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26   NATURAL INHERITANCE.   [CHAP.

the subject of patent rights ; at the same time it need not be so minutely defined as to exclude the possibility of small improvements or of deviations from the main design, any of which may be freely adopted by the inventor without losing the protection of his patent. But the range of protection is by no means sharply distinct, as most inventors know to their cost. Some other man, who may or may not be a plagiarist, applies for a separate patent for himself, on the ground that he has introduced modifications of a fundamental character ; in other words, that he has created a fresh type. His application is opposed, and the question whether his plea be valid or not, becomes a subject for legal decision.

Whenever a patent is granted subsidiary to another, and lawful to be used only by those who have acquired rights to work the primary invention, then we should rank the new patent as a secondary and not as a primary type. Thus we see that mechanical inventions offer good examples of types, sub-types., and mere deviations.

The three kinds of public carriages that •characterise the streets of London ; namely, omnibuses, hansoms, and four-wheelers, are specific and excellent illustrations of what I wish to express by mechanical types, as distinguished from sub-types. Attempted improvements in each of them are yearly seen, but none have as yet superseded the old familiar patterns, which cannot, as it thus far appears, be changed with advantage, taking the circumstances of London as they are. Yet there have been numerous subsidiary ;and patented contriv-