That is indeed the current practice, but it is the opposite of the original intent of patent concept. The idea was to grant a temporary monopoly in exchange to

That is indeed the current practice, but it is the opposite of the original intent of patent concept. The idea was to grant a temporary monopoly in exchange to revealing the technique — it was supposed to advance technology faster. The standard was (and AFAIK, still is) that the technique or technology must be revealed in sufficient detail that it can be reproduced "by a skilled practitioner in the field without undue experimentation". Of course, that was at a time when technological progress was much slower, and less transnational.