Though I suppose the "clock alarm patent" tangent was of scant interest to most, and possibly an amusing diversion from weighter issues like strike violence and opera box ownership, it was of some interest to those familar with patents because it was flagrantly misrepresentative of the patenting process and just wrong in almost every way.

While the current patenting process isn't identical to that in place in the 1880's, the current process isn't fundamentally different from that 140 years ago.

First, there has never been a patent office in New York City.

Second, the only patent office - in Washington D.C. (or more precisely Crystal City, Virginia now)- is not like the DMV, where you fill out a form and wait on line for anything.

Third, you send an application that tells the Patent Office why you should be entitled to a patent because your invention is new and non-obvious. That application is "prosecuted" by the Patent Office, i.e., an Patent Office Examiner considers whether your application is worthy of issuing as a patent by assessing how different it is from prior art - stuff that came before. That process can and take years. 

Fourth, a patent application would never be rejected because the applicant isn't a member of some specific group. That's just stupid. There's never been any provision like that in the patent laws of this country.

The filing fees mentioned in this episode do seem to be historically in the ball park, however. But today, and presumably then as well, the lion's share of the cost of filing a patent application isn't the application filing fees charged by the Patent Office, but the fees a patent lawyer charges to write the patent application. While anyone can file a patent application (and you don't necessarily need a patent lawyer to do that), the patent application rules are so byzantine that it's almost impossible for a pro se applicant to file his or her own patent application.

For those who want to wade into the weeds on this, see https://www.ipmall.info/content/patent-history-materials-index-brief-history-united-states-patent-office-its-foundation-1790

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