Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1911 — HOW INVENTIONS WERE STOLEN [ARTICLE]

HOW INVENTIONS WERE STOLEN

Precautions Taken Before Days of Patents to Preserve Trade Secrete. Before patents were granted for Inventions, the inventor had but one way to sc a return from his invention. That was to keep it secret Secret inventions were the most valuable possessions of many families and guilds. But In proportion to their value, they tempted the cupidity of competitors. The secret of making Venetian glass was greatly prized and was most jealously guarded. A Venetian named Paoli, who possessed the secret, left Venice and wandered northward practicing his art He was stabbed in Normandy with a dagger marked “Traitor” — a measure taken to preserve the secret. in 1710 the Elector of Saxony learned that a man named Bottger had discovered the secret of making porhelain. He accordingly confined him in the castle of Albrechtsburg until the discovery had been perfected.) The workmen were sworn to secrecy, and the drawbridge was kept up except to admit those especially authorized. Thus was the manufacture of the famous Dresden ware begun. The secret was soon carried to Vienna, where a royal factory was established, and to France, where it was the foundation of the manufacture of the famous Sevres pottery. The stealing of the secret of making “cast steel” is an interesting example. A watchmaker named Huntsman was dissatisfied with the watch springs the market afforded, and in 1760 conceived that if he could cast the steel Into an Ingot, springs made from it would be** more homogeneous. His conception was successfully carried out, and a large market established for “Huntsman’s ingots.’’ Large works with tall chimneys were soon built Every effort was made to keep the secret. No one was admimtted to the works. The process was divided, and persons working on each part were kept in ignorance of other parts of the work. One bitter night a man, "dressed as a farm laborer, came to the door apparently In an exhausted condition and asked admittance. The foreman, deceived by his appearance into thinking the man was incapable of. understanding what he would see, let him In. The man dropped down in sight of the furnaces and seemed to sleep. 1 Through furtively opened eyes he saw the workmen cut bars of steel into bits and depositing them into crucibles, put the crucibles into furnaces and urge the fires to the highest pitch. The workmen had to protect themselves from the heat by wet clothes. Finally the stel melted, he saw the crucibles were withdrawn and the steel was cast into moulds —and the secret was a secret ho longer.—American Industries.