1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 60 [Patents]

According to Ma Shao's original plan or an overly optimistic estimate, he planned to improve the sewing machine first, and then apply for a patent together with the jeans to save some time.

But soon he realized that the improvement of the sewing machine might not be possible for a while.

The second-hand sewing machine he bought does not have a pedal device. This is an obvious shortcoming, which is easy to solve for him.

However, the sewing machine is not a simple machine, at least for a non-professional, the horse whistle, the sewing machine has been called complicated.

It is almost impossible for any complex machinery to be successful with just one or two key improvements.

Just like writing code, after a new piece of code is inserted in the middle, there is a high probability that a bunch of new bugs will be brought in, and repeated adjustments are required to truly improve.

So Ma Shao gave up the plan to rush to manufacture a new type of sewing machine, and concentrated his mind on the patent of jeans.

Jeans should be able to apply for two patents, one is its design, and the other is the rivets on it.

Horse whistle is not optimistic about the former.Even in later generations with a more complete patent system, patents on the appearance of clothing are of little significance, and counterfeit products are everywhere.

The current patent system is full of loopholes, and this kind of patent is naturally even more tasteless.

It's ridiculous to say that eight years ago, there was a fire in the US Patent Office, and tens of thousands of patents were lost as a result-including the fire hydrant patent.

This fire has improved the patent system in the United States a lot, but compared with later generations, it is still very crude.

Therefore, registering a patent for the design of jeans is basically just a name, which has no practical significance. It may even be judged that there is no innovation at all, so it cannot pass the patent review. Others should imitate or copy.

More valuable are the rivets on the jeans.

Because this can actually be counted as a technology-reinforcement technology.

These rivets are not decorations. It is because of their existence that jeans become stronger and more durable, so that in the original history, the inventor of jeans even designed a double-horse trademark that resembles the scene of the "Magdeburg Hemisphere Experiment" , have the two horses tug on the jeans in opposite directions to show how strong they are...

As a practical technology, its patent is more meaningful.

Therefore, the core patent of jeans should be "a rivet reinforcement technology applied to trousers".

Ma Shao was reviewing the relevant regulations on patent applications while drafting the application documents.

Written documents are actually secondary, the most important thing is the patent model.

The patent model is the literal meaning. Specifically, Horse Whistle needs to provide a pair of jeans with rivets, as shown in the example.

The reason for this is that patent office staff are often not good enough to understand the principles of most inventions by relying only on paper descriptions.

It can't be blamed for their poor level. After all, inventions are new things, and they involve all walks of life. It is not easy to understand and review them.

Drawings, text descriptions, plus the finished jeans as a model, this is the official patent application material.

After preparing these materials, the horse whistle found Thomas, Freud and another black policeman and handed them the materials.

"This is the application material for a patent, that is, something that needs to be sent to the patent office." Ma Shao said.

Thomas looked at the materials: "There are two patents?"

Horse whistle: "That's right, one is the overall design, and the other is the rivet reinforcement technology. If you can't take the former, let it go, but you must take the latter."

"There are also six revolvers, two for each of you, for your self-defense on the road."

"Three hundred dollars is more than enough to apply for two patents... If you encounter some greedy patent office staff, you know what to do." The horse whistle handed the gun and coins to the three, "It's best to get it done quickly Application."

"I know." Thomas nodded blankly.

"In addition, choose some fabrics that are similar to canvas, that is, durable, preferably blue, and buy some samples to bring back." Ma Whistle said again.

Canvas was an early material for jeans, not the best material for jeans.

The fabric that really belongs to jeans is called "denim", that is, the blue fabric that is everywhere in the streets in later generations.

But Ma Shao didn't know what this kind of cloth was, so he could only ask people to buy some samples for him to identify.

Thomas and Freud left the town on fast horses and headed southeast.

They will first arrive at the famous Santa Fe trail, then head east along the road, and will soon enter the first state in the east, Missouri.

Strictly speaking, Missouri cannot be regarded as the east, and it is more appropriate to call it the middle.

But at least Missouri is a serious state with a state government, and it is in the east, so it is not wrong to count it in the "Eastern Region", at least in the eyes of Westerners.

In contrast, Kansas in this meeting, not to mention the state government, does not even have an appointed governor, nor does it even have a territory, so it belongs to the United States in name.

This state of "anarchy" will remain in the Midwest for quite a long time. As for the reason, the most important thing is of course slavery-it is possible to establish a state, but is the newly established state a slave state or an abolition state?
There are still more than ten years before the Civil War, and the conflict between the North and the South has become increasingly prominent. The North wants to abolish slaves, and the South wants to breed slaves, but the two sides still maintain a balance.

If a new state is set up, this delicate balance will inevitably be tilted, or even completely broken.

In this case, a large unorganized territory is naturally the most acceptable solution.

The three of Thomas went to the east to apply for a patent, and Mashao continued to organize tailors to produce jeans.

He split the jeans process into several parts, and assigned them to housewives who were proficient in tailors in the town to complete the tasks at home, and then brought the finished products to Mary to pay the bill.

This is a reference to the production method of the assembly line. Although the assembly line may have appeared when Qin Shihuang was making terracotta warriors, so far, this production method has not been widely popularized.

This distributed jeans assembly line is of course very rough, but it still allows workers without factories to have a production efficiency that is not weaker than that of factory work.

Pairs of jeans and trousers are being produced, and old canvas is being consumed rapidly.

During this period, the main job of the horse post was to train the Apache soldiers and black police officers in the town, constantly instilling in them the concept of discipline and law.

During the indoctrination process, he also felt a little worried and confused: Discipline and law will always be perfect, but what about faith?
Horse Whistle found that he couldn't think of a suitable belief, neither among the aborigines nor in Clark Town.

It cannot be said that there is no such thing. Isn’t religion what it is? Religion is still useful in terms of unity and maintaining stability.

But his resistance to this thing is too strong. In his opinion, the magic stick may be the most shameful profession in the world.

Even if I die, I will never become a god... Wait, no!How does this look like the rhythm of Zhenxiang's law, you can't say that!
Thinking of the terrifying scene revealed by these words in the context of the Law of True Fragrance, a trace of cold sweat could not help but ooze from Ma Shao's forehead.

In the end... what kind of belief should I choose?
(End of this chapter)