1840.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



35 



Voltaic Engraving. — Considerable: interest lias been lately excited in 

 t'le seientitie world by Mr. Spencer's new process of copying medals and 

 other works of art in copper, Iiy the agency of voltaic electricity. It is with 

 great pleasure that we bear that tliis process is already beginning to be cm- 

 ployed in certain of om* manufactures, ami that thus electricity will soon be 

 numbered amongst the agents employed for practical and useful purposes. In 

 our former account of Mr. Spencer's invention we spoke highly of the merit 

 of the discovery, and the probable uses to which it miglit be appUed: the 

 result has borne out our anticipations. In the manufacture of plated articles 

 ami ornaments, it is often desirable to copy ornamental work, such as leaves, 

 flowers, and arabesque mouldings ; this is both difficult and e.xpeusive, and 

 from these causes often impossiljlc. Mr. Spencer's invention, however, 

 affords a chca]i and easy method of performing what is retpiired, and thus, 

 ornaments on rich ancient plate are copied with the greatest perfection and 

 ease, and without injury to the original. The great advantage consisting of 

 tlic means of olitaining, at very small expense, a fac-simile in copper, of the 

 ornaments required to be copied, which may then be silvered or gilt. In 

 another art, the voltaic process is, we arc informed, being successfully intro- 

 duced. The makers of buttons often require to have two or three of a par- 

 ticular pattern to comjdete a set of which they have not the die. To take a 

 cast from the button is, for many reasons, inconvenient and objectionable ; 

 and the voltaic process, at the cost of a few hom's and very little labour or 

 expense, furnishes a perfect fac-simile of tlie button, which then only reqiures 

 to be gilt. It has been said that there is a difficulty in obtaining perfect 

 copies, and that the deposited copper is brittle, porous, and full of lioles ; bnt 

 whoever will read attentively the process of Mr. Spencer and follow it, must 

 succeed. Tlic cast of medals transmitted to us by Mr. Spencer, aitd also 

 those made by Mr. E. Solly and Mr. J. Xewmau, and cxhibitcil lately at the 

 meeting of the Society of Arts, were very pure ami compact copper, and the 

 surface was as brilliant and jicrfect as could be desired. The process, indeed, 

 is simple, and so far from its requiring, as is generally supposed, either ox- 

 pensive and complicated apparatus, or deep scientific knowledge, nothing can 

 be more easy, as the observance of a few rules renders the success of the pro- 

 cess quite certain, and, as regards the expense of the api)aratus, the whole of 

 it may be easily procm'cd for a few pence. — Atheyiicum. 



IiA'W PBOCSEDINaS. 



THE CYCLOIDAL I'ADDLE-WIIEEL. 



Ml'. CaUoiroi/n patent rights which has been disputed ever since the patent 

 was (/ranted, leas brouyht on for trial in tlie Court of Comnton Pleas, on 

 Friday and Saturday, November 29 and 30, before Lord Chief Justice 

 TiNU.VL, and a Special J unj; it occupied tlie Court two days. 



GAI.I.OW.VY AND ANOTHER V. BLEADEN". 



The case on tlic part of the plaiutill's was that Jlr. Galloway had invented 

 an improved paddle-wheel for propelling steam-vessels, for which heolitaiued 

 a patent on tlie IStli of August, 1835. The invention consisted in a division 

 of the floats into segments, and so arranged in a eycloidal curve as to cause 

 all the five or six segments into which each float was divided to enter the 

 water at the same time, and at such an angle as most diminished the shock 

 occasioned to the vessel by each stroke of the paddle; \^■hilst the segments, 

 when the float reached a vertical position iu the water, became joined to- 

 gether as it were, so as to present an undivided surface to the water, and so 

 increase the power of propulsion ; ami lastly, the float, when passing out of 

 a vertical position, by becoming again divided, olVered less resistance to the 

 back water, and, consequently, less retarded the speed of tlic vessel than if 

 undivided. The action was brought against the defendant, as secretarj- to 

 the Commercial Stcam-p.acket Company, for an infringement of this patent ; 

 to which he pleaded, in addition to the general issue of not guilty, that the 

 invention was not new, as it had already been discovered and used by Mr. Field 

 in 1833; and that the specification was not sutlieiently intelligible to render 

 tlic invention of general utility to the public. Several models illustrative 

 of the alleged invention, were produced, and a comparison made bclwccn 

 them and models of the wheels of two of the defendant's vessels, the Granil 

 Turk and the Chieftain, to show that the latter were made upon the principle 

 of (he plaintiff's specification. Witnesses were also produced to prove tliat 

 workmen of competent skill could make the patent wheels from the informa- 

 tion contained in the specification, and that the improvement in question was 

 not known in the trade previously to the date of (be plaintifli"s patent. 



The defendant's counsel relied mainly on the ground that the invention 

 had been discovered and used long before the date of Mr. Galloway's patent 

 by Jlr. Field, of the firm of Maudslay and Field ; and that gentleman, being 

 called as a witness, stated that in 1833 he constructed a Viheel on the im- 

 proved principle now in question, which, upon application to the Lords of 

 the Admiralty, he obtained a promise from them that he should have au op- 

 portunity of trying upon the first vessel that came to be prepared ; that op- 

 poitunity, however, was never afiorded him, but he made an experiment upon 

 a steam-boat, called " The Endeavour," plying between London and Eicb- 

 niond, by substituting one of his improved wlieels (of which a mode! was 

 produced iu court) for one of the Endeavour's wheels. At the end of six 

 weeks, however, the new wheel was removed and the old wheel replaced; 

 because, according to the statcuient of the captain, the boiler was uot large 



enough for the luaehineiy to work it properly. Iu that same year he entered 

 a. caveat at the I'atcnt-oifice ; and in 1835 be made a great number of expe- 

 riments on the subject at his manufactory; but it was uot until the spring of 

 1836 that be fitted up a vessel called the Dover castle with wheels upon the 

 improved iiriiiciple, which were similar to the wheel tried upon the Endea- 

 vour in 1833. 



The defendants, it was urged, bad twice acknowledged the plaiulilVs patent 

 right, having on one occasion purchased their patent wlieels for one of their 

 vessels, ami on another, in 1837, paid tbeiB 50/. for a licence to use theu- 

 specification iu constructing wheels for them. 



The Lord thief Justice summed up the case to the jury, and left three 

 questions for their ileeision ; namely, whether there had been any iiifriiige- 

 mciit of the plaintiff's patent by the defeudaiits : w hether the iuventioii was 

 new and unused at the date of the plaiutirt"s iiaient ; and whether the speci- 

 fication was sufficient. With respect to the jiriueipal question, as to whether 

 or not the invention was new, the mere fact of a scries of experiments having 

 been prosecuted previously to the attainment of the olijeet to which they 

 were directed, could not prevent another inventor from availing himself of 

 the experiments, and then adding the final link which was necessary to bring 

 them to a successful issue. If, therefore, the jury thought that up to the 

 month of August, 1835, the date of the plaiiitilV's patent, all that Mr. Field 

 had done rested in experiments, those experiments afforded no ground for 

 disturbing the plaiutiff's patent, and in that case their verdict sboiUd be for 

 the plaintiffs. 



One of the jury wished to ascertain whether the wheel tried ou (he En- 

 deavour was on the principle of the eycloidal curve ; or, if the model of it 

 were not iu evidence, whether it might not be examined and compared with 

 the original by some competent person. 



This question gave rise to some discussion between counsel; ultimately, 



The learned Judge said that, as the person who had made the model was 

 uot present, he could not allow it to go before the jury. 



The jury theu returned a verdict iu favour of the plaintiffs, with uomiiial 

 damages. 



PROCEEDINGS OP SCIEKTIPIC SOCIETIES. 



ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY. 



INSTITUTED A.D. 1831— SESSION 1839-1840. 



hth Nov., 1839. — William Tite, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



This evening's meeting, the commencement of the session, was devoted to 

 a conversazione. It was very fully attended. The Secretary read the 

 report of the committee. The President read a highly interesting paper " ou 

 the sculptured writings found on the architecture of the Egyptians, with a 

 notice of the discoveries which led to their being deciphered." 



■The attention of the meeting was directed to the several works of art 

 which were about the room — noticing more jiarticularly various models iu 

 terra-cotta, from Messrs. SoUin, Monton, and Co.'s cstablishnicnt, of the 

 Strand ; also a model of an Egyptian obelisk in black marble, together with 

 other models of buildings, iScc. Some origiual sketches by jilr. George 

 -Moore ; portfolios of prints, by Uawkins and others. 



Report of the Committee, 



Gentlemen — This evening being the opening conversazione of the session, 

 it may natnr.ally be expected by the visitors and members who have kindly 

 favoured us with their attendance, that the Committee should state tlie views 

 they, on behalf of the Society, intend to adopt iluring the present session, 

 and at the ensuing evening meetings; and they trust that the suggestions 

 which have been oll'ered, and which they propose to adopt for the further 

 carrying out of the objects of the Society may produce an increased interest 

 in their evening meetings, and may meet with tlie conetUTence and personal 

 exertions of the members generally for their fulfilment. 



The Committee first remark that they have been successful in securing the 

 assistance of iMcssrs. .\ddams ami E. AV. 15r.aley, jim., (as Frofessors) to deliver 

 lectnrej.at the monthly meetings, and that on the intermediate evenings of 

 meetings they ]ia\ e procured the iiromise, on the part of several of their own 

 members, to ileliver lectures, or otherwise to read jiapcrs having reference to 

 matters of architectural practice and interest, the subjects of which, iu 

 all cases, it is proposed should be announced at the xirevious evening 

 meeting. 



Secondly — the Committee considering that tliis mode of instruction (by 

 lectures) is provided, more particularly for their class of .Student Members, 

 propose, as a means whereby these advantages may be made the more avail- 

 able to the interest of tli.it class, that the Student Members should take 

 notes of the several Professors' lectures, and as a stimuhis to a due atten- 

 tion to this portion of the benefits olfered to them by this instifutiou, have 

 deterniinod tli.at the subject for the prize usually given for the best essay 

 should be "Tlie best fairly transcri!)ed notes of the Professors' lectures." 



.\ud while on the subject of jirizes, the Couiiuittce have the pleasure to- 

 anuounce that they li.avc received the list of the subjects fioni th.e Sketching 

 Coiumitlee, for which the premiums w ill be awarded to the class of Student 

 Jlembers, at the close of the present session. 



F 2 



