Patents in Imperial Russia: A History of the Russian Institution of Invention Privileges under the Old Regime by Anneli Aer

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 517 he then devotes little space to describing these buildings, dismissing them as technologically stagnant. Consequently, the reader never learns exactly what ordinary cast iron front buildings were (and are) like. Most of this chapter is devoted to a discussion of the fire resis­ tance of cast iron, a matter that was much debated in the 19th cen­ tury, and Friedman does his best to convince the reader that cast iron is an unsatisfactory building material. However, his evidence does not support this conclusion. One example he uses to show the vulnerability of cast iron fronts was the burning of the Manhattan Savings Institution Building in 1895 (p. 37). Yet contrary to what Friedman writes, this building did not have a cast iron front. Unfortunately, readers searching for the informative nuggets will probably be discouraged in their quest by the writing. This book needed a thorough editing, which it did not get. The text is repeti­ tious; for example, the material on pages 36-37, even the quotation, is repeated on page 57. The awkward phrasing, extraneous detail, and repetition, moreover, will not only put offall but the most deter­ mined readers; they often obscure the author’s point. Yet the case studies that discuss the structures of extant old build­ ings are worth reading. The most memorable of these concerns an early-20th-century skeleton frame building that, during recent re­ pairs, was found to have no column in an outside corner of the top floor. As a result of leaks, the column, which should have been car­ rying wall beams, had rusted to nothing, and the beams were resting on the brick curtain wall. This result is what skyscraper-skeptics in the 19th century feared would happen to steel in exteriorwalls. More such case studies and some discussion of how well actual practice conformed with experts’ recommendations, and even with the build­ ing laws, would have made for a better book. Sara Wermiel Dr. Wermiel is a visiting scholar with the STS Program at MIT and specializes in 19th-century high-tech building construction technology. She is completing a book manuscript on the history of fireproof construction in the United States. Patents in ImperialRussia: A History oftheRussian Institution ofInvention Privileges under the Old Regime. By Anneli Aer. Helsinki: The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, 1995. Pp. x+231; figures, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. FIM140 (paper). The author takes as his task the examination of the origins and development of the Russian institution that governed the granting of patents. Aer seeks to fill a gap in the literature on both Russian economic institutions and Russian legal concepts. Specifically, he uses “the institution of invention privileges” as a point of departure to gain insights into Russian conceptions of property rights as they 518 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE pertained to inventors’ patents. The study thus addresses the much larger question of how Russia was able to import the Western institu­ tion of the patent and make it conform to the Russian political, so­ cial, and cultural environment, even though the patent was based on concepts of property rights that arose in an entirely different legal tradition and culture. The main focus is on the period from 1861 until 1896, at which time a new patent statute was enacted, but Aer also gives some attention to the 18th-century background and to the first half of the 19th century. Readers interested in comparative European perspectives will find this book useful. Although it is not meant as a truly comparative study, a general comparative approach informs the work. Aer dis­ cusses patent systems in France, Germany, Finland, Great Britain, and the United States in order to establish the context for Russian policies. In addition, his coverage of international developments in patent agreements during the 1870s and 1880s and of Russia’s re­ fusal to sign the Paris Convention in 1883 is very thorough. One area of direct comparison concerns the confidence of inventors in their respective systems. Aer concludes that British inventors had a strong faith in their legal system even though their patent system actually worked poorly, whereas in Russia inventors’ faith was low...