News and Comment.
Page 10
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This journal is extensively read by the heads of many wealthy commercial houses.
1 REMINDERS.
The new London address of the tires sales organization of the North British Rubber Co., Ltd., on and after the 20th inst., will be Clincher House, Great Portland Street, W.
Our Montreal correspondent advises us that Mr. Anson, chairman of committee of the forthcoming Automobile Vehicle Show, which will be held in Montreal this spring, is most desirous to hear from British manufacturers.
Mr. Edward H. Shearing, who has been manager of the Liversiclge business for the past 27 years, has been elected a director of the company. The other directors are Mr. James H. Liversidge (chairman), and Messrs. Arthur J. and Percy B. Liversidge.
Exceptional pressure on our space this week, due to the description of the new Daimler models and the reports upon the Brussels and Glasgow Shows, necessitates the unavoidable holding over of eeveral customary features, including Answers to Queries " and " Culled from Contemporaries."
Our Australian correspondent (page 409) points out the threatened serious influence of the proposed new tariff in the Commonwealth, and particularly in relation to the importation of solid-rubber tires for commercial vehicles. He seems hopeful that the rates in the proposed new tariff will not be confirmed as they stand.
Mr. Edge's Visit to South Africa.
It will no doubt interest readers both at home and in South Africa to know that Mr. S. F. Edge is to follow this itinerary : Cape Town, 6th to 10th February, Mount Nelson Hotel ; Port Elizabeth, 12th to 17th February, care Messrs. Arkell and Douglas, P.O. Box 360; Kimberley, lath to 22nd February, care Post Office ; Bulawayo, 24th to 27th February, care Post Office ; Gwelo, 1st to 3rd March ; Salisbury, 4th to 7th March, care Messrs. Puzey and Payne, P.O. Box 226 ; Mafeking, 9th March ; Johannesburgh, 10th to 15th March, care Post Office ; Durban, 16th to 20th March, care Post Office ; Pietermaritzburg, 20th to 23rd March : Cape Town, 26th to 27th March, care of Post Office.
Mr. Edge will sail, on Saturday next, from Southampton, by the R.M.S. " Weimer Castle."
Fire-Brigade Matters.
Beckenham 1..1).C. has accepted the tender of Alessi's. Simonis and Co.
Driffield U.D.C. and Driffield R.D.C. are getting nearer to the settlement of terms for the joint acquirement of a motor fire-engine.
The St. Albans U.D.C. hopes to arrange terms with the St. Peters P.C.'. for an agreement to provide a motor fire-engine for use in the rateable areas of the two authorities.
Mr. W. Hartley, Sen., the Chairman of the Bingley Water and Fire Brigade Committee, is doing his utmost to bring Bingley into line with its neighbours at Bradford and Keighley, so far as motor equipment is concerned. The use of motor fire-engines at both places has been a sneeess. Gillingham (Kent) U. D.C. is provisionally considering tenders for the conversion of a steam motor fire-engine at alternative costs estimated either to reach 2600 or £750. A third choice is the purchase of a second-hand steam motor fire-engine.
Gloucester City Council intends to establish a fire brigade. At the invitation of a sub-committee of the Watch Committee, Captain G. H. Collett has intimated his preparedness to act as captain or chief officer pro tempore. Various tenders are under consideration, and it is believed that an early decision will be reached.
Revocation of a Chain-drive Patent.
Some interesting questions in patent law and practice were involved in a case which recently came before Mr. Justice Parker. The _patent in question was one (number 27147 of 1910) granted to Mr. J.. C. Merryweather for improvements in automobiles carrying pumps, and the alleged invention appears to have consisted in driving the pump by means of a chain. Hans Renold, Ltd., applied to have this patent revoked. In the applicant's view, the mere substitution of chain driving for some other method of driving, such as by belt or spur gearing, in connection with any particular class of machines, was not proper subject matter for a. patent. It was a substitution already made in connection with many different machines, and one which might hereafter be made in connection with many others. To grant patents in such cases would hamper the development of the chain-making industry. Revocation of the patent was asked on the grounds of want of novelty, and prior publication and use, and that the alleged invention was not a proper subject matter for a patent.
When the case came on, the patentee consented to the patent's being revoked, but, in connection with the question of costs, raised an objection that the petitioner had given no notice to him of intention before commencing proceedings. Had notice been given, then, he contended, he might have surrendered the patent and saved some expense. The judge, however, allowed the costs of the petition, remarking that it is doing a kind of public wrong to maintain a patent on the rolls when that patent is void.