the composition from copper or other engraved metal plates, gives us the power of greatly improving, perfecting, diversifying, and multiplying the combinations of patterns, grounds and devices, while it does not deprive us of the aid of enamel colours to add to that diversity as usual."

The claim is to the use in those processes for ornamenting glass, where staining, stoppingout, or obscuring materials are employed, of 1. the mode before described of transferring the said materials in the form of impressions from engraved plates of metal on to the glass, in the same manner as now practised in printing in enamel on glass, namely, by mixing the said materials with boiled linseed or other oil, and, 2. of the application of the staining material so mixed with oil, to pot metal or to flashed glass generally. The patentees add, that by "the said improved mode of operating with the said materials, we are enabled greatly to improve, perfect, render more exact, diversify and multiply the combinations of patterns, grounds and devices for ornamenting such glass as aforesaid, and to produce the same, so ornamented, at a cheaper rate."

PATENT LAW CASE.

Court of Common Pleas.
Thursday, May 5.
(Sittings in Banco.)

Gibson and another v. Brand.

This was an action for the infringement of a patent, which had been taken out by the plaintiffs for a new and improved process of manufacture from silk waste, in combination with wool, flax, and other fibrous substances. The trial, which took up three days, was held before Lord Chief Justice Tindal, at the Middlesex sittings after last Trinity term. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff on all the issues except the second and third, which denied the novelty of the invention; and as to these issues, they brought in a special verdict, viz., that the invention was not new, but that there was an improved process, and not any new combination. A rule was obtained in Michaelmas term to enter the verdict on the second and third issues for the defendant, or to enter a nonsuit on the plea of not guilty, or to arrest the judgment on the fifth issue, which related to the specification. A cross rule was also granted for a new trial, if upon the argument the Court should be of opinion that the verdict on the second and third issues ought to be entered for the defendant.

Mr. Serjeant Bompas argued the case on the part of the plaintiffs, and Mr. Serjeant Channell for the defendant.

The Court said, that before they expressed any opinion as to the propriety of entering

383

the verdict on the second and third issues for the defendant, they would dispose of the two minor questions in the case, the first of which related to a nonsuit, and the second to an arrest of judgment on the fifth issue. It had been contended, that as the grievance charged against the defendant was that he made, used, and put in practice the invention of the plaintiffs, and the evidence of infringement was a sale of some silk manufactured in the mode claimed by the plaintiffs as their invention, the plaintiffs were not entitled to retain their verdict upon the plea of not guilty. But the evidence went to show that the defendant ordered the articles to be made in the same way as the articles made under the patent of the plaintiffs, and that seemed to the Court sufficient to justify the allegation that he made, used, and put in practice their invention. There was no ground, therefore, for a nonsuit, and it did not appear to the Court that there was any sufficient foundation for arresting the judgment for the plaintiffs upon the fifth plea. The issue raised on that plea was, that the specification was sufficient, and the jury had found that it was sufficient, in point of fact, to enable a workman of competent ability to act upon it. The Court now came to the main and important question between the parties, namely, whether the defendant had a right to have the verdict on the second and third issues entered for him. The jury found upon these issues that there was no novelty in the invention, no new combination, but an improvement in the process. The question then arose whether, upon that finding, supposing it to be supported by the evidence in the case, the jury had found those issues for the plaintiffs or the defendant, and it appeared to the Court that the verdict should be entered for the defendant on those issues. The patent was taken out strictly and entirely for the process described in it; but upon looking at the specification, it appeared to them that the patent could not be supported in law, because the plaintiffs claimed in their specification more than they were entitled to. The Court could not read the description given of their invention without understanding them to claim the improvement in the machinery used for the purpose of producing the desired effect. Now, the finding of the jury was not in accordance with the specification, as it negatived any improvement in the machinery, and therefore the Court was of opinion that the defendant ought to have the verdict entered for him upon those issues. They also thought, upon a full review of the evidence, that there was no miscarriage at the trial, and the rule for a new trial must therefore be discharged.

Rule absolute for entering the verdict for the defendant upon the second and third issues.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

On the Protection of Iron by Zinc.-M. de Althaus, director of the salt works of Durrheim, has succeeded in protecting completely the evaporating pans of the works, 30 feet in length, by nailing to them on the outside bands of zine; and he observes that it is not necessary that the two metals be nicely polished at the points of contact.-Annales des Mines.

New Propeller.-A trial was made at Liverpool, last week, of a new method of propelling steamboats, invented by Mr. E. Finch, for which purpose a small steamer had been constructed at the engineering establishment of Mr. Rigby, at Hawarden; the experimental trip was performed in so satisfactory a manner as to convince all parties that this new propeller is of great importance, and, when fully developed, will be as generally applied to sailingvessels as to steam-packets. The invention appears a simple contrivance; the paddle-boxes are still preserved, but, instead of wheels, two plates are applied, the broadest parts of which are at their extreme ends, fixed obliquely at an angle of 40 degrees, one on each side of the vessel, at the ends of the paddle-shaft; these plates, or propellers, are made of wrought-iron, and appear very strong and compact, and about 11 feet long and 3 feet 6 inches wide in the broadest parts: they are entirely out of the water twice in the revolution of the paddle-shaft, when the engine is on her centres, and have the deepest hold of the water when the engine is at half stroke, or at its greatest power. They thus act like oars, or sculls; no back water is created, and the disagreeable beating of the paddle-boards on the water, and subsequent vibration of the vessel, is avoided.—Mining Journal.

Electro-Magnetism as a Moving Power.-The Consul-General of the Netherlands, in a communication dated the 18th ult., quoted by the Mining Journal, thus announces the removal of the hitherto great obstacle to the practical application of electro-magnetism as an effective propelling power:-“ A private gentleman, Mr. Elias, of Haarlem, has just published the description of a new machine invented by him, for the application of electro-magnetism as a substitute for steam. The object of the inventor has been chiefly to remedy the defects which, in 1839, rendered the otherwise ingenious invention of Mr. Jacobi, of St. Petersburgh, a total failure, in as far as practical utility is concerned. Those defects originated, it seems, in the erroneous supposition that the power of the magnetic bars exclusively resides in their extremities-whence the form hitherto given to all electro-magnetic machines-viz., that of a horse-shoe-which, while it occasions an unavoidable interruption of the magnetic stream at each new inversion of the poles, at the same time leaves the power resident in the remaining part of the bars wholly unemployed. The new invention of Mr. Elias, on the contrary, has the very great advantage of rendering effective the full power of the magnetic stream uninterruptedly, and throughout the whole body of the apparatus. This consists of two concentric rings of soft iron, standing on the same plane, of which the external one is immovable, while that on the inside revolves round its own axis. By means of a piece of copper wire, wound about each of these rings, he has given them six magnetic poles, placed at equal distances from one another, the whole being so contrived that the one ring exerts its inducing power on the other throughout the whole circumference, and always at the same distance. A small, but very perfect, model of this important invention is now open to public inspection here; and the result of its operation is allowed, by those skilled in such matters, to be such as to ensure the most triumphant success."

Ancient Bronze.-Among the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum there are several chisels, saws, and other tools, made of bronze; and also remains of granite sculptures, which, supposing them to have been executed with these tools, show that they must originally have been of a hardness and temper equal to that of our best modern tools of iron and steel. No Egyptian tool of iron has ever yet been found; nor is there any trace of this metal having been used for such purposes in the days of the pyramids. A small bronze knife, found at Thebes, was, after being buried for at least 2,000 years, of so good an edge, that it was used for a penknife several months after its exhumation. How the Egyptians contrived to obtain bronze of so superior a quality is now unknown; it is one of the lost arts, the re-discovery of which, (chiefly, however, on account of the rust-proof property of this compound metal,) would be worth a diadem.

Aerostation in Ireland.—We understand that Mr. Charles Green, whose long and persevering exertions to perfect aerial navigation are deserving of so much praise, will most probably gratify our friends of the sister island by making some ascents from Dublin, in the course of the present summer. Not, however, in the "Great Nassau," (which is a pity,) but in some balloon of inferior magnitude; for, strange to say, there is not as yet a gas establishment in Ireland which could afford sufficient gas for the inflation of so vast a machine.

Ericsson's Steam Fire-engine Revived in America. -When I left New York, it was rumoured that the several insurance companies of that city had determined to have fires put out, thereafter, by steam.They were having built a powerful steam fire-engine, to cost 6,000 D. It was building on a plan of Ericsson's, the inventor of the transversal screw-paddle for steam-ships. The engine was to weigh a little more than two tons, to have the power of 120 mea, and to throw upwards of 3,000 pounds of water per minute, to the height of above 100 feet. Its power, and the quantity of water to be thrown, to be greatly increased over that which I have stated. It was to be called "Exterminator." Able engineers are of opinion that it will perform the work of at least six of our best engines, and it will have the advantage of a power that will never be worn out by fatigue. The bore to which the hose will be attached is ƒƒteen inches and three-quarters in circumference, and the mouth of the pipe will be much less-giving a great impetus to the volume of water, and throwing it to a greater distance than our best engines. It is so constructed, that, should it be necessary, three or four streams can play from the engine at the same time. The engine will be stationed in the fifth district, probably at or near Burling Slip. It is to be drawn by a pair of strong horses, and attended by a driver, an engineer, and a fireman.— Le Cras's United States and the Canadas.

INTENDING PATENTEES may be supplied gratis with Instructions, by application (postpaid) to Messrs. J. C. Robertson and Co., 166, Fleet-street, by whom is kept the only COMPLETE REGISTRY OF PATENTS EXTANT (from 1617 to the present time). Patents, both British and Foreign, solicited. Specifications prepared or revised, and all other Patent business transacted.

Some fifteen years ago, when gaslighting was as yet but in its infancy, we remember to have had occasion (vol. viii., p. 307,) to find fault with the generality of the works then written upon it, as remarkable for a "disgraceful intermixture of quackery and false pretension;" and to have had subsequently a correspondence, of not the most pleasant character, with Mr. Thomas Snowdon Peckston, the author of "A Practical Treatise on Gas-lighting," respecting the extent to which he was entitled to exemption from this sweeping censure. (Same vol., pp. 341. 395. 414. 445.) We certainly did not think Mr. P. one of the quite exempt; but we might, at the same time, perhaps, have fairly conceded more merit to him than we then did.

That we were not more liberal of praise to Mr. Peckston was owing, in a great measure, to Mr. Peckston's own perverse blindness to the claims of others. He had greatly offended our sense of justice by attempting to wrest from Mr. Clegg the authorship of one of the most ingenious of his many useful inventions (the meter), and to disparage generally the importance of that gentleman's (still unrequited) services to the gaslight manufacture; though there is no person, nor, indeed, any number of persons who can be named, to whom it is more extensively and lastingly indebted; and as we could not recommend his work without assisting to give currency to its very false and ungenerous views on these points, we were at no pains to ascertain what its merits might be in other respects. It had one great blot in our eyes, which prevented our seeing any thing else.

The work now makes its appearance before us again, after the lapse of many years, in the form of a new edition (the third); and vastly the better for the correcting hand of time. Mr. Peckston has lived to feel conscious of most, if not all the injustice of which he was guilty

A Practical Treatise on Gas-Lighting. Third Edition, carefully corrected, and adapted to the present improved State of the Manufacture of Gas. By Thomas S. Peckston, R.N., Civil Engineer. 8vo, pp. 472. With Twenty-two Plates. Hebert, London. A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture and Distribution of Coal Gas, its Introduction and progressive Improvement. Illustrated by Engravings from Working Drawings, with General Estimates. By Samuel Clegg, Jun., C.E. 4to, pp. 208. Weale.

towards Mr. Clegg. He still persists in claiming for another (Mr. Malam, his brother-in-law,) the invention of the meter (of which more by and by); and in no place speaks of Mr. Clegg with perfect cordiality of approbation. But he does now admit, in point of fact, though usually in a reluctant, and sometimes in a most ungracious tone, that Mr. Clegg is without a compeer in this branch of art." The preponderance of his claims to notice over those of others is undeniable." p. 93. Mr. Peckston has, besides, lived to know himself a great deal more of the art of gas-lighting than he did when he first wrote about it. He has, it appears, been ever since practically engaged, with but little intermission, in the designing and erecting of gas-works in different parts of the three kingdoms (Preface); and while thus gathering many new lights from his own practice, has not been an inattentive or unprofiting observer of the practice of others. What, therefore, was originally but the slender work of a very slender novice, has now grown, in the course of years, into the well-filled treasury of a man of extensive experience and approved talent. Indeed we may say, that what with rectifying those parts which were erroneous-expunging such as have become obsolete, or were never much to the purposeamplifying others that were exhibited but in outline and adding the many new inventions and improvements which the last 15 years have produced-Mr. Peckston's treatise has become, under his hands, quite a new book: and a good book too, which, in spite of the taint of personal prejudice, of which we have before spoken, and of two or three other serious exceptions, to be presently noticed, will be found of great practical value to all concerned, either as engineers, manufacturers, or consumers, in the gas-light manufacture.

It is a curious coincidence, that the same year which has witnessed Mr. Peckston's re-appearance as an author before the public, should have produced a powerful competitor to him in that capacity, in the son of the very Mr. Clegg whose merits Mr. Peckstone has been so tardy in recognizing, and to whom he still makes such imperfect amends. If it be, as we suspect, that a natural de