CERTAIN APPARATUS ADAPTED TO THE BREEDING AND REARING OF FISH
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gottlieb Boccius, of Hammersmith, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
APPARATUS ADAPTED TO THE BREEDING AND REARING OF FISH."
Sealed the 20th June 1854, and dated the 21st December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gottlieb Boccius at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st December 1853.
I, GOTTLIEB BOCCIUS, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN APPARATUS ADAPTED TO THE BREEDING AND REARING OF FISH"
to be as follows:-
My apparatus consists of a vessel or receiver, or tub or box, made
with apertures sufficiently small on the top or lid and bottom to
prevent fish eggs or spawn passing through, yet sufficiently large to
allow water to percolate into the apparatus when immersed in water.
The apparatus is made or formed of or in two or more sections or parts,

page_text: one part fitting into or on the other. In the interior I place a tray or
receiver, or a series of them, one over the other, if required, thereby
forming divisions, and all perforated as before described, upon which
certain sorts of fish eggs may be deposited. Some sort of fish eggs
require no tray receiver or division in the apparatus, but other material,
such as moss or weed, or any substance as a substitute sufficient to
entangle the fish eggs, and preserve or keep them in their places when
immersed in water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gottlieb Boccius in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GOTTLIEB BOCCIUS, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Gen-
tleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Gottlieb Boccius, Her
special licence that I, the said Gottlieb Boccius, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gottlieb
Boccius, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"CERTAIN APPARATUS ADAPTED TO THE BREEDING AND REARING OF FISH,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Gottlieb Boccius,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gottlieb Boccius, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:
"
My apparatus consists of a vessel, receiver, tub, or box, made with
apertures sufficiently small on the top and bottom to prevent fish eggs
or spawn escaping through, yet sufficiently large to allow water to
percolate into the apparatus when immersed in water. The apparatus
is made with a lid or cover, or in two or more sections or parts, one
part fitting into or on the other. In the interior I place a tray or
receiver, or a series of them, one upon the other, all perforated, as
before described, on which fish eggs of the salmonidæ tribe may be
deposited; other fish eggs require no tray receiver or division in the
apparatus, but I substitute for the trays moss or weed, or other suitable
material sufficient to entangle the fish eggs or spawn, and preserve them
in their position when immersed in water. I do not confine myself to
any particular form of apparatus, but recommend that the top and
bottom should be flat. I also recommend that the top and bottom
should be worked in apertures of 1th part of an inch diameter, square
apertures to be preferred. The walls or sides of the apparatus may be
made to any depth, but if using trays or receivers, for those sorts of fish
eggs which are usually deposited in gravel or sand, I recommend that
the trays should not be deeper than th of an inch, and the apertures
th of an inch square, in order to confine the fish egg or spawn in its
position when the tray or trays is or are placed in the apparatus. The
sides of the apparatus may have perforations or gratings to admit the
water flowing or percolating, but I do not recommend that they should be
of greater width than 1th part of an inch. The apparatus may be made
of any buoyant material, such as gutta percha, in order to float upon
the surface of the water, as I find that when retained in that position
the fish come earlier to maturity; it should be weighted at the bottom
part, in order to keep it from tilting or turning over, and for this pur-
pose
I find it convenient to apply a strip of sheet lead all around the
external part of the bottom of the apparatus, leaving it sufficiently

page_text: buoyant to keep the top just covered with water. The apparatus may
be fixed in the water in any convenient manner to keep it in its
position, such as by a stake, rope, &c.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a plan of a
box constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a longitudinal
section; and Figure 3 an end view of the same. A, A, are the frames;
and B, the lid, which is connected to the box by hinges, which allow of
the lid being thrown back, so as not to form any impediment to the
removal of the trays C, C. These trays are superposed the one above
the other, as represented in Figure 2.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim,-
The constructing of apparatus for the breeding and rearing of fish,
in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gottlieb Boccius, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-four.
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