s capable of carrying forward the business in a
business-like manner. This method demonstrates conclusively whether or
not the invention will meet with success, and with these figures at hand
the patentee will be prepared to prove, to the satisfaction of
interested parties, just what the patent is really worth.

This method of procedure not only enables the patentee to get a just
valuation of his patent, but also puts it in a more favorable position
to be sold; since the commercial value is known and established, it no
longer remains an experiment. Interested parties can take their
calculations from these figures, and the patentee can exact a price in
proportion to the success of the trial experiment.

In order to thus demonstrate the value of a patent, the patentee must
possess and advance the necessary means to carry it forward, though, if
the experiment prove at all successful, the profits derived from the
articles sold will in nearly all cases more than offset the expense
incurred. This is a very popular course with inventors, especially in
handling small inventions, known as novelty or specialty patents.

If the patentee have not the means to successfully demonstrate the value
of his patent by actual trial, as above outlined, then the next best
course would be to inquire among reliable manufacturers and ascertain
the lowest price for which the invention can be manufactured in large
quantities, and the highest price at which it will retail; and then, by
carefully studying the market, the patentee should be able to estimate
the amount of competition, cost of selling, probable number of sales,
interest on the investment, etc., and on these figures base the price he
should receive for the patent, being careful to allow the purchaser a
liberally fair profit.

While there are at present about ninety-five million inhabitants in the
United States, it is scarcely probable that any invention has yet or
ever will be made that will reach half this number of people. With an
article of the most general adaptability, including both sexes, the
inventor can hardly hope to reach more than a fourth of the entire
population, though, of course, the invention may be subject to regular
consumption, so that the people reached would naturally purchase the
article again a number of times during the course of a year.

The statistics in the last chapter are given with the view of assisting
patentees in determining what proportion of the p