PATENTS. 



After the resignation of M. Decazes, M. Pas- 

 quier became the real head of the government, . 

 and through his courage and superior judgment 

 was enabled to pass safely through that stormy 

 period. He adhered to the revolution of July. 

 1830. and was treated with favor by Louis 

 Philippe, who made him president of the Cham- 

 ber of Peers and as such he presided at the 

 trial of Prince Louis Napoleon (now emperor 

 of the French), and his associates, for the Bou- 

 logne attempt. In 1844 he received from Louis 

 Philippe the title of duke. He was elected 

 member of the French Academy in 1842. His 

 public career ended with the revolution of 

 1848. 



PATENTS. During the year 1861, and 

 early part of 1862, there was a falling off in 

 the business of the Patent Office, mainly re- 

 sulting from the effects of secession in taking 

 off a large number of inventors and mechanics 

 from their workshops to swell the ranks of the 

 Federal army ; and the general depression of 

 the business in the country also tended to the 

 same result. 



The operations of the Patent Office, com- 

 pared with the previous years, have been as 

 follows: 



During the last quarter of 1862, and first 

 quarter of 1863, the business of the Patent 

 Office increased considerably. 



The financial condition of this branch of the 

 public service is as follows: 



Balance of patent fund, January 1. 1562 $5,416 55 



Total receipts of patent office for 1S62, including 



an appropriation of $50,S55 49 215,754 99 



Total $2-21.171 54 



Total expenditures for the year 1562 152,510 39 



Balance of patent fund, January 1, 1363. $33,361 15 



The patent law of March, 1861, has proved 

 a benefit to inventors, and was the means of 

 establishing many important changes in the 

 mode of granting patents, most of which have 

 been fully laid before the public. 



The decisions of the board of examiners-in- 

 chief (created by that law) have shown marked 

 ability, and led to a more uniform and liberal 

 policy in the issue of patents, as will be seen 

 from the fact that about seven tenths of the 

 patents applied for are granted : this is a large 

 advance on the proportion for many former 

 years. 



By this law of March. 1861, fifteen dollars 

 was required on filing each application, and 

 twenty dollars additional before the patent 

 was allowed ; but there was no tune specified 

 in which this additional sum was to be paid, 

 hence many inventors left their applications for 

 a year or more before making this additional 

 payment, for the purpose of prolonging the 

 term of their protection. This manifest error 

 and wrong has been rectified by a recent act 



of Congress, requiring said additional fee to be 

 .-it hin iz months, or the patent would be 

 considered abandoned, unless shown t<> tl. 

 isfaction of the commissioners that the delay 

 was unavoidable. 



In the following brief synopsis of some of the 

 patents granted in the year 1862, sufficient 

 space cannot be devoted to the subject to men- 

 tion all the inventions that appear to have spe- 

 cial value, and besides this it often happens that 

 months, or even years, elapse before the real 

 merits of an invention become known, and 

 hence it is impossible to form an accurate 

 judgment as to what will ultimately prove of 

 special value and importance. 



In future volumes it is proposed to extend 

 these notices of inventions to a greater length 

 than can be done in this volume. 



Beer Cooling. The brewing of ale, porter, 

 and beer has been much improved during the 

 few years past by the aid of scientific appliances 

 that have transformed the manufacture into a 

 regular chemical process, instead of being de- 

 pendent on the skill and judgment of the 

 brewer. Perhaps nothing has effected a greater 

 change than the cooling apparatus invented by 

 J. L. Baudelot, of Paris, and patented in this 

 country, Nov. 1, 1859, and reissued Jan. 28, 

 1862. " 



The cooling of beer upon the old plan was 

 effected in a deep narrow vessel, so that the 

 atmosphere might come in contact with the 

 same as little as possible, the cooling being ef- 

 fected by water circulating through pipes with- 

 in this vessel. The improvement above men- 

 tioned consists in a vertical range of horizon- 

 tal pipes. The beer runs from a trough upon 

 the top pipe of the range, and thence trickles 

 down upon the next pipe, and so on to the 

 bottom pipe, so that it runs in thin film over 

 the entire surface of the pipes. These pipes 

 contain water, which enters the bottom pipe 

 of the range, and circulates upward and flows 

 away from the top pipe; hence the conditions 

 of heat are inverted in the respective liquius, 

 the beer in a heated state trickling downward 

 becomes entirely cool, while the water entering 

 cold, and running upward, passes away at the 

 top in a heated state. Besides being much more 

 rapid than the coolers heretofore made, this 

 apparatus improves the quality of the beer by 

 exposure to the atmosphere. 



Ballast Boxes. Steamboats require ballast 

 boxes that are moved from place to place to 

 keep the boat level in the water as the pasgeo- 

 gers may go from side to side, or as the deck 

 load maybe removed. Heretofore these bal- 

 last boxes have required the combined strength 

 of several persons to move them, and the ne- 

 cessity for their removal often arises when the 

 deck hands are otherwise occupied. 



The invention patented Feb. 11. 1862, by T. 

 Fowler, consists in a crank and gearing applied 

 to the castor wheel of the ballast box. by which 

 device one man can with ease mo\ 

 box from place to place as required, with as 



