I demur. Is there anything in the Statute to prevent a person importing articles and vending them though the same as the privileged person is alone allowed to make or work? In point of fact that surely might, when the statute was passed, be done from Scotland and Ireland as to manufactures not patented in these countries, but patented in England.
The number of Patents granted in the first fifty years after the Statute of Monopolies was seventy-two, or at the rate of less than one and a-half per annum.
The following list of applications for Patents up to the end of 1862, in several classes, is abridged from Mr. Edwards’ interesting treatise on, or rather against, “Letters Patent for Inventions:”—
| Oct., 1852, to Dec. 31, 1862. | Before Oct., 1852. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Railways and Railway Carriages | 1,418 | 630 | 2,018 |
| Telegraphs | 558 | 109 | 667 |
| Steam and Steam Boilers | 1,293 | 377 | 1,670 |
| Steam-engines | 1,228 | 704 | 1,932 |
| Spinning | 1,837 | 1,120 | 2,957 |
| Electricity, Galvanism, and Electroplating | 662 | 38 | 700 |
| Sewing and Embroidery | 352 | 40 | 392 |
| Heating and Evaporating | 1,108 | 373 | 1,481 |
| Fireplaces, Grates | 317 | 169 | 481 |
| Flues and Chimneys | 278 | 75 | 353 |
| Fuel | 227 | 129 | 356 |
| Ventilating Buildings, Carriages, Ships, &c. | 392 | 81 | 473 |