Private Law 16–VI

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Patent to issue for a self-acting mule.

That the Commissioner of the Patent Office be, and he is hereby, authorized to issue, on application therefor at any time within six months from the passage of this act, a patent to James Smith, a British subject, being of the county of Perth, in Scotland, for his invention of certain improvements in the self-acting mule for spinning cotton and other fibrous materials, for which said Smith took out letters patent in England, sealed the twentieth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and thirty four, notwithstanding the lapse of more than six months since the publication of the said letters patent; the said Commissioner being governed in all other respects, in issuing such patent, by the provisions of the existing general laws relating to the granting and issuing of patents for new inventions and discoveries. And said patentee and his assigns shall have and possess the same rights by virtue of such patent, if any shall be granted, as he would have and possess if the said original letters patent

Proviso.

had not been issued and published, and no other: Provided, however, That such patent shall be limited to the time for which said original

Proviso.

letters patent were granted: And provided, also, That the same shall not interfere with, or affect the rights of any person, acquired by purchasing, constructing, or using said invention, prior to the granting of the patent herein authorized.