The sewage committee of 1864 : and its report as to the purification of river water from town sewage / by Thomas Spencer.

  • Spencer, Thomas.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The sewage committee of 1864 : and its report as to the purification of river water from town sewage / by Thomas Spencer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    guarded by the law, than would be the patent of a Stephenson. In my own case, for the discovery of the Electrotype,* I took no patent. Within twelve months after the publication of my pamphlet first describing it, at least a score of patents were taken for as many of its applications, and, had I been desirous of practising auy one of them, I should have been precluded by law from doing so—even with my own apparatus, as none of the patentees had invented anv. But this was not all, for it became the interest of each to have it inferred that but for his “ practical improve- ment,” the invention would have remained a mere philosophical toy in my laboratory. Patentees of the most obvious applications of a discovery, to which they seldom contribute anything, generally endeavour to make it appear that it does not emanate from one or two, but is an accidental result derived from several—not the least being their own “ practical application.” When property has a number of owners, the appropriation of a share of it is felt to be easier than where ownership is confined to one. But had I patented this discovery when I might, I should at least have secured some share of its profit, and have stood no chance of being deprived of its full credit. However, the lesson I was then taught determined me to act differently, should I ever be afforded another opportunity. RESULTS IN PRACTICE. It now remains to add a brief account of the progress of the invention since its application to practice. I shall confine myself to a few instances only, each illustrating a case which may be taken to represent several others. When the qualities of the domestic filters were first made public -—few would believe in their capability of purifying water to the extent they professed. It is true, those who tried them, saw that they rendered impure, coloured water, bright and colourless, whilst its disagreeable flavour was entirely gone. Although this was * The name electrotype, which was at first popularly applied to this dis- covery, includes the whole scientific art of electro-metallurgy, much of which