The Sun.
London, England, 1806-04-03 00:00:00

LASSE,LLE V. TiIE BARON VON bOORNI-K.-:

,The Soi,forroa-GsNEAAL stated, that this was
-an application to procure the Patent.granted by His
:Majesty to the Petitioner to be Completed bypass-
-Mg the Great Seal: -The Patent was grarittidgitider
the authority of the Attbrney-General, • forTalligr
Invention in the :manufaCture of .Soap,-
"Respondent, -BaronNon,Doornik, .entertd a-tetreat'
againSt its-passing the Great Seil;: on-ahe. grounds '
that he had obtained a presions ratent . for the
same Invention, in the auonth of -April, A. 805. In
this-latter Gentleman's Patent he described -his In,
sention to be. the introduCtion and -use of marl, or
saponaceous earth, which
„went through a certain
process, and wasan ingredient never betbre.used in
making Soap. The:Petitioner's:Soap, 'the Learned
Counsel contend'ed, was an in-Inv/oven-tent in the
making' of yellow or palm Soap,
_which was mantt-
fadured with, a quantity of linseed
,oil, instead .of
tallow ; and it was for the purpose of correaing the
pernicious qualities of this ingredient that the •Pe-
sitioner had introduced an alluminous :earth in mak-
which was an Inventionmever before •id' ex- -
istence, and totally, different .in all its parts • from,
that' of-the -Respondent:- , The-Petitioner swore, that
.he never used the Inventionol:that Gentleman, and
it was for him to spew that the former was obtain--.'
ing -a---Patent.for , his Invention, Long --before the.
,Patent of the •Petitionerwas --granted, he hatteb-
tered a caveatatgainst any other person applying for-
a Patent for Soap, so, satisfied:was.he- that this .was.
an entire new Invention • .
Mr. HART, .on-the. Same side, observed, that in-
graining Patents,the AttOrneyGeneral.6ll,6ys looks -
personally into the business ; and, in the.present
case, several .persons well skilled in chemiStry were
examined, who satisfied him that they were totally-
different.. But to take up the question upon public
grounds, he supposed, -for argurnent,"that the-distil-
-ling spirits from grain was a new Invention ,and-if a
man had obtained a Patent for extrading spirits:,
front barley, could it be contended. that atmther man
was not to have a Patent,, because he had.diseovered
that it could-be done from oats.- • -
Mr. PERCIVAL observed, that he .was-not COD-
cerned in. the cause; but, at the time Mr.,Lasselle's •
Patent.was,granted, lie Was Attorney-General; and
:several persons skilled in, and conversant with; the
subje&, were examined, and convinced him thdy •
were totally different Inventions..'
'Loan CUANCELLOR-- The Affidavit of Baron
Voq Doornik says, both have marl in. them ; Mrs -•
Lasselle says, his is made on quite-a' different prin, •
CiPle. know that an earth of this kind isfound.
in great quantities' on part of My "Lord Warwickis
„Estate, and I hope it may turn put of great adv.-
tage tc him." • - " • . .
The Souceroa-GEktam-replied; that that:was
the identi6l earth made use of by.the Baron;-: aad
he understood thatA\Toble Lord was principally con-
cerned in the ManufaCtory.:- " • >.
Mr. JonxsTON, for the Respondent, contended-,
that this -was an infringement upon"' the Baron's Pa-
tent, and hoped the COurt- would• be. induced:to.:
look further. into it: The great virtue of his 'Cli-
ent's soap was its washing as well. in, sea or hard
water as any other:; and was, therefore,: a most im-
portant article for she use of the Navy ; and the iII
jury to she Repondent was, of course, the greater.
It was very difficult for him to
.spew what tngredi-
ents anOtherhadbeen making use 'of; but from the
grounds and fa&s of the case it' might be suspected
he had been using the same ;" the words of his Pa-..
• tent were the 'tatrie—•` The introduetion 'or com-
bination of earth with other ingredients in the matk- •
ing Ofsoap ;" and -if the analyzation was right,'there
were alluminous pat-tides of marl, so that the inven-
tion, was. one and the same., The Respondent had:"
obtained his Patent in April 180;"? and • the Peti-
tioner entered his caveat,. against all other Patents
on :soap in the following October, and did not ap-
ply for a Patent till January .120.6. It. was a ques-
tion of great importance to Baron Von Doornik,
as the invention was found to.be of the greatest uti-
lity, and he, had certificates to. that etre& from some
of the greatest cliara4ers in his Majesty's 'Navy, if it
were thought necessary to produce them. 'Under all
the circumstances, he hoped his, Lordship would.ex,
amine Persons upon the subje&, before he would
'finally decide ; and adverted to the late Lord Chan-
-eellor (Eldon) who took three days.to consider, in
the case 'of a person, applying for aPatent for a_haF-
ness to prevent horse.s running away with a car
riage in that case Lord Eldon examined the par 7
ties several times in private.
-Specimens of both soaps were produced-in Court ; •
and Lifter a minute inspedion, ' • •
.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said, Very. different
opinions have been entertained with tespeet•to Pa-
tents. Some persons, both high commercial. cha-
ra&ers and in the, law, have had a great antipathy..
-to granting them ; and .1 remember in the time of
Justice Buller' it was with the utmost difficulty one .;
could be- obtained; others, on the contraiy, thought
otherwise, and believed it to beef the greatest-tiff..
lity, by encouraging ingenious and industrious per-
sons., I think the'middle plan the -best,:-and..that
Patents Ought not to be granted ottlight orfrivolous:
grounds : but the question before me is; nt;t:whe-
tiler they be itiv6ntion's 'beneficial to the- nor
do I wish td derogate' from the -useful qualities 'of;
either—they-are both• before: me, and are -as .dif-
ferent from each other as any two things can pol-!
sibly be ;' the one (Baron Von: Doornik's).iS hard:
nearly as stone, of a dark colour; and as. I, pass my
fitig-er along it, . there appears-to 'be :some sandy,
particles through it, and • it ads by friction : the:
other (Mr. Lasselles) is so: _loft, that I shall not
tonal' it "again ; I have spoiled-triylglaN, and- dit-7
tied my note-book. - It-is only allolVing
tleman to make the King'.s Coat of Arms a.wrapper
for his soap. ' The earth on Lord Warwick's Estate
is of a saponaceoui nature,. And very beneficial ; but
if only to be found on that Estate, that Noble Lord
May diSieose of it to Whom haipleases. . .11 after the
Petitioner'S Patent has passed The Great.:Seal;jVir.
Von- ,Doornik finds he is injured, and can ,with
safety bring his soap into a Court of LaW, that reme-
dfis still open to him ; but I-cannot refuse theYa-
' tent Upon tiie. grounds now before the Conrt.'.'