For over 200 years, the basic role of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has remained the same: to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their respective discoveries (Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution). Under this system of protection, American industry has flourished. New products have been invented, new uses for old ones discovered, and employment opportunities created for millions of Americans.
The PTO is a non-commercial federal entity and one of 14 bureaus in the Department of Commerce (DOC). The office occupies a combined total of over 1,400,000 square feet, in numerous buildings in Arlington, Virginia. The office employs over 5,000 full time equivalent (FTE) staff to support its major functions--- the examination and issuance of patents and the examination and registration of trademarks.
The Wacky Patent of the Month is devoted to recognizing selected inventors and their remarkable and unconventional patented inventions.
Every new invention, every triumph of engineering skill, is the embodiment of some scientific idea; and experience has proven that discoveries in science, however remote from the interests of every-day life they may at first appear, ultimatel y confer unforseen and incalculable benefits on mankind.--Robert Routledge
