LETTERS PATENT IN THE COLONY.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 137, 14 June 1881, Page 2

LETTERS PATENT IN THE COLONY.

Among the papers laid before Parliament last week is one giving a list of Letters Patent and Letters of Registration applied for during 18^0. The total number of applicatiqna is 80, of which a considerable proportion were for patents for colonial inventions. Tho paper is a very uninviting one at a first glance, containing as it does but a dry extract from the registration books, but those who take the trouble to read through it will find something interesting and instructive. The first among the colonial applications is one by Mr. Christopher Tester, of Wellington, law stationer, who has gone in for " an invention for extinguishcandle»," to be called " Tester's Self-acting Safety i'xtinguisher." An invention of this kind should create a great reformation in domestic life. We have always felt that the old-fashioned ways of extinguishing a li_>ht are unsatisfactory, and lead to an uncharitable condition of mind after prayers. Nothing is more calculated to upset one's nerves than to have to " douse the glim " with tho heel of a slipper after getting fairly settled between the sheets, and nothing is more trying to the constitution, than to make a blow-pipe of one's lips, and struggle to extinguish a candle at six feet distance. Then the only other way of getting rid of the difficulty is squeezing the fl*me out with the fingers — a most painful process if not done artistically. The ill that has been occasioned by the absence of a self-acting extinguisher is beyond calculation, and therefore Mr. Tester's invention will be hailed with joy if it abolishes for ever the slipper, blowing, and fingering processes. The next sign of the times, as shown by the printed list, is an application for letters patent for an imoroved totalisator; and buen comes a simi- .r application for an invention for " effectually clearing and freeing from rabbits all lands and districts at present infested with them." Mr. B. Dickson, of Otago, is tho man who hopes to achieve this great good, ai.d hia fortune thereby ; if he does the former, generations shall rise up and call him blessed ; the accomplishment of the latter will at least bring him friends. Mr. George Townson, of Timaru, and Mr. William Anderson Swing, of Dunedin, have applied for patents for cement— an industry which is creating considerable attention in many parts of the colony just now. Coming back to Wellington, we find Mr. Richard Knuckey, mechanical engineer, of Cuba-street, Wellington, has applied for a patent for washing clothes, called " the Cornish washing machine. '\ If the machine will wash without destroying bachelors' buttons, the proprietor ought to make a good thing of it. Mr. George Ashcroft is also among the list of applicants for patents, his quarts-crushing mauhine (which has been fully described in the Post) being the object of his solicitude. Wanganui also figures in the li3t. A n enterprising farmer there has invented a new kind of churn, and is desirous of having it protected in the usual way. It was shown at the Wellington Exhibition, and attracted a good deal of attention. One gentleman in Inyercargill took initiatory steps to protect an invention of " An instantaneous fire escape," but did not proceed with it. If at any future time he could couple with it " An instantaneous escape from bailiffs," he would confer a boon on much suffering humanity, and would, if he took pare to protect himself as well as his invention, make a rapid fortune. A more persevering man is Mr. James P. Black, a Nelson settler, who has perfected "An escape door fastener," and intends to get his patent if possible. Debtors may find this a valuable adjunct to their back doors till the other inventor tries his luck again. Among the other New Zealand applications the following inventions are mentioned : — Gold and sand- extractor ; improvements ifi wiro tramways and propelling cars on tracks and boats ; making sand moulds for iron and brass castings; manufacturing farinaceous food from wheat ; an improved brick and tile kiln ; making candles ; plough for clearing tram rail grove 3 and rails ; filling up ruts and spreading shingle on roads ; computing surveyors calculations ; improved furnace bars and furnaces. The list shows that New Zealand is progressing in the matter of inventions, and is thus far of interest.