betts’s patent metallic capsules. 
43 
moved to the front of another pair of flatting-rollers, which by their motion will draw 
off and unwind the strip from its said spiral coil as fast as the conjoined metal passes 
through between the said flatting-rollers, which rollers should be made of hard cast-iron, 
in the manner of what are called chilled rolls, and highly polished, in order to give a 
very smooth surface to the tin of the conjoined metals by the rolling or flattening action 
of the said pair of flatting-rollers. And note, I provide a small cistern of water beneath 
the said roller which has the said coil around it, so that when the same is removed to the 
front of the pair.of flatting-rollers, as aforesaid, the lower part of such coil will he im¬ 
mersed in the said water, in order that the conjoined metal may become wetted on its 
surfaces before it enters between the said pair of flatting-rollers ; and such wetting tends 
to prevent the tin on the surface of the conjoined metal from adhering to the rollers, as 
it might otherwise do occasionally. And I repeat such rolling of the strip of conjoined 
metals between the same or another like pair of chilled and highly polished flatting-rollers,, 
two, three, or more times, as may be requisite for reducing the said strip of conjoined 
metals to the required thinness. For the manufacture of capsules, the material so pre¬ 
pared. is cut into disks or pieces of the required size. These disks are then carefully 
examined, for the purpose of rejecting any in which the lead is not perfectly covered by 
the tin, which will be at once discovered in a good light, from the difference of ap¬ 
pearance of the surface where the lead is not perfectly covered. The disks of the said 
new material are made into capsules, and the manufacture thereof conducted in the man¬ 
ner described in the specification of the said letters patent of the sixteenth day of 
March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, and which process is now well un¬ 
derstood.” 
The claims made under the patent are,— 
“Firstly, the manufacture of the new material, lead combined with tin, on 
one or both of its surfaces, by rolling or other mechanical pressure, as herein 
described. 
“ Secondly, the manufacture of capsules of the new material of lead and tin 
combined by mechanical pressure, as herein described.” 
This patent would have expired on the 13th day of January, 1863 ; but in 
the preceding month of December, 1862, Mr. Betts obtained an extension to 
the duration of his patent right for an additional five years, which was granted 
principally on the ground of the great expense to which he had been put in 
establishing by litigation the validity of his patent, and the powers he claimed 
under it. Not only, it would appear, have differences of opinion existed among 
practical men on these-points, but even the highest judicial tribunals have been 
at issue upon some of the questions submitted to them, and it has only been 
recently that the patentee has fully established his position. 
While the subject continued under litigation, with decisions in the law courts 
at variance with each other, and doubts stjll hanging over the original patent, 
it is not to be wondered at that there should have been rival processes before 
the public for accomplishing the same object; and when at last Mr. Betts, by 
dint of great perseverance, backed by a heavy purse, succeeded in reducing his 
assailants to submission, he found the market stocked with capsules, many of 
which were infringements of his patent. 
The final decision of the law courts has been entirely in Mr. Betts’s favour. 
The validity of his patent has been established, and the competitive processes 
have been adjudged to be infringements ; he has either stopped, or has the 
power of stopping, every opposing, manufacturer in this country, and he can 
prevent the importation of foreign capsules made by his process. lie has 
thus at last obtained a complete monopoly of the home trade for the remainder 
of his term, and with this it might have been thought he would be satisfied. 
It is alleged that so great is the advantage resulting from the use of lead with 
a mere film of tin over its surface, as specified in the patent, that the manufac¬ 
ture of capsules from tin alone, which is now free to the public, is entirely or 
almost entirely superseded. Even abroad, where until recently tin capsules 
e 2 
