Scientific �mtrican�
plowing than England.
a knowledge of his invention being thus ren­
dered accessible, it would have prevented the
great expense
which subsequent inventors
(like Mr. Bessemer) have incurred, not only
Iron
periments.
Imllrovement•.-KellY versns Be_mer.
Our readers will remember the great ex­
numbers
there can be no doubt, we think, but it will
We
Henry Bessemer, of London, was the first in­
ventor of it. But very soon afterwards we
possession
in
of
information
soon be reduced, by further improvements, to
Ight to be re­
thing to feel proud of, if some of our inventors
Mr. Bessemer's pat9nt has been superseded.
after so many experiments have been made on
inventor to apply for a patent for his inven­
done so with the reaping' machine and the
will not forget it hereafter.
Our patent law, we believe,
formed in that particular feature by which
A certain fixed time should be allowed for an
which convinced us that J. G. Martien, of
Newark, N. J., was a prior inventor to Mr.
Bessemer, and we stated the grounds we had
for entertaining such an opinion on page 21.
Not long after that period, however, we re­
ceived a communication from William Kelly ,
of the Suwanee Iron Works, Ky. , which we
published on page 4 3, in which he claimed
In our list of patent
claims on
fore the Patent Office for examination, a patent
was refused, of course j an interference was
then declared, at his request, and the follo wing document will show the action which
Howed from it :-
"In the ms.tter of interference between the
patent of Henry Bessemer, of London, and the
other side of the Atlantic.
possession of the invention.
has offered a prize of $50 000 for the first suc­
Our attention has been directed again to
letter from Obed Hnssey,
of Baltimore, Md., who bas been so instru­
useful and
practical operation, in which he
informs us he has made two public successful
trials with a steam plow, of his own invention.
One of these trials took place at the cattle
show of the
State Agricultural Society of
Maryland, held at Baltimore in 1855.
The
Committee of the Society appointed to witness
the experiment, made a very favorable report,
and he was awarded a first-class premium.
have
No such prize
Mr. Bronson Murray,
a farmer in Illinois, offered to subscribe $500
towards a prize of $50,000, for the first suc­
cessful steam plow, and he called upon his
brother farmers to join bim in raising such
a fund , but his call has not been responded to,
and thus the matter s tands at present.
G"en!
Enaineers'
Insmntlon.
civil engineers in our country, but their repu­
scrapular;
they exercise no united
influence for the advancement of science, art,
or useful enterprises.
A few years since, an
application of William Kelly, of Lyon county, Four large plows were drawn by the engine, Institution of Civil Engineers was formed in
this State; but after a feeble existence of only
Ky., for improvements in the manufacture of severs.l times across the grounds; and turned
the
hearing
of
which
was
fixed
furrows,
from
seven
to
fourteen
iron and steel,
inches deep. two years, we believe, it expired. If we
for the first Monday in April.
It appears that, by the concurrent testimony
In October, last year, he again exbibited his
take a look abroad, we will find the Institution
steam plow at the cattle show of tbe State
of Civil Engineers in London, whose trans­
Indianopolil j
but worthy of imitation throughout the world.
Agricultural
ments as early as 1847, and this testimony
Society awarded him a silver cup and diploma.
The members of it are high-toned and jealous
several times across a field of heavy sod, in
and they give encouragement to new and great
appears to be reliable in every respect.
The patent of Bessemer was sealed at Lon-
to said Kelly, and it is ordered that a patent
be issued accordingly, unless
by repeated cheers.
an appeal be
not
done him justice in stating as we have
done, in a recent article, that we were not
as
profeSSional men j
enterprises, by their influence and contribu­
tions, and thus assist to bring many new and
useful inventions into public use.
Men of the
Accordin g to our patent law, patents
paper.
are only granted to original inventors, there-
Recently, as we find stated in the
Manly-who had been secretary for eighteen
with a testimonial, which shows how
they
it
high
price, the demand for it being greater than
the supply.
This very circumstance, how­
ever, has led t{) it.s adulteration in some ca.ses,
as liquids have been sold for the pure Hative
juice of the grape which were but mixtures of
logwood, caramel, and a little n s. tive wine, to
impart its peculiar aroma to the whole.
It is
greatly to be regretted that any wine manu­
facturer should do such a thing;
but for all
this there are a number of Ohio brands much
prized by those who have quaffed the juice
Yeatman, of Cincinnati,
The brands of Mr.
and
some
others,
have a very high reputation in the market.
The soil and the climate of several of our
States are very favorable for the cultivation
of the grape, and we think that not many
years hence, the importation of foreign wines
will cease entirely.
In Missouri, a whole county is chiefly devoted
to the raising of grapes, with the sole view o f
manufacturing them into wine; while a Com­
pany has been formed there, with a large
capita� to manufacture, bottle, store, and sell
The wine made in Missouri is quite equal
to the best in Ohio. The vineyards around
Cincinnati are extending rapidly every year;
one horticulturist alone, as we learn from a
it.
contemporary, sold
one
million of cuttings
the present season.
Whenever a plentiful supply of good pure
native wine is obtained, it will supersede
distilled and malted liquors-beverages which
are now too commonly used.
His manner of
has had undoubted evidence that hogs some­
of meat, and lea ving it in the wolf tr ail.
He
and had afterwards arisen to merit the confi­ times eat such poison baits, but it never,
dence of the ablest engineers in England, by to his knowledge, did one of them any harm.
Mr. Hussey is able-with but feeble resources-­
steamship was toasted, and J. Scott Russel,
In England and Scotland, steam plowing is
"bite the dust."
earned his bread when a boy, by daily toil,
stated that he had been a practical mechanic ;
knowledge to advance him in his profession.
he is determined to push forward in m�king
of them
using it was by inserting the poison in a piece
operate satisfactorily j but he believes it will
further experiments.
and Hogs.
On the occltBioD, Mr. Manly
$10,000) in cash.
making it a rule to be faithfu� upright, and
yet be made to perform well, and as far as
Strychnine
do has used strychnine for pOisoning wolves in
The person who has charge of it has found
great difficulty in arranging suitable plows to
pro ductive of great injury to inventors, as iii
evident in the above case. Mr. Bessemer,
without the least knowledge of Mr. Kelly'.
four h uudrp,d
the woods of Arkansas, and made numbers
Ilis steam plow is now out on the prairies,
This feature of our patent law is oftentimes
about
had we been acquainted with the facts in the up things. This consisted of a beautiful time­
respective cases.
We were perfectly well piece, a silver candelebra, and .£2,000 (about
but it, as yet, has only plowed about ten acres.
will alone be sustained , and the court has the
p ower of annulling the illegitimate patent.
produces
A subscriber inf orms us by letter that he
large working one had ever been operated.
two' pa.tentee� may afterwards be contested in
any United S tates Court, but the first inventor
One acre
gallons of juice, and the wine sells at
years, and retired on account of his age­
had been made, but did not know that a single
can prove priori ty to the s ame invention will
be "ranted one als o. The claim9 of these
yields a more profitable return for the care
and labor expended upon it, thao the grape.
never reached us, or we certainly would not
aware that a number of model steam plows
fore although a patent may have been issued
to an inventor, a subsequent applican t who
own to the best imported
No crop, we have been informed .
LondO'Yl Engineer, its members presented Chas.
These reports
of have omitted to have given him due credit,
no more value to him than so much waste
take a deep interest in making all its meetings
attractive.
brands.
aware of a single such experiment hll,ving
been made in our country.
Thus the interlerence has been decided, and
patent is
of their' personal bonor
It seems that Mr. Hussey sent us reports of highest scientific and mechanical attainments
these two experiments, and he thinks we have are proud of being connected with it, and they
t
f
Bessemer's American
the Committee of that
who gave vent to their feelings of admiration
S. T. SHUGERT, Acting Commissioner.
Henry
at
the presence ot a large number of spectators,
taken within sixty days from this date."
U. S. P"tent Office,
April 13, 1857.
held
In this experim.ent, the engine drew six plows
don on the 11 th ofApril, 1856, and bears date
the 11th of October, 1855.
Priority of invention in this case is awarded
and
Indiana"
actions are not only an honor to themselves,
of numerous witnesses, Kelly made this inven-
tion, and showed it by drawings and experi-
Society of
them prefer their
the Rhine and Douro.
We haye a great number of distinguished
tation is
abroad, and so well aware are the prople of
of the grape in sunny France, on the banks of
__�
••• _-_
---__-<C
A
produce
Ohio and Missouri of this fact, that most of
become rather general, viz., that some person
has ever been offered.
Steam PlowlnK.
to
native grapes
wines fully as good as the best imported from
In this place, we take t h e opportunity to
cessfulAmerican steam plow.
4 , - ' ..
American
periments that our
electric telegraph j European inventors were
vert a patent granted to another, who has
taken proper measures to put the public in
It has been demonstrated by numerous ex­
the first in time, but American inventors tbe
seems
becoming
ties of wine are now manufactured annually.
They have
correct an opinion which
mental in bringing reaping machines into
When �,[r.
steam plow of the world,
first in excellence!
otherwise he should not be allowed to sub-
thongb one had been previously issued to Mr.
Kelly's application for a patent came up be-
the
is
the cultivation of the vine, and large quanti­
It would certainly be some­
by himself, it should become public property,
this subject by a
Bessemer for the Bame invention.
the
period, if his invention has been publicly used
another page of tbis number, it will be ob-
served that he has been granted a patent, ai-
were to produce
tion, and if he does not do so within that
priority over all others, as the inventor of
this process, and he hail at last proved his
title to it.
0
cost much less.
crop
Missouri, thousands of acres are set apart for
very little dearer than horse power j and
we hope they
never thought of tbis before j
of our present
bave
Win"".
something of an institution in our country .
In the Great West, especially in Ohio �nd
seventy-five per cent., within a few years, by
a
4a'"
The American grape
of steam
applying for patents.
volume j and we were then of opinion that
were placed
cost
improvements in the machines j it is now but
Perhaps they
..
American
Another point of
encouragement is, this j the
expense in making experiments, as well as
published a description of this process in the
and second
"few and far between."
order to prevent others incurring unneeessary
for their inventions as soon as possible, in
country, and be conducive to their own good."
of uniform levels are small,
plowing in England has been reduced over
of what was called the "Bessemer process'"
of treating iron was given to the world.
It is a duty which inventors owe
United, they could do almost any­
thing, and their efforts must benefit their
operate, without difficulty j whereas, in
England, fields
to their brother inventors to apply for patents
citement that was created when the account
first
can
in applying for a patent, but in making ex­
NEW YORK, JULY 4, 1857.
encourage.
There are hundreds
of miles of fertile prairies, where steam plows
industrious in duty, and in the pursuit of
At that meeting, success to the
Great Eastern
who was present, stated that he was proud of
being its builder; and "the most remarkable
He does not believe it will kill hogs, and is
therefore of opinion that it may be employed
in the manufacture of whiskey, and that hogs
may eat the distillery refuse without being
killed by it.
Our
correspondent ref era particularly to
the paragraph on page
297, in reference to
the charge made and denied, that strychnine
feature," he said, "connected with it was,
had been employed in the manufacture of
experiments, applied for a patent; it was no longer a problematical operation-it is a that a body of men should l)e found who would
whiskey in Ohio, because it had been stated
een,
the
invenshould
have
b
perfect
success
so
far
as
the
working
oC
the
subscribe
£700,000
(about
three
and
a
half
s
it
ted,
a
gran
atent plOWS is concerned-but as yet, it is not so millions of dollars) for an undertaking, the that distillers would not use it, as it would
tion was new and useful, so far as the P
kill the hogs which they fed on distillery
Office was aware. But soon afterwards Mr. cheap as plowing by horses. Unless such success of which was declared to be very
refuse. If atrychnine can be eaten with im­
for
a
patent
for
the
pplies
lly
a
agricultural
operations
can be performed with problematical; but that feeling would pro­
William Ke
punity by hogs, the question naturally arises
same thing , he proves priority of invention, steam cheaper than with animal power, of bably be diminished when it was known that
We
would not their pork be poisonous 1
and a ps.tent is granted to him, which action course, it cannot and will not be used. All about three-fourths of the shares in the under­
rather think it would neither be safe nor
which
he
Bessemer-for
nt
of
the English steam plows yet constructed, taking were held by members of the Institu­
renders the pate
pleasant food. But strychnine is such a pe­
paid a fee of $500 to the PatentOffice-worth- appear to be too heltvy and bulky; Boydell's, tion of Civil Engineers."
culiar organic poison that it may be perfectly
e
with
him
in
sympathi
aiuly
z
which
is
stated
to
be
the
most
successful,
This is a fact of which the public generally
We cert
less.
decomposed in a hog's laboratory, and its flesh,
this case, and blame Mr. Kelly for negligence weighs no less than ten tons j and the has been entirely ignorant, and it at once
theref{)re, might be harmless.
much
earlier
ps.tent
Itt
a
his
lightest
oC
which
we
have
had
any
affords
some
idea
of
the
wealth
and
influence
very
securing
in not
........
He should have applied (or one published accounts, is no less than five tons in of this association. To conceive of the mem­
date.
The Ilttest news from Europe brought intel­
either Itt the time or soon after he invented weight. Such gross !!team plows will never bers of a single society capltble oC suhllcribing
the proces s. Had he done so, and Mr. Besse- answer for America.
As Itnimltl or horse
mer had app ied fo� a patent afterwards, power is che!lper in America than in England,
een re- the question naturally arises, if steam plowing
ignorant of prIOr claims, and had
jected, he at least could have Withdrawn cltnnot compete in that country with horse
.
$333 , that part of hl patent fee all?w�d by plowing, in point oC economy, how can it do
�
ase of It reJectIOn- so in America 1 And if it cannot, whitt is the
1D
refunded
law to be
?
I
n�w he loses al . But If Mr. Kel � ha ob- i use of agitatinll the subject'
that
lity
I
proba
m
1847,
a
the
1D
patent
bi
S
ed
ta
lOur country is more favorable for steam
�
�
�
�
�
I
$2,600,000 for the building of a steamship is
ligence of the death of Douglas Jerrold, said
In view of this fact, to be the greatest wit in England, and who
no wonder J. Scott Russel could use the fol. WItS author of the celebrltted "Caudle Lec­
lowing language :-" The ship [Great Eastern] ture!!." He was editor of a weekly paper in
It grand idea of itself.
was It specimen of what the combined quali­ London at the time oC his decease. In his
ties of men could produce, and it impressed youth he was a printer, and by dint of genius
upon all beholders the Itdvantages of such a and hard labor, acquired a high literary
union as the Institution afforded the means to
© 1857 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC,
reputation.
: