I see that some old USPTO patents list witnesses. Example:
What was the point of having witnesses on patents?
asked Mar 8 at 4:42
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1I can only guess that they are attesting that the document was signed by the inventor. Like witnesses on a will. Both are legal documents after all.– Eric SCommented Mar 8 at 17:18
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1 Answer
Having the Witnesses was a requirement of the Patent Act of 1870 [PDF](which was the Patent Act in force at the time of the exemplary patent provided, kinda, The Revised Statutes were the statutes in force).
It states in SEC. 6:
He shall, furthermore, accompany the whole with a drawing, or drawings, and written references, where the nature of the case admits of drawings, or with specimens of ingredients, and of the composition of matter, sufficient in quantity for the purpose of experiment, where the invention or discovery is of a composition of matter; which descriptions and drawings, signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses, shall be filed in the Patent Office; and he shall moreover furnish a model of his invention, in all cases which admit of a representation by model, of a convenient size to exhibit advantageously its several parts."
The witness requirement was first added in the Patent Act of 1793[PDF] and continued in the Patent Act of 1836[PDF]. It is also in the revised statutes of 1875[Google Books, pg. 946, sec. 4888]
Here is an interesting Law Review article on "The Emergence of Classical American Patent Law"[PDF]. Based on the description of the patentability arguments in case law at the time, I think it is reasonable to say the witness requirement was at least partially included to support the invention having been in practice and viewed by the witnesses. The requirement for witnesses was added in the 1793 Act, which replaced the patent examination process with a registration system.
It looks like, the Sixty-third congress, Sess. III., on March 3, 1915, chapter 94, stuck out "and attested by two witnesses." I pulled up the Congressional record and did not find any reasoning on why it was removed.
