CONSIDERATIONS AS TO SECURING PATENTS. 



that the patent, if issued, would be lost to the inventor, his 

 creditors, and the world. That his object was not to withhold 

 from his creditors the avails of these inventions when rendered 

 valuable, ample proof has been given. 



4th. The inventor was very solicitous to secure patents in 

 foreign countries, where the laws required that, in order to ren- 

 der a patent valid, the application should be made simultane- 

 ously with that in the United States, and he had not the means 

 of making these several applications until 1843, when they were 

 made in the United States, England, and France. Since the 

 year 1844, numerous patents have been taken out, both in the 

 United States and foreign countries, for modifications of the 

 vulcanizing process ; and it is worthy of remark, that in none 

 of these is there any attempt to dispense with the two essential 

 agents, sulphur and a high degree of heat, which alone are indis- 

 pensable in effecting the change in the properties of the gum by 

 vulcanization, and that these two agents, sulphur and a high 

 degree of heat, are distinctly claimed in the foregoing docu- 

 ment, signed and sealed in 1841, as well as the writer's patents 

 issued in this and foreign countries in 1844. 



The writer has intentionally omitted all mention of the 

 English patent for the vulcanization of caoutchouc, enrolled by 

 Thomas Hancock on the 30th May, 1844, and also from ex- 

 pressing any views or opinions in relation to the circumstances 

 under which this patent was taken out, lest he might possibly 

 do some injustice to Mr. Hancock or his partners, Messrs. Mac- 

 intosh and Co., the owners of the English patent. The inven- 

 tion patented by Mr. Hancock is the same as that so fully 

 described in this volume as the heating or vulcanizing process 

 discovered by the writer in 1839. He hopes before long to 

 have the advantage of a personal interview with Messrs Mac- 

 intosh and Co. and Mr. Hancock, after which he will be better 

 prepared to state his views on this subject. 



