THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE. LONDON: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1868. is that it has produced eight volumes, com-sufficiently paid to enable him to devote his posed of papers by various shipbuilders, en- undivided time to the interests of the Instigineers, naval officers, and others. A value tution. attaches to some of these papers for the prac- Then the offices of the Institution are MAGAZINE.tical information they contain; others treat inadequate. They were originally taken, we of theory in its highest phases, and, if we thought, until the executive had time and fail to see that they are likely to be of the opportunity to select a place conveniently slightest practical benefit in our generation, situated, and in all other respects suited to, we do not fail to recognize in them evidences of deep and well-cultured minds, and we wish them all-speed in the development of principles which shall sweep away some of the numerous obstacles that stand in the way of THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS. real progress. Others of the papers, again, and worthy of, a society having an excellent beginning, under most exalted patronage. Instead of the present deserted-looking apartment, the wretched exterior only being eclipsed by the scant and forlorn aspect within, the offices should be altogether of a superior character, situated centrally, so as to be easy of access; the secretary should be at his post, and the offices, supplied with the current scientific literature, should be always accessible for members and associates, many of whom would doubtless be daily in the neighbourhood, and glad to avail themselves of a known common place of meeting to discuss and ventilate the various interesting scientific problems constantly recurring. Steps should also be taken towards establishing a library worthy of the noble professions which it is the object of the Institution to foster and develope, and of the country to which we belong. MORE than eight years have now passed since the establishment of the above Institution. We remember the lively satisfaction we experienced, in common, we believe, with every one present, when we saw for the first time assembled in the hall of the Society of Arts, the large number of gentlemen of high status and undoubted abilities, and noted the hearty, not to say enthusiastic, manner in which questions of the highest importance were taken up and discussed. That meeting was indeed a gratifying one, for it Now, it appears to us, keeping in mind the was an augury that, in the future, the great objects of the Institution, that but little has and complex art of naval architecture would been done by it. Had such an institution be steadily advanced, and that England's been fully successful, its voice should now be ships of war would, beyond all doubt, be the heard, and be held to be authoritative upon very best that science and art could produce. questions respecting our ironclads, questions One great danger in public societies is the No institution could have had a broader or a which are bandied about by persons of no liability which exists for their being made nobler field for its labours: its advancement known standing or merit, and whose greatest the vehicle for giving publicity to pet theories was the nation's good-England's supremacy anxiety, could their minds be probed, would or rival inventions, and in the case of such an on the ocean. What greater work than this? be found to be their own advancement The institution as the one of which we are now Nor was it without that element of success Institution of Naval Architects should tear writing, this danger exists to a greater extent which results, or is supposed to result, from the shreds of rivalry from the broadside and than in other public bodies. To get an the patronage of the great and influential of turret systems, assign to each their sphere of invention adopted by the Government is in the land, for its patrons were of the most service, or black list the more faulty system. some cases equivalent to the sudden realizaillustrious. It may not be amiss to recal the There is a movement now on the tapis for an tion of a fortune, and although this is not by avowed objects of the Institution. Here they international system of tonnage measurement any means a common occurrence, still there are:-First, the bringing together of the which offers scope for the action of the is a large class of inventors and patentees results of the experience which many ship- Institution. Then there is the large number who believe that they, and they alone, possess builders, marine engineers, naval officers, of overloaded vessels which continue to go either the best anchor, the best rudder, the yachtsmen, and others, were acquiring, quite out, and go down. There is room for bene-best anti-fouling composition for ships' independently of each other, in various parts ficent action here. Steel and iron ship con- bottoms, &c., the best method of reefing and of the country. Secondly, the carrying out struction is susceptible of improvement, and furling sails, or the best of the thousand aud by the collective agency of the Institution of offers a wide field for observation and one things which fall within the scope of such experimental and other inquiries as advancement. Then, granting that we are this Institution, and it therefore becomes an might be deemed essential to the promotion not out in our estimate of the Society's object of importance to exclude as far as of the science and art of shipbuilding, but labours and success, the question follows-possible from the meetings of the Institution which were of too great magnitude for private What are the causes of failure? These, the mere puffing of inventions. persons to undertake individually. Thirdly, unfortunately, are many; fortunately, they From the report of the council of the the examination of new inventions, and the are remediable. Let us outsiders venture to Institution, read by the hon. secretary, at investigation of those professional questions point out a few particulars which, in our the last meeting, we regret to learn that the which often arose and were left undecided judgment, are indispensable for its success. finances are not in a flourishing condition, because no public body to which professional In the first place, unlike most other scien- and that the Government had been applied to reference could be made existed. The means tific and mechanical bodies, we only hear of for an annual grant. In these days of disenby which it was proposed to accomplish the it once in a year. This is a defect, we think, dowment, this does not promise well for the first of these objects consisted in the reading and an undoubted source of weakness. We future of the Institution. Surely, this state of and discussion of papers at periodical meet- are of opinion that at a time like the present, things should not be that here, in maritime ings of the Institution, the exhibition of when the art of war involves the expenditure England, an institution should be started drawings and models, the publication of of so many millions of money, when the under all the most favourable conditions that reports of the proceedings of the Institution, claimants for novel modes of construction could well be expected, should receive the and the establishment of a professional library are numberless, aud when papers and maga-patronage of some of the highest in the State, and museum. The means by which the second zines canvass the merits and demerits of iron- should have for its objects the fostering of a object was to be effected would, it was said, clad ships and guns in a manner calculated of necessity vary with the nature of the en- to bewilder the public mind, the Institution quiries to be instituted. The objects embraced of Naval Architects should speak out freunder the third head were to be carried out quently and distinctly upon these great by the council of the Institution, or by special questions, with all the authority attaching to committees appointed by it. the collective mechanical genius of the country. These being the avowed objects of the Institution, the question naturally arises- The next element of failure consists, we How far have these objects been attained? believe, in the want of a cultivated naval We fear that little, if any, progress has been architect as secretary. We know the diffimade in some of these directions. We are culty in obtaining a gentleman combining unwilling to underrate any benefits that may professional knowledge with high theoretical have accrued from the Institution, and there- training and literary aptitude, but we believe fore, at once, frankly acknowledge that, in such an acquisition is not an impossibility, giving birth to a school of naval architecture, and, that obtained, he must watch and work it conferred on the profession an undoubted constantly and energetically. The gentleman benefit. The want of a school of naval who at present holds the post of secretary is architecture had been long felt; indeed, the also principal of the School of Naval Archiabsence of such a school, in a country like tecture at South Kensington, and possesses this, was, to our mind, simply a disgrace. It considerable attainments, being eminent as a is with pleasure, therefore, we here affirm that the Institution has accomplished in this matter a work worthy of its name, while it is a work for which it should receive the country's gratitude. If we ask what further practical benefit has emanated from it, the reply science perhaps dearer and of more import to most Englishmen than any that we could name, should be in existence eight years, and then dwindle away for want of funds, and be obliged to appeal to the Government for aid. No; we believe there is ample sympathy in the breasts of the members of the profession which it represents to keep such an institution far above financial depression. But the Institution must arouse from its torpor, and put forth its strength, must let its vitality be seen, and heard, and felt to be a power working for a public good, and in an open and unmistakable public way. THE ANGLO-MEDITERRANEAN TELEGRAPH CABLE. T the end of May last the prospectus of A mathematician, and is no doubt competent to the Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph grapple with some of the abstruse questions Company made its appearance, the company which have to be dealt with in the study of being formed for the purpose of providing a naval architecture. But, as before stated, direct and thoroughly efficient line of telewe think the secretary of this Institution graph to Egypt. To accomplish this object should be a naval architect, and should be arrangements and provisional contracts were The first ship, with a portion of the cable on board, left during the course of last week, and as we are anxious to place before our readers details of all the important telegraphic works carried out, we are now enabled to supply them with such information as could be obtained. The first part of the process, after finding a coral, is to have it cut transversely by a lapidary, and as they are excessively hard, in consequence of the great quantity of silica they contain, the workman is obliged to use diamond-dust in the operation. Next, they are cut longitudinally. These two operations must be superintended by the geologist, otherwise the important portions of the structure of the animal will be missed, as the slightest touch will take away the interesting parts. The pieces are next fixed to a piece of thick plate glass, by means of a mixture of beeswax and resin in equal proportious by weight, which mixture is warmed over a spirit lamp when required for use. After the piece of coral is attached to the glass, it is ground down to the required thickness with a mixture of fine emery-dust and putty powder, upon the leaden plate of the lapidary. entered into with the Telegraph Construction in. The direct distance from Malta to Alex- remains are found in the lowest parts of the and Maintenance Company: first, for the andria is 816 miles, and it is on that direct Scottish coal field. They are found imbedded purchase of their overland line, in perfect line that the principal soundings have been either in shale or limestone, and on the seaworking order, from Susa on the French- taken. The line shows a series of undulations. coast, near Dunbar, they are very plentiful Italian frontier to Modica in Sicily; second, Commencing at Malta, the water gradually at a level below high-water mark. In many "for the making, laying, and delivering to deepens to fifty fathoms, to which depth the instances, however, they are so much crushed the company, in perfect working order, shore end will extend, from there it deepens that it is difficult to ascertain the specific within four months, of a deep sea telegraph to 270 fathoms at a distance of about ninety character of their internal structure. cable, having an external covering suited to miles, the end of the Malta bank, wher erather the known requirements of the Mediterranean a sudden fall takes place, and then it deepens bed, from Malta to Alexandria." The same to 1,500 fathoms; at 150 miles the depth is contract enters into other arrangements for 1,000 fathoms, gradually deepening to 1,600, working, &c., which it is needless to mention which is maintained for some distance, as here, the only other special point being that far as 300 miles; from there it shallows to 890 the contractors are obliged to maintain the fathoms at 440 miles, which is about the cable in an efficient state for twelve months. nearest point to the African shore, the cable passing within a distance of about thirty miles from Marsa Sousa, a point not very far remote from the ancient Cyrene. From this point the soundings gradually increase to 1,200 fathoms at 500 miles, and to 1,500 at 700 miles, lessening again to 1,000 fathoms at 760, and then shallowing to 500 fathoms at thirtyIn June last a short cable was laid across five miles from Alexandria, and then rapidly the Straits of Messina, completing the com- shallowing to the harbour. From these munication between Susa and Modica, thus figures it will be seen that the greatest part of performing that portion of the contract; that the cable will have to be laid in deep water, the remainder of the contract will also be but considering its strength from the use of completed in time, there is but little question. homogeneous iron, and its small specific The contract for the cable was to provide gravity from the external coating of hemp, we one "capable of transmitting messages at a cannot see any great difficulty in the paying out speed equal to the existing Atlantic cable," operations; we therefore hope shortly to be and as the distance of the present cable will able to announce to our readers the successbe about one half that of the Atlantic, an ful completion of this line, thereby duplicating insulated conductor has been provided of our telegraphic communication with Egypt, half the weight. The conductor throughout and strengthening the links of our chain with the length consists of a strand of seven copper our possessions in India. wires weighing 150lb. per nautical mile; this is covered with alternate coatings of Chatterton's compound and gutta-percha to the weight of 200lb. per nautical mile, making the insulated conductor of the gross weight of 350lb., the Atlantic being 700lb. By work GEOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. URING the British The finishing polishing operations are performed by the geologist himself, who rubs them down upon a hone, kept wet by means of water. The manipulations in this part of the process must be very delicate, and Mr. Thomson has, in difficult cases, been some times occupied for ten hours in finishing a single specimen. Sometimes also, after working many hours, a few touches too much will destroy much of the value of the specimen. After they are finished, they are detached from the thick piece of glass by the aid of gentle heat, and a number of them are fixed in rows upon a sheet of patent plate glass, the longitudinal sections being placed ing this cable with the improved method, by D Association recent visit of the the in one row, the transverse sections in a row means of reflecting galvanometers, unques-pleasure of examining some very beautiful vanized. The contractors' steamship "Chiltern " sailed from the Thames last week for Malta; she has taken out with her the shore end and a portion of the main cable; the remainder of the main cable will follow in a few days in the "Scanderia." Corals belong to the same family as the anemone, and differ only from the anemone in the fact that they secrete solid matter. This solid matter is secreted at the base of the Pollop, and the animals themselves vary much in size, from the little "coral insect" making the beautiful branch-like bunches of coral so well known, to individuals as big as The straight course from Malta to Alex- the common anemone, who each form only andria never having been surveyed- a refer- their own single large secretion, and do not ence to the chart will at once show the by union build up large tree-like structures. absence of soundings-H.M.S. "Newport" These large fossil corals, as found singly by was dispatched from Malta in the beginning the geologist, are about the length of a comof July to survey and find a good route for mon hen's egg, but not so broad; they are the cable, although from the wording of the prospectus that the cable was to have "an external covering suited to the known requirements of the Mediterranean bed," it might have been imagined that the survey had already been made. The " Newport" returned at the end of July, having sounded a line right across, showing that the nature of the depth admitted of the submergence of a suitable cable, although the depth in places was rather great. The following figures will give about the depth of water the cable will have to be laid Nothing beneath, and so on alternately. has been found to answer better to cement them to the glass than common gum arabic. Any semi-transparent substances known to the geologist may be treated in the same way, such, for instance, as thin sections of teeth, bones, and agates. As regards corals, Mr. Thomson has made upwards of two thousand sections, and has undertaken to prepare a duplicate set for the British Museum. He has been working at the subject for seven years, and wishes that others would in the same manner make sections of the extinct corals of England, Wales, and Ireland. One of the corals thus sectioned, the C. Fungitis of Ure, was first figured by the Rev. David Ure in his history of Rutherglen and Eastkilbride, in 1793, and there has been a great deal of controversy about it ever since 1845, naturalists not being agreed to what genus it ought to be assigned. This fossil is the property of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, who sent it to Mr. Thomson to be sectioned. At the British Association at Norwich, a small grant of £25 was made to Mr. Thomson, to aid him in carrying on his work with the Scottish corals. Photographic prints from these hard stone negatives have been taken by Mr. Robinson, of Glasgow, upon albumenized paper, in the ordinary manner. We have pointed out to Mr. Thomson the perishable character of the pictures thus taken from his valuable little originals, and he contemplates getting other thicker at one end than the other, and some-copies printed in carbon. The most beautiwhat resemble a curved pear in shape. When ful prints he can obtain from them will be of found, they are often imbedded in a thick course photographic transparencies upon superficial crust, so that none but a good glass. In these pictures, to secure permazoophyte geologist would be likely to know the real contents of the stony mass. These larger fossil corals are those which have been photographically printed, and not the smaller ones, which require the aid of a microscope to be examined. Many Pollops now existing find their fossilized representatives in geological strata, but those collected by Mr. Thomson are extinct species, whose nency, it is desirable not to use bichloride of mercury in toning, to well wash the prints after fixing, and to cement with hardened Canada balsam a second sheet of glass over the negative, so as completely to protect the film from the action of the atmosphere. Mr. Thomson has already had transparencies and micro-photographs taken in the copying camera from his stone negatives. GOODS STATIONS. the inmates and their luggage are cleared if possible, the cable might be removed and laid WE COVERIES AND THEIR PRACTICAL AP- CRYSTALLIZED TIN FOIL AND MODE OF ASCERTAIN- PAPER ALTHOUGH companies still continue to run goods trains over the same metals that convey the "express" and the "limited mail," yet they have long ago recognized the necessity for providing separate accommodation at termini and important intermediate stations for the two descriptions of traffic. Our leading railways are existing examples of the truth of this statement. The SouthEastern, the London, Chatham, and Dover, the London and North-Western, and the South-Western, have their goods termini at Bricklayer's Arms, Blackfriars, Camden Town, and Nine Elms, respectively. It is ELECTRICITY AND TELEGRAPHY. true, that a certain amount of goods traffic is E learn by a telegram from Copenhagen that APER covered with tin foil, having a crystalallowed to be run in to the other termini, but it must be brought by passenger trains, and they have received intelligence from the lized surface, and coated with transparent varis of a very light description. Milk cans, Jutland coast of the successful submergence from nishes or gelatine of various colours, has been in which on some lines bestow upon the trains there of the first section, 200 miles, of the Anglo- great demand in Paris and Germany for ornamentthat convey them to the metropolis the title Danish submarine cable. This is a cable of about ing fancy goods of various descriptions. It is an of "milk trains," are a specimen of what may 300 miles in length to connect the north of Eng-old idea newly revived, but it has been very probe termed " light goods traffic." Similar to land with Denmark. The conductor is insulated fitable to the manufacturers of late. Puscher, of the improvements that have taken place in the construction of stations devoted to the with Hooper's material, and was sheathed at the Nurnberg, publishes the process adopted for getting reception of passenger trains, a correspond- works of Messrs. R. S. Newall and Co., at Gateshead. the crystallized surface on the tin, which is as ing progress has been made in many A meeting of the shareholders of Reuter's Tele- follows:--A solution is made by dissolving two instances in those appropriated to the load-gram Company was held on the 7th inst., when the parts of chloride of tin in four parts of hot water, ing and unloading of goods. The huge agreement with the Postmaster-General, for the and to this is added one part of nitric acid and timber truss, with its massive tiebeams, has purchase of their property, was brought before two parts of hydrochloric acid. The foil, he says,. them and agreed to without opposition. is to be dipped into this mixture and left until the not yet altogether given place to the light crystals appear; but it answers very well, we find, iron braced principal, but its ultimate disuse to brush the foil over with the liquid. In either is merely a question of time. The necessity case, as soon as the crystals appear, the foil must of a larger span will surpass its capabilities, be rinsed with cold water. It will do to sponge and it will, like hundreds of other wooden the surface well with a soft sponge and plenty of constructions, be compelled to yield to its water. When the solution is applied to cold foil invincible rival. the crystals are small, but very brilliant. Large crystals can be procured by heating the tin foil before the solution is applied. This can be done by placing the foil on a hot plate, and brushing on the solution when the melting point of the tin is nearly reached. After the rinsing the foil is attached to the paper, and then the coloured varnish or gelatine is applied. We have seen some very beautiful specimens of this manufacture coated with varnishes coloured with the aniline dyes. Puscher mentions that the solution named above may be used as a test for the purity of tin, inasmuch as tin containing only as little as one per cent. of lead or copper will not give a crystallized A meeting of the shareholders of the Electric and International Telegraph Company was held on Tuesday last. The provisional agreement entered into between the directors and the PostmasterGeneral for the purchase of all the Company's property was brought by the chairman before the meeting, and after some little discussion was unanimously agreed to. The completion of the work required for changing the shore end of the Zandvoort cable from Dunwich to Lowestoft, alluded to in our last week's impression, took place on Friday last, when the final splice was successfully made, and communication between London and Amsterdam re-established after only a few hours' delay. The delay was very trifling, owing to the manner in which the work was carried out. The new cable being laid to the selected spot, it was only necessary to lift the old cable, cut it, and splice on to the new. To the end of the new cable at Lowestoft four Independently of the mere increase of space allotted to goods traffic, great strides have been made in the mechanical appliances and facilities for manipulating the heavier descriptions of merchandize. As a proof of what can be done in lifting and shifting heavy weights, the arrangements at the late Exposition were amply demonstrative. One of the problems, which until lately presented a good deal of difficulty respecting its satisfactory solution, was the transhipment of goods, especially when there was a great difference of level to be overcome between additional wires had been erected from the Dars-surface; and he recommends that the test be ap ham Station of the Great Eastern line, where the The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance the water and the land. The best plan to plied to tinned iron cooking utensils, in which the presence of lead would be highly objectionable. The recent explosion at Pemberton, near Wigan, which seems to show that dynamite is not so safe an explosive as has been supposed, will once more call attention to the so-called "safety" powders, and as the most recent invention in this direction It will be nearly two months before the repairs are completed-dating from the breakdown-a truly great delay, and suicidal if there had been only one cable. We have alluded to the necessity of keeping a repairing ship at Newfoundland-a policy that has in so many places been found of great advantage-and we are glad to see that in presiding over a meeting of the Anglo-American Company, their chairman, Sir R. A. Glass, is reported to have stated, "It was the intention of the directors to keep a ship, with proper hands on board, at St. John's or Heart's Content, so that in the event of an accident it might be repaired in two or three days. Although this would entail IMPORTANT TO ENGINEERS AND USERS OF some expense, it would be in the shape of insurance, and the outlay would not fall entirely upon the STEAM MACHINERY.-Every Boiler should have a company, as the Newfoundland Company would is the practice of the Leading Firms of Engineers, Feed Pump independent of the Steam Engine. This join them in it." The fault happens to be about who are now using exclusively the Donkey Pumps the same spot as the break of last year, and we manufactured by Alex. Wilson and Co., Engineers, understand that instructions have been given Vauxhall Iron Works, Nine Elms, London, S.W.for taking soundings in the neighbourhood, so that, | [ADVT.] REPORT OF THE STANDARDS COMMISSION. HE Royal Commission appointed to inquire In of length :-Standards of the chain Tinto the condition of our standard measures of trans-tes fans divided into links, the rate character which have been made available for of length and weight have issued the following as their first report upon the subject: 1. The Commission appointed by your Majesty under date of the 9th day of May, 1867, for inquiry into the condition of the Exchequer Standards, and for other purposes, included six members of the present Commission, cited by name in the body of the warrant of the 4th day of May, 1868, together with William Earl of Rosse and John Baron Wrottesley. Upon the decease of these noblemen your Majesty was pleased to revoke the warrant of the 9th day of May, 1867, and by warrant of the 4th day of May, 1868, to re-appoint the six surviving members nominated in the former warrant, with the addition of Reginald Charles Edward Baron Colchester and the Right Hon. Stephen Cave; the duties of the Commission being defined in the same terms as in the former warrant. We have, therefore, considered that the new Commission is deemed to be in reality a continuation of the former Commission; and the details of the report now to be submitted apply to the proceedings of both Com missions. 2. We have held six meetings, and we have been in constant communication with the Warden of the Standards, from whom we have received several elaborate and important statements, which when more complete, we propose to submit to your Majesty. The materials of the following sections of this report are derived in great measure from those statements. accurate series of the sovereign (gold coins), showing their tending to make the office available for scientific measure of 100ft. divided into feet; the measure In measures of capacity:-Standards of 1-6th A measure (with proper comparing apparatus) of one yard, bearing various subdivisions, has been provided; which, when verified as to its whole length and its divisions by the Warden of the Standards, might with propriety be used as an official standard, for accurate comparisons of subdivided measures. the metre. 13. It will be remarked that the Standards De 7. The Commission, observing the extraordinary attention now given to the metric system of weights and measures, and remarking that an Act was passed in 1864 to render permissive the use of the metric system, consider it highly desirable that complete representatives of that system should be lodged in the Standards-office. By the courtesy of the President and Council of the Royal Society, partment has long been in possession of many the Commission have been enabled to use the best antiquarian standards, and of standards of accurate copies of the French standard metre existing in construction which have borne historically an this country for laying down the exact measure of important part in the formation of the modern The Standards-office possesses a most exact standards. The Commission regret to state accurate copy of the kilogramme, verified by that two weights of the latter class, which had Professor Miller, and transferred, with the sanction been transmitted under proper sanction for exhiof the Lords Commissioners of your Majesty's bition at Paris, have in some unexplained way reTreasury, from the Royal Observatory of Green-ceived serious injury. The Commission are, howwich to the Standards Department. And the ever, satisfied that there remains abundant direct Commission have taken steps for procuring com- evidence for the constructive history of the modern plete series of the weights and capacity-measures standards, although they cannot but feel the imof the metrical system. portance of carefully preserving every representative (whether original or derived) of the national weights and measures constructed at the time of a great reform in our system of standarde, which can serve to give collateral evidence. 3. On the condition of the official standards we have to report-first, that the Warden of the Standards has, by use of the most balances, and with the best modern appliances and methods, compared the official standards of avoirdupois weight with the gilt bronze standards, whose authenticity is derived from the Imperial standards by comparisons made by Professor Miller at the time of construction of the Imperial standard. And the result is that the official standards of avoirdupois weight have comparing apparatus will be given hereafter in an above cited, the Commission desire to point out : 8. The comparing apparatus of every kind for making the official and other standards available in the most accurate way for public purposes, and the mode of impressing the official certificate, are under revision. Lists of the balances and other appendix. discarded. 14. For giving further effect to the enactment that a great step would be made in the promotion of general scientific accuracy by giving to men of science, artists employed in the manufacture of scientific instruments, and others (on payment of a Proper fee), the results of comparison of their own standards with the standards of most accurate this class would not be available for the official purposes of inspectors of standards, and as there is consequently no necessity for limiting the class of standards so compared to the recognized scale of British standards, the Commission express their hope that the sanction for which they ask may be extended to include every kind of standard in the Standards-office, and especially standards on the metric system, the want of which is already experienced by manufacturers of standards, men of science, and mechanical engineers. character in the Standards-office. As standards of been found to be considerably in error, the deficiency of weight in the official standard of 9. The Commission are of opinion that stand561b. being nearly 12 grains. In view of the ards of every weight and measure represented by magnitude of this error, and of the consequent the material standards now in the Standard-office error in the practice of the Standards Depart- ought still to be maintained in the office. The ment of the Exchequer for many years, as Commission have already indicated that the existregards the verification of local standards, it be- ing series of official standards of avoirdupois weight came necessary for the Commission to decide on ought to cease to be secondary legal standards as the course to be adopted in future. The Commis-soon as others shall be substituted for them. So sion unanimously affirmed the following prin- far as the examination by the Warden of the ciple:Standards has yet advanced, no other of the That it is the business of a Standards Depart-existing official standards ought necessarily to be ment to compare local standards with the Imperial standards; the official standards being 10. The Warden of the Standards is engaged in considered only as intermediaries, brought into collecting evidence, both from his own examinause for the safety of the Imperial standards and tion of official and local standards, and from the for general convenience. representations of local inspectors and others, as As a temporary arrangement, small supple-to the amounts of error which ought to be tolerated mental weights have been prepared under the in comparisons of different classes. A scale has immediate superintendence of the Warden of the been formed for provisional use in the department, 15. As an important matter for maintaining the Standards, by use of which, in conjunction with with the sanction of the Commission, but it is con- high character of the Standards-office, the Comthe defective official standards, the just weights sidered by them as open to further correction. mission have remarked with pleasure the efforts are represented. But the Commission pro11. The great and important duty of considering made by the Warden of the Standards for the formation of a Standards library. Many papers pose without delay to prepare new avoirdupois how the Standards Department may be made most standards, correct in weight, and with improve-efficient has engaged the earnest attention of the have been presented by the Presidents and Councils ments as to metal and as to form suggested by the Commissioners. As regards the principal object of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical latest experience. of the Department-namely, the ensuring that no Standards Departments of France, Prussia, and the Society; others by the Superintendents of the 4. Secondly, the Warden of the Standards has weights and measures, except th se possessing United States of North America. The translations compared the official standards of troy weight reasonable and uniform accuracy, shall be in use and of bullion weight with the primary platinum for public sales throughout the kingdom-the of these, and compilations from them, made by the troy pound from which, in fact, the Imperial Commission considered it as the first necessary step Warden of Standards, to be annexed as appendix to standard of the avoirdupois pound was derived. to demand information of various kinds from the a subsequent report, will probably be found to The differences discovered are so small as to re-local inspectors; and a series of inquiries, approved convey the most valuable information which this quire no mechanical correction, and the state of by the Commission, was issued by the Warden of country yet possesses on the standard systems of these official standards may be considered generally the Standards to all the authorized local inspectors. regulations and working of the metric system. those countries generally, and particularly on the satisfactory. The returns to these inquiries have been received, 5. Thirdly, arrangements are in progress for and, by a process of great labour, conducted under Other official and historical documents have been derived from other sources. comparisons with their proper bases of the official the immediate superintendence of the Warden of standards of length, of capacity (for which the the Standards; abstracts of a large portion of the balance-beam originally constructed by Captain returns have been prepared, and the work is still Kater for the same purpose will be used), and of advancing. Until this operation has been comgas measure. pleted the Commission are scarcely in a state to lay before your Majesty any recommendations upon the important points which will probably be brought to notice. Of all the existing official standards a list will be given in an appendix to be hereafter prepared. 16. It will be evident from the premises that the internal business of the Standards-office has greatly increased. In addition to the large demands for the services of clerks in the formation of the laborious abstracts to which we have alluded, and in the extension of correspondence, domestic and foreign, a great amount of labour, 12. The Commission have recognized with great both mechanical and clerical, has been thrown satisfaction the effect of the enactment in the Act upon the office by the requirement of the re29th and 30th of Victoria, cap. 82, sec. 11, remov-verification of the local and official standards at In weights of the smaller class:-Standards of ing the limitations by which the utility of the stated intervals. Applications for increased perdecimal series of grain weights; and standards of Standards-office was formerly confined to means of sonal assistance in the office, made by the Warden the weights of the half-sovereign, and of decimal | insuring ordinary accuracy in public sales; and of Standards, and supported by the recommenda 6. In regard to additions that may be required to the existing official standards, we submit that the following are desirable : tion of the Commission, have been favourably received by the Board of Trade. beth was strikingly absurd and obnoxious, operating to encourage perverted and fraudulent in17. In a late discussion in the House of Com- genuity, and it was only on the accession of James I. mons on the question of introducing into this to the throne that patent monopoly was limited country the metric system, the Vice-President of to the "sole working or making of any matter of the Board of Trade, speaking for your Majesty's new manufactures.' Unfortunately, it was not at Government, stated, as a reason for taking no im- the same time required from the inventor to state mediate step, that the Government desired to wait more than the title of his invention, to which he until they should have received the opinion of this generally added an inflated statement of its wonderCommission on the working of the metric system, ful properties. This lax mode of obtaining patents and on the probable effect of attempting to intro- for inventions, which might be real or purely duce it in this country. The members of the Com- visionary, continued for nearly three centuries, and mission have not yet had time sufficiently to ex-it was only late in the eighteenth century that amine the papers bearing on this subject, and the specifications formed necessary adjuncts to the Commission are, therefore, unable at present to ex- titles of patents. press an opinion. The Commission, however, are aware of the great importance of the question, and will not fail to give to it their early and careful attention. All of which we humbly submit to your Majesty. STEPHEN CAVE. JOHN GEORGE SHAW LEFEVRE. W. H. MILLER. 7, Old Palace-yard, July 24. ON PATENT MONOPOLY AS AFFECT- VERY they rose from 60 to above 100; and at the end of the last year, under the old patent law, presented a total of 580; against all of which we find the operation of the patent law of October, 1852, giving for three mouths a total of 1,211; next year, 3,045; the year following, 2,764; and, in 1855, a total of 2,958 patents. The conclusions we draw from these facts are, that excessive patent fees are a serious tax on the inventive ingenuity of the country; that it is questionable whether any distinction should be made between large and small inventions so long as they are original and useful; and, lastly, that patent laws require and are capable of being amended. It is very certain that patent monopoly has largely assisted in encouraging the development of an amazing amount of ingenuity in producing entirely new sources of industry, and in extending and improving many old manufactures. In considering the subject of patent monopoly, we must never lose sight of these progressive stages, otherwise we shall continually fall into the error of raising objections to patent monopoly on obsolete and admitted defective patent laws. From Among industrial arts, husbandry is much inOctober, 1852, the mode of obtaining patents has debted for machines which a quarter of a century been simplified, and great facilities afforded to in- back it would have been thought impossible ever ventors; the patent fees have been considerably to realize. And among manufactures, how many reduced and made payable at three stages of the entirely new ones have arisen which we may reaterm of fourteen years, amounting to a saving to sonably trace to the direct operation of patent the inventor of 50 per cent. on the fees for the monopoly in the security it affords the capitalist United Kingdom, as compared with former practice. for the safe outlay of his money on what otherwise It is now sought to introduce many excellent re- would never excite his attention, and most likely forms to admit acknowledged facilities, and to only be treated as a wild, hopeless speculation. render patents less liable than they are at present Among these patented inventions we trace the to clash with private interests in similar property, large manufactures of Macintosh cloth, vulcanized to be effected through the medium of specifica-india-rubber, gutta-percha, new dyes, felted cartions undergoing a thorough examination by an pets, gas, electric telegraphs, electro-plating, stereoauthorized legal and scientific body of examiners. type printing, iron shipbuilding, wire rope, railway bars and locomotives, alpaca manufacture, photography, paraffin oil, with many more, all springing out of the security given for the investment of capital in the working of patent property. The sketch, although necessarily brief, brings under observation-1st, Secrecy in invention as one mode of securing to an inventor the monopoly he desires to possess in the products of his own ingenuity; 2nd, The adoption of patent monopoly under the existing law; and 3rd, The progressive improvements in patent laws from the reign of BY MR. HENRY DIRCKS, C.E., F.R.S.E. VERY early records exist among our State papers and scientific literature, affording abundant and satisfactory evidence that men of genius and enterprise, engaged in industrial arts and manu-Elizabeth to 1852. factures, have for centuries obtained protection for their individual inventions or improvements of a mechanical or other nature, through the medium of secrecy in their operations, or through the medium of patent monopoly. We have thus the secret process of manufacture, which may confine the use of an important invention or improvement to the sole use of an individual, and which may be for ever lost to society on his decease, as indeed has happened. And we have, on the other hand, the published process and public use, which an inventor confidently leaves to posterity in consideration of limited patent protection. Now, what we have specially to bear in mind in reference to these differently situated classes of inventors is the fact that the secret invention is as much or more of a monopoly than any patented invention, with this single difference, that the one must inevitably revert to the public, while the other, whatever may be its value, is in a position to die with the inventor. And indeed there can be no doubt that the advancement of many branches of manufactures has been materially retarded by the discouragement generally given to secret in ventions. Letters patent simply afford a monopoly in products which are novel, useful, and economical, the result of individual investigation, ingenuity, and enterprise; and of which the public, that is, the community at large, would otherwise have been deprived. Patent fees are the smallest part of the charges incurred by inventors; hundreds, and oftener thousands, of pounds are totally sunk in mere experiments, and often when a valuable patent is obtained its possessor may have to spend years and a fortune in bringing the manufacture to perfection. Metallurgy abounds with examples of this kind, as does also chemistry, weaving, dyeing, shipbuilding and propelling, railways and locomotives, and, in short, almost every department of industry. Who among these arduous workers would have dared thus to devote their time, onergies, and capital to reap the cold and doubtful acknowledgments in a pecuniary form from any body of manufacturers, however numerous and wealthy? It is not in human nature to devote capital and ingenuity to the perfecting of mechanical or other operations in arts and manufactures without reaping a substantial benefit, arising from per centage of profit on the advantages gained by a new or an old manufacturing process. Although, therefore, a patent is absolutely a monopoly, it is one differing in no important re- Much has been said against patent monopoly on spect from an individual's right to the full, free, the ground of a larger number of patents being and unmolested possession of his money or mer- obtained for subjects which are pronounced to be chandise. He who can make two blades of grass frivolous, and of course worthless. Now, a steel grow where only one grew before has an inalien- pen would possibly come under this category, ablo right to produce double crops on his land and perhaps also a button, hook-and-eye, pins, without communicating his intelligence to any needles, tapo, ribbons, gloves, shoes, hats, nails, second person, whereby to enable others not only screws, with others of a similar class. But most to compete with himself, but thereby also enlist the of these, like the sewing machines, require ingenico-operation of the entire farming interest in adopt-ous mechanism for their production; and being ing his discovery. Such an one may, therefore, be taken as representing those inventors who work in secret and reap the fullest possible benefit that can arise from their ingenuity and industry, although exercised on limited operations at a large profit. articles of large consumption, not only is an ex- Now, patent law is based on the principle of considering it to be of public advantage to protect the secret invention, whatever it may be, by securing to the inventor the sole use of his invention for fourteen years, under letters patent granted by the Crown. It is thus that patents are now, as of old, obtained on the payment of certain fees, and the lodging of a complete specification (together with drawings, if needful), exactly describing the nature, object, and mode of working the alleged invention The most cursory view of the progress of patent or improvement. But the patent laws have, during monopoly shows how gradually it increased. Thus different reigns, undergone great modifications. in the time of James I. seldom more than from The system that obtained during the reign of Eliza-1 to 6 patents were obtained per annum; Charles I., Read before the British Association. 1 to 15; Charles II., 1 to 6; Anne, 1 to 10; The vast increase of improvements in husbandry, brewing, dyeing, printing, electro-plating, metallurgy, and other extensive operations, has called into exercise such a demand for scientific and skilled labour, that laboratories form an essential feature of many large establishments to test accuracy of production, exactness in important details, to seize any accidental suggestions that may offer, and to further scientific applications derived from independent sources. The entire circle of arts and manufactures are thus being constantly improved, and scientific research materially upheld and encouraged. Still, there may exist individuals who seriously believe, and that without the slightest bias from self-interest or disappointed hopes, or any flush of success that renders them independent of adverse opinions to the means that achieved their own rising in fortune, that all the encouragement, improvement, and progress we have pointed out would have gone on all the same had patent laws never existed; and, in short, that all our distinguished patentees, from Watt in 1769-1785 to the present times, would have laboured, and produced, and laid out capital experimentally and practically, just the same had these patent laws been abolished; indeed, that Mr. Boulton would have been as secure and as successful without as he was with patent monopoly. Such reasoners always assume that inventors invent from the pure unalloyed pleasure they take in reforming all existing systems of manufacture. Poets and prose writers may invent with a view to fame and fortune, but mechanical inventors, we are to believe, are men far above the temptation of lucre. In conclusion, and in contrast to any such idle dreams, we have the facts before us that all the patents preceding the eighteenth century were secret inventions, although an inventor had it in his power safely to communicate as much as ho pleased to a manufacturer; but the consequence has been that few of those early inventions have come down to the knowledge of the present century; consequently, manufactures progressed slowly. When, later in the eighteenth century, patents came to be fully described, enterprise and competition gradually sprang up, until, at the present period the number of patents annually obtained has risen nearly thirty per cent. on the amount of those during the reign of George III. Therefore, patents are decidedly an evidence of commercial, and manufacturing and scientific growth and prosperity. A patent is the inventor's sheet anchor-it is his mainstay, which the more we improve and strengthen, the more shall we advance the prosperity of Great Britain and Ireland. patented invention is for a cheaper article, or cheaper process, or an entirely new and untried branch of industry. No patented invention makes any article of manufacture dearer than it is at present, for it would not receive encouragement if it could be shown to be |