Wednesday, October 7, 2026
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PX-1560
PUBLIC RECORD, WITHDRAWN
INVENTED FOR A FICTIONAL NEWSPAPER

Patent application 4,112,889 — 'Apparatus for Asymmetric Capacitive Displacement' — with examiner correspondence

Origin
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Dated
Filed 1977; withdrawn 1979
Extent
61 pages
Status
accepted
Redactions
None.

Chain of custody

An ordinary public record, obtained from the patent office's own archive for the fee of $47, plus the examiner correspondence file, which required a second request. Nothing about obtaining this document was difficult, which is the most interesting thing about it.

Held by: Public record; copy held by They Buried

Excerpt

EXAMINER'S NOTE, 3rd action:

Applicant is advised that the device as described would, if operable as claimed,
require re-examination of the disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 181 (secrecy orders).
Applicant is invited to withdraw and refile with amended claims.

[MARGIN, DIFFERENT HAND] applicant withdrew 11/79. no refiling. no secrecy order issued.
file closed.

Transcribed by the data desk. Line breaks follow the original. Bracketed matter is ours.

Editor's note

We stress what this document does and does not show. It shows an examiner raising the secrecy statute and an applicant withdrawing. It does not show that the device worked, and our correspondent's story says so in the second paragraph.

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