TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9438, 9 June 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

This rapidly increasing The popularity of the Wels- ■ Incaudescent bach incandescent gas light Gas Lamp. gives additional interest to the proceedings taken by the Company owning the patent against two other companies whioh it was alleged were infringing that patent. The cases were heard before Mr Justice Willi in the Court - of Queen's Bench, and the defendants were the De Mare Inoandesceut Gas Light System " and the Sunlight Incandescent CJaa Lamp Company. In order to make the matter clear it is necessary to explain the method - of mauuficturiug the cap or mantle which 3 forms the distinctive feature of the I Welsbach light. For some time, says j a recent writer on the subject, chemists have been acquaint-d with the existence of , certain rare metals—zirconium, lantbanium, I erbium, and others—having the property of 3 becoming- highly incandescent under, the c application of heat, bub till 1865 there was no method of presenting them in such a 3 form to withstand heat for any length of B time, and the metale were only of value for experimental purposes. Then ' Dr. Welsbach discovered and patented a procsss at once simple and" ingenious, whioh **■ is described as follows:—The "mantle' r to be used for the incandescenb light -• is first built up of cotton fibre. This is * steeped in a solution of nitrates of the rare c metals, and when the solution bas peneB .rated all the intricacies of the fabric the r whole is dried, so that the mantle consists of C the cotton fibres encrusted throughout with V the metals. The next process ia to apply >. fire to the mantle, with tbe i.Bult that the t cotton fibre is burnt away, and the heat tl also drives off the nitric acid contained in c the nitrates or salts of the metals. There U is then lefo an exact cast of the cotton il fibres in the oxides of the metals, and this 3 under tbe action of a gas flame gives out the 6 brilliant light with which we are becoming ~ so familia-. "* In the action brought by the ■" The Welsbach Company against lt Patent the Da Mare Co. the der " Infringed, fendants objected, among " other things, that the invenl * tion waa not the proper subject for a *- patent, having regard to the state oi - 3 common knowledge at the time, anc d that it was not new or useful. Thest '£ were assertions with which the Judge -1 had no sympathy at all. I>.. WelsL_ch'i 38 invention, be said, with tbe improvement) re following npon it, had undoubtedly pro id duced a great new industry in England ii 16 the extraction, for the purpose of the manu

icture of these cape and mantles, of oxides, alts, and rare metals, and the globe had t0 teen ransacked for new sources of supply. Fhe attack on the score of want of know- w , edge was groundless, for the fiald upon wi vhich Dr. Welsbach entered was hitherto da introdden, or marked by absolute failure, md the objection that the invention was re iselees was a singularly hopeless conten- <j 8 ion. Particulars of the alleged invention of T! he De Mare Company show that they pro- C< sosed to make a plume, consisting oi a *" lumber of threads tied ou to a platinum Tire, and arranged so as to form a sort of xinge, all the threadsof which were brought t e rery closely together, but allowed to B separate as they needed. The plume was "' lipped into a solution of sulphates of j magnesium, erbium, and zirconium. There 0 | eras the substitution of erbium for lan- a bbanium, which was used by the plaintiffs ; w but that did not, in his Lordship's opinion, a obviate a serious infringement of the plaintiffs process, and he accordingly gave judg- ri ment against the defendants with costs, ami jj granted an injunction restraining them from d further infringement. " The case against the Sunlight * A Company did not result so J? Successful favourably for the Welabach j ( Rival. people. The Da Mare Com- t pany took the main idea of Wehbach'a system and so, to all appear- ° ances, did the Suulighb Company, but with B a difference which just saved them from j a charge of infringing the original v patent. The feature of their system g is, of course, a "mantle" like that of the c Welsbach light, but the method oi manu- s . facture is considerably different. The ( principal ally of the zirconium used is i aluminium, which is said to increase the s strength of the mantle but lessen its light- i giving properties. To remedy this it is covered with a film of oxide of chromium, , which increases the incandescence. Mr i Justice Wills, in giviue judgment, showed s that his sympathies were with the l plaintiff). The Sunlight Company's patent, he said, did not impress him favourably. Parts of it he wa3 justified iv j calling nonsense, and he 'doubted whether I this rubbi.sh had been inserted for any other purpose than that of trying to make it look ualike the Welsbach process. The defen- , dants had taken a valuable process from ■ Dr. Welsbach without giving any remuneration to him, but they had not taiicu the substance of the Welsuacb inventiou, and therefore he gave judgment for them in the matter of infringement. He, however, found , in favour of the validity of the plaintiff*' patent, and reserved tue question of cosis. Theoretically, no doubt, general sympathy will bj expressed witu tua Welsbaoh Company that they should have their braiua picked sn tbis manner. But they have had a long and prosperous iuuings, and the public is essentially practical at) heart. Auy sentimental faaliag on their part will, therefore, probably be smothered by the hope tbav with Wo Companies ia the field thd pries ol incaudoecsut which have developed from a luxury into almoat a necessity, will come down to such a level as will permit them to come into universal use. Miss Audebi Griffin, The of Hurstville, New •' Chain Letter " South Wales, ia still Again. striving after the unattainable. This 13 the lady we referred to on May 9th, who has started a "chain letter" with the object of obtaiuiug a million cancelled po»tage stamps. A philanthropic gentleman has agreed, so says jthe circular letter sent out by Miss Griffin, "to pay for'those stamps at a rate with the Government, which will be sufficient to build a children's ward at the local cottage hospital." AH that the recipient of one of these circular letters from Mi-is Griffia is asked to do is to make three copies of it, numbering them all alike, and send one to each oi hie or her frieuda. The original letter is to be returned to Mies Griffin with ten or more cancelled postage etampe. This process is to be carried out to the eightieth dimension, so to speak, and is getting on steadily, for whereas a month ago a letter received in Canterbury was numbered 19, one which a correspondent sends to us for our opinion upon it ia numbered 22. We must again repeat that, without casting the slightest doubt upon the bona fides of Mias Griffiu, for we know nothing about that lady, we hope our correspondent aud all who receive similar instalments of the " chain letter" will '■ refrain fiom continuing the chain. It is a system which lenda itself to swindling on a huge scale. It may not seem much to send ten or a dozen cancelled stamps, but supposing it was an unused penny or two-penny btamp that was asked for, and the writer intended to keep the profits to himaelf. Hβ could be a millionaire in a short time. Aβ we said before, it is the old school problem of the nails in a horse's shoes raised to an infinitely higher power. A correspondent estimated that by the time thw nineteenth link in this chain had been completed the accumulated postage on all the letters would reach the enormous sum of over nineteen millions sterling. These " ohain letters." are a fearful nuisance in the United States and England, and if for no other reason than to protect these colonies from a similar infliction thoao who ere invited to help in the chain making ehonld firmly decline to do anything of the sort. ,