MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
47 
THE PATENT LAW. 
In our last monthly issue, we directed at¬ 
tention to the state of the Patent Law, as 
it exists in this colony. The consideration 
of this subject is peculiarly in consonance 
with the object of this journal, and we 
shall, by all the means in our power, give 
publicity to the extremely liberal provi¬ 
sions, for taking out patents, which are in 
existence here. 
In a very friendly criticism of our re¬ 
marks on Labour-saving Machinery, that 
appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald , 
the writer warns us of the tendency of 
machinery to degrade the artizan into a 
tool, and he quotes Emerson’s English 
Traits in support of his view. It can 
hardly be supposed that the writer was 
averse to the employment of machinery, 
more especially when it is considered by 
what very elaborate and beautiful mechan¬ 
ism the very journal in which the warning 
appeared is printed, and that every sheet 
that it issues is folded by mechanical agency 
instead of human fingers. 
We are convinced that for many years 
to come, there need be no apprehension 
felt that machinery in this colony, will be 
so multiplied as to produce the deteriorat¬ 
ing influence on the population, exhibited 
in the manufacturing districts of England, 
which excited the sympathy, and suggested 
the warning of the American Essayist. 
We firmly believe, that one of the greatest 
wants of this country is the adaptation of 
simple mechanical aids to the ordinary oc¬ 
cupations of agricultural and pastoral 
life. 
That there is ample encouragement to 
inventors to exercise their ingenuity in 
devising improvements will be seen by 
the following Abstract of the Patent Law 
of New South Wales. 
The Act under which patents may be 
secured in this Colony, is the 24th of the 
16th of Victoria, and was passed in the 
year 1852. The preamble states “ that 
whereas it is expedient that the exclusive 
benefit of inventions and improvements in 
the Arts and Manufactures should be se¬ 
cured for limited periods to the author or 
authors, &c., and whereas it is doubtful 
whether the Laws of the United Kingdom 
extend to, or have effect in the colony of 
New South Wales, be it therefore enacted, 
&e.that the Governor may grant Letters 
of Registration for a period of not less 
than seven or more than fourteen years for 
such inventions or improvements, guaran¬ 
teeing to the authors the exclusive enjoy¬ 
ment of the advantages thence accruing. 
The second clause provides that the per¬ 
son claiming to be the author shall, previ¬ 
ously to his obtaining such Letter of 
Registration or Patent, deposit with the 
Colonial Treasurer the sum of twenty 
pounds sterling, and present a petition to 
the Governor setting forth his claim, and a 
specification of the invention. This peti¬ 
tion and specification is to be referred to 
one or more competent persons nominated 
by the said Governor, and in the event of 
their favourable report, the patent shall be 
granted and letters of registration filed 
in the proper office in the Supreme Court 
of the Colony. The third clause enables 
the grantee of such patent to sell or assign 
the same. The fourth limits the official 
expenses of the patent to the sum of twenty 
pounds paid into the Colonial Treasury, 
and the fifth and last clause provides for 
the repeal of such patent under the usual 
exceptional circumstances. 
This short abstract contains in fact the 
whole Patent Law as it exists in this 
Colony, and seeing it is so very facile and 
so cheap, we are surprised that it has never 
yet been availed of. 
There are many specialities in this colony 
to be provided for, that would well repay 
the taking out of a patent. Let us glance 
at some. One desideratum is an applica¬ 
tion of machinery for washing the wool on 
the sheep’s hack. Machinery has done 
more difficult things than this with economy, 
and those of our readers who are acquainted 
with the costly and clumsy mode in which 
this is accomplished at present, will appre¬ 
ciate the advantage that would be gained 
by an improved method, not to mention the 
largely increased value of the staple pro¬ 
duction of the colony, and the lessening of 
the cost of freight. There can be no doubt 
that a practical invention for this purpose 
would realize a splendid fortune. 
Take again, the waste of food that takes 
place In the country districts, in the boil¬ 
ing down sheep and oxen for tallow. 
Nothing but the apparently inevitable ne¬ 
cessity of destroying the flesh for the sake 
of the fat, could reconcile us to the fact, 
that tons of fine beef and mutton are an¬ 
nually thrown away. 
Now, can no ingenious chemist devise 
some cheap plan for preserving this food 
