Patent clerk

A patent clerk is someone who works at a special office where people can turn in special papers that say they invented something new or special. The patent clerk is in charge of looking at all the papers and deciding if the person really did invent something brand new and useful. If the patent clerk thinks the invention is good and hasn't been made before, they give the person who made it a special paper called a patent. This paper means that the person who made the new thing gets to be the only one who can make or sell it for a certain amount of time. The patent clerk is like a super smart helper who makes sure new ideas are protected and only the person who came up with it gets to make it.