INVENTIONS

[Printed pamphlet.] Facts for Inventors and Manufacturers. By W. P. Thompson & Co. (F.C.S., M.I.M.E., M. Council S.C.I., &c.)

Author: 
[W. P. Thompson & Co., Liverpool and Manchester patent offices]
Publication details: 
Printed at the Patent Offices, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool. 6, Bank Street, Manchester. 1887. Entered at Stationers' Hall.
£85.00

16pp., 16mo. Stapled. In fair condition, on aged paper, with slight staining to last leaf. Printed in red on the title-page: 'NOTE. - After perusal, please file this Pamphlet for reference, or to lend to others interested in Patents.' An introductory note by the firm sets out the aims of the work: 'To Patentees and Manufacturers. | This Pamphlet, describing the Law and Practice relating to Patents, is designed as a useful guide to Patentees.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. M Eldridge Jr') from the Philadelphia inventor William M. Eldridge to Valentine Mott of New York, responding to 'slanders', and claiming that police searches have revealed 'the authors of the cards and all the mischief'.

Author: 
William M. Eldridge of Philadelphia, inventor [Valentine Mott (1785-1865), American surgeon]
Publication details: 
Paris. 23 May 1836.
£180.00

3pp., 4to. 60 lines of text. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Valentine Mott M.D. | 25 Park Place | New-York'; with three postmarks, one from Havre and another 'Forwarded by Lewis Rogers & Co.' (Mott was in Europe at the time of writing.) An tantalising letter, regarding an intriguing affair about which nothing else appears discoverable. Eldridge is sending 'a hand bill, 5000 of which have been circulated thro Paris and the towns in its vicinity'.

Signed Letter in secretarial hand from Sir William Brown, founder of the Liverpool Gallery of Inventions and Science, to chairman John Abraham, with printed 'Fifth Annual Report of the Committee, and Proceedings of the Aggregate Meeting [...] 1865.'

Author: 
John Abraham (1813-1881) of Clay & Abraham, pharmaceutical chemists, Chairman of the Liverpool Gallery of Inventions and Science [Sir William Brown (1784-1864) of Richmond Hill; Cuthbert Collingwood]
Publication details: 
Letter: Richmond Hill, Liverpool; 20 January 1863. Pamphlet: Liverpool: Printed by A. & D. Russell, Moorfields. 1865.
£120.00

ONE. Letter, signed 'Wm Brown'. 3 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 25 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'greatly disappointed' that, '[h]aving gone to the expense of building the Hall of Inventions & Science', 'the five Learned Societies' that 'induced' him 'to make that addition to the Library, have taken no effectual means to make it available for the purpose intended'. Brown 'promised £100 towards the fittings', and is sending a cheque for that amount.

Typewritten draft ('Provisional Specification') by George William Dennistoun Scott of his patent application for 'Improvements in or relative to variable speed reducing gears', with manuscript descriptions of the invention, initialed by him.

Author: 
George William Dennistoun Scott, engineer and inventor [Patents Office; inventions;motor car bicycles; bicycling]
George William Dennistoun Scott, engineer and inventor
Publication details: 
Draft dated 26 May 1905. [London.]
£165.00
George William Dennistoun Scott, engineer and inventor

A native of Derby, Scott is a notable figure in the history of the development of the bicycle. In 1878, together with George Henry Phillott, he seems to have received the first practicable patent (No. 860 of 1878) for an epicyclic change-speed gear for cycles. All items clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The typewritten draft, in blue ink, with a few manuscript corrections, covers two folio pages.

Two Typed Letters Signed "E.W. Moir", Comptroller of Munitions Inventions, to The Secretary, Royal Society of Arts

Author: 
[Ernest Wm Moir] E.W. Moir, Comptroller of Munitions Inventions
Publication details: 
Ministry of Munitions, Princes Street, Westminster, [London], SW, 4 and 7 Oct. 1915.
£125.00

Total 3pp., folio, fold marks, good condition. He asks the Scretary of the RSA to "draw the attention" of members to "to the fact that the Munitions Inventions Department, which ...

[Printed pamphlet.] Mémoire Descriptif d'un Brevet d'Invention pour une Machine Volante dénommé Avion Militaire de Grand Combat Vitanval en faveur de M. Leon Louis Laforge Prince Laforge de Vitanval. Second Partie. Traduit de l'Espagnol.

Author: 
Leon Louis Laforge, self-styled 'Prince Laforge de Vitanval' and 'Grand Master of the Knights of Saint Leon' [aeronautics; flying machines; airplanes; aviation; inventions]
Publication details: 
['Au Ministerio de Fomento a Madrid. Le 25 Mai 1916 sous le No. 62.342'.] Madrid: Artes Gráficas "Mateu". Paseo del Prado, 34. 1916.
£125.00

4to, 22 pp. In original green printed wraps. Frontispiece photograph on art paper, inscribed in bottom right-hand corner 'A M. Maggs Bros booksellers | Souvenir de la guerre | Pce. Laforge de Vitanval | Madrid 12 Aout 16'. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. No diagrams. The invention is described as 'un Aéro-frein ou frein automatique pour aéroplanes et toutes espèce de machines volantes, empêchant le capotement des appareils, en cas d'accident ou d'arrêt subit du moteur'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Arthur Phillips') to W. N. de Mattos.

Author: 
John Arthur Phillips (1822-1887), mining engineer and metallurgist [Lyon Playfair, Baron Playfair (1818-1898), chemist]
Publication details: 
25 January 1853; on letterhead of 8 Upper Stamford Street, Blackfriars.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with some creasing and a short closed tear at foot. He sent his report (on 'Wurlich's patent ') to Dr Playfair on 15 December of the previous year. 'With him therefore is all the delay.' Docketed by de Mattos on reverse, including 'Read at Board on 27th Jany 1853'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Legentil') to 'Monsieur Tessier, Secretaire de la Société des Inventeurs 16 Rue N/Dame des Victoires'.

Author: 
Charles Legentil, Parisian industrialist (Chambre de Commerce, 1831-1855; Régent de la Banque de France,1844-1855)
Publication details: 
12 September 1846; Paris.
£100.00

4to, 1 p, 18 lines. Addressed on verso of second leaf of bifolium. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper with a few closed tears along folds. Written in French. He regrets that he cannot respond to the appeal that Tessier has made on behalf of the Société des Inventeurs. When he retired from business he thought he would have 'des moments de loisir', but the experience of each day teaches him the contrary, and his time has never been so occupied.

Legal manuscript, signed by the three parties, entitled 'Messrs. Alfred Riehl and W. F. Mohr to W. E. Page Esqre. Agreement for Sale of a Share of certain Royalties arising from Patent applied for and now known as the Boran Lamp'.

Author: 
Alfred Riehl; William Frederick Mohr, Electric Lamp Merchants; William Edwin Page [the Boran Lamp; Edwardian inventions, patents]
Publication details: 
12/12/12
£75.00

On three pages of a foolscap bifolium, supplied by J. Warner & Co., Law Stationer of New Oxford Street, ruled and with red borders. Good, on lightly stained paper. On 25 July 1912 Mohr and Friedrich Hansen 'made an application for a Patent for an improvement in the process of the manufacture of a filament for an electric incandescent lamp (at present known as the "Boran Lamp") accompanied by a complete specification at the Patent Office', but the application has not yet been accepted.

Four Autograph Letters Signed ('W. Marshall') to Messrs Bradley & Son Ltd[, The Crown Press, Printers, Caxton Road, Reading], giving formula for 'Spacine' ('for the prevention of rising spaces in Monotype') and instructions for its application.

Author: 
W. Marshall, East Dulwich printer and inventor [Bradley & Son, Reading printers; Monotype; Spacine]
Publication details: 
30 Jan. [1929], 8 and 13 May 1929 and undated; the first three from 92 Upland Rd, East Dulwich, London, S.E.22.
£350.00

The four items, all on aged and lightly spotted paper, are attached by four rusty staples. One (five pages, octavo): In reply to the firm's inquiry regarding 'the prevention of rising spaces in Monotype', Marshall states that, instead of giving information, he 'would rather send you the method and you try it out and prove for yourself its value, then pay me afterwards'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir H[enry]. T[rueman]. Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
John Allen Harker
Publication details: 
9 February 1916; The National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (on deleted letterhead of the National Liberal Club).
£28.00

Inventor and engineer (1870-1923), whose papers are held by the Royal Society. During the war Harker was in the Inventions Department of the Ministry of Munitions. One page, 12mo. Good, if slightly grubby. Docketed in pencil and bearing the Society's stamp. Reads 'I send herewith a short contribution to the discussion of Dr Flemings paper at which I was present but in which on account of lack of time I did not feel it desirable to take part verbally.' Signed 'J. A. Harker'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Don Wauchope.

Author: 
General Sir George Keith Buller Elphinstone
Publication details: 
10 January 1891; on letterhead '86, CANONBURY ROAD'.
£36.00

Engineer (1865-1941) whose inventions include the speedometer for motor-cars. Two pages, 12mo. Good, though slightly grubby. Docketed on reverse. Small ink smudge beneath letterhead. Reads 'Dear Don Wanchope | Thanks for your letter. My full name is/ | George Keith Buller Elphinstone and by profession I am an Electrical Engineer & Maker of Electrical Instruments | So I hope that will be full enough information for you'. Signed 'G K B Elphinstone'.

Autograph Note Signed to Mrs <Swanthwaite?>.

Author: 
Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Scott
Publication details: 
Monday' [no date]; on letterhead of the United Service Club, Pall Mall, S.W.
£25.00

British naval officer and inventor (1853-1924; DNB). 1 page, 16mo. In good condition. Attached to larger piece of card, docketed with a brief biography. 'I shall be delighted to come tomorrow at 4. pm. | Yours sincerely | Percy Scott'.

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