin has recently resigned from the employ of the Union Carbide & Carbon Chemical Corporation to accept an appointment as assistant to the general superintendent of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., Woodlawn, Pa. August Merz, of Heller & Merz, has been elected chairman of the dyestuffs section of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, New York City, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Fred E. Signer. William B. Plummer, formerly research chemist for the Grasselli Chemical Co., is now associated in the same capacity with the Combustion Utilities Corp., Long Island City, N. Y. L. W. Ryan, who for the past nine years has had charge of the research laboratory of the Lindsay Light Co., Chicago, is now employed as research chemist for the Titanium Pigment Co., Niagara Falls, N. Y. Otto M. Smith has accepted the position of professor of chemistry a t the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, Stillwater, Okla. During the past year he was connected with the chemical department of the Iowa State College. Richard Sneddon has left the employ of the Dominion Flour Mills, Ltd., Montreal, where he has been employed as chief chemist for the past two years, to go to California for his health. John Miller, formerly chemist for the Shelly Bakeries, Vancouver, B. C., has been designated as his successor.
