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A PROPER AND LEGITIMATE SUBJECT
FOR A PATENT.

The FRANKLIN JOURNAL, for May, has very elaborately discussed the question as to what is or is not a proper and legitimate subject for a patent.

It appears that John F. Kemper, Esq., of Cincinnati, applied to the Government Office, at Washington, for a grant of Letters Patent, in the United States, for his invention of an improvement in the manner of stowing ice. This improvement consisted merely in setting up the slabs of ice edgewise; as it was stated the petitioner had discovered that the ice would not melt so readily in that position as if laid flat, or thrown in a promiscuous heap.

The authorised functionaries, after an examination of the petition and specification, refused the grant, and delivered the following answer :—

Sir," The specification of your improved vessel for stowing and carrying ice, is herewith returned for amendment in the claim, which is deemed to be too broad; the mode of arranging the ice, by placing the blocks edgewise, cannot, in the judgment of this office, constitute a claim to a patent, as it is believed, that every one has a right to pack away ice, by placing the blocks edgewise, or in any other position. The mode of caulking does not present any thing substantially new, the same having long since been effected."

Yours, &c.,

H. L. ELLSWorth.

This official report seems to have produced a very long correspondence between the law officers and the legal advisers of the petitioner; but the main feature of argument discussed, is,

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whether setting up the slabs of ice edgewise, is such an invention as ought to be made the subject of a patent.

"it

The solicitor for the petitioner says, " it appears to me that, in the case in hand, the office has entirely mistaken its powers and its duties, and has assumed an authority not intended to be given to it by the legislature." He then goes on to say, that under the laws of the United States, patents are granted for " any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, not known or used by others before his or their discovery or invention."

The question then is this:-Is the packing of ice edgewise, a new and useful art? or a new and useful improvement on any art? Philadelphia was once proverbially famous for its learned lawyers, and their tact in treating a knotty question; that talent seems not to have extended itself to Washington.

Without determining what the wisdom of our Attorney-General or Solicitor-General might have resolved under these difficult circumstances, we feel perfectly satisfied, that after the grant of such a patent, and the inrolment of a most skilfully drawn specification of the invention, all the courts of law in the British Empire would have been unable to prevent any man from setting up his ice edgewise, if he thought proper so to do.

List of Patents

Granted by the French Government from the 1st of April to the 30th of June, 1840.

PATENTS FOR TEN YEARS,- CONTINUED.

Lassere, of Coudet-sur-Vezère, (Dordogne,) for a machine for making chains in metallic wire.

Hallette, of Arras, for a machine for excavating and dragging. Grenetier, of Lyons, for a lithographic press.

Zimmer, of Paris, for a machine for spinning flax and hemp. Gentilhomme, of Rambervillers, for improvements in flour mills. Lasseron and Rollet, of Niort, for an apparatus for the preservation of corn.

Sprye, of Paris, for the calcination of sulphate of lime.

Havard, Uncle and Nephew, for a water-closet.

Bourdon, of Paris, for an apparatus for telling the level of water

in steam generators.

Muel, of Paris, for Persian blinds, in iron, &c.

Marie, of Paris, for a new lamp.

Chibon, of Paris, for a new system of roofing houses.

Fauquet Lemaître, of Bolbec, for improved looms.

Manby, of London, for the means of making gas for illumination. Randall, of Paris, for an improved knapsack.

Rambaud, of Lyons, for an improved powder for the clarifying of wines.

Pernet, of Paris, for improved trusses.

Lamotte, of Bruxelles, for a new pump.

Triger and Lascasses, of Paris, for an improved method of constructing shafts in mines.

Truffaut, of Paris, for an apparatus for preserving people from immersion.

Sudds, Adkins, and Barker, of Rouen, for a mechanical process for uniting bands or straps used in machinery.

Bleyer, of Mulhouse, for a method of decomposing the sulphate of lead.

Malmazet, Sen., Desplanque, Jun., and Co., of Lille, for looms for manufacturing brocaded tissues.

Caussin, of Berthenay, (Haute Marne,) for an improved machine for reaping corn.

Callas, of Paris, for powder to preserve worsted articles from

moths

Jardin, of Belleville, for an apparatus for portative aromatic dry baths.

PATENTS FOR FIVE YEARS.

Vendroux, of Calais, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate of the French and Foreign Office for Patents, Rue Choiseul, No. 2, ter., for improvements in that kind of bobbin net frames, known under the name of straight bolts.

Lalande, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for new

stores.

Vacheron and Lefrançois, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for tissues in caoutchouc, without seams.

Holtorp, of Paris, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for an improved lamp burner.

Marion, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for the manufacture of paper with prismatic rays.

Mathey, of Baume les Dames, represented in Paris by M.Perpigna, advocate, for locomotives without rails.

Gillet and Monier, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for impermeable fabrics.

Blondel, of Rouen, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for improvements in looms.

Benoist, of Neubourg, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, ad

vocate, for an apparatus by which the snuffing of candles is dispensed with.

Carteron, of Mâcon, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for an inexplosible steam generator.

Delonay, of Die, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for a weighing instrument.

Bouchet, Sen., of Nimes, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna,

advocate, for improved steam-engines.

Papavoine and Chatel, of Rouen, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for the manufacturing of cards for wool and cotton.

Coffineau, of Paris, for an oven for baking plaster and lime.
De Bergue, of Paris, for an improved loom.

Whitehead, of Brompton, near London, for a new coffee pot.

Mangin and Tesfier, of Paris, for improvements in umbrellas.

Andelle and Soulas, of Paris, for the manufacturing of rockets

for signals.

Bacle, of Paris, for a new kind of shoes.

Braithwaite, of New-road, London, for a new lanthorn.

Davey, of Camberwell, near London, for a diving apparatus.
Devienne, of Belleville, for an oven for baking onions.

Poirier de St. Charles, of Paris, for an improved instrument for finishing embroidery.

Galy, of the 7th Regiment of Artillery, at Metz, for an improved bit for bridles.

Jalade Lafond, of Paris, for improved trusses.

Bernhardt, of Paris, for improvements in pianos.

Mulot, of Paris, for a portable vapour bath.

Boucher, of Lavillette, near Paris, for manufacturing of beetroot sugar.

De Castro and De Salazar, of Paris, for an improved bellows. Dervise, of Paris, for manufacturing of straps for suspenders. Legras, of Paris, for a new busk for stays.

Mordan and Co., for an improved pen-holder.

Lejeune, of Paris, for improved hinges, for doors, &c.

Clachet, of Paris, for improved lamps.

De Rhoden, of Paris, for improvements in pianos.

Oudinot Lutel, of Paris, for a fabric, called crino-gase.

Lena, of Paris, for water for cleaning oil paint.

Jouet, of Stolberg, (Prussia,) for an oven for extending window glass.

Giraud, of Bourg, St. André, for a process for killing and drying

the chrysalis of the silk worm.

Verité, of Beauvais, for new escapements for clocks.

Busnel, of Paris, for grease for carriages and machines, &c.

Boucher and Danvers, of Paris, for skeletons for silk hats, in

twilled cotton tissue.

Clarac, of Bordeaux, for improvements in vinification.

Martoret, of Paris, for metallic collars with springs.

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