A CERTAIN MACHINE WHEREBY IMMENSE QUANTITIES OF FISH MAY BE CAUGHT OR TAKEN, AND THE SAME SOLD AT SO CHEAP A RATE AS WILL BE OF VERY GREAT BENEFIT TO HIS MAJESTY'S SUBJECTS IN GENERAL, AND TO THE POOR IN PARTICULAR, ESPECIALLY AT THIS SCA, B CONSUMED, AND OF COURSE A GREATER NUMBER OF HANDS WILL BE EMPLOYED, BOTH IN THE CATCHING AND THE SALE THEREOF
Year: 1767

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COBB, of the Parish of Saint Clement Danes, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, on or about the Thirtieth day of July, in the seventh year of
His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said William Cobb, His especial
licence that I, the said William Cobb, during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America, my Invention of "A CERTAIN
MACHINE WHEREBY IMMENSE QUANTITIES OF FISH MAY BE CAUGHT OR TAKEN, AND
THE SAME SOLD AT SO CHEAP A RATE AS WILL BE OF VERY GREAT BENEFIT TO HIS
MAJESTY'S SUBJECTS IN GENERAL, AND TO THE POOR IN PARTICULAR, ESPECIALLY AT
THIS TIME OF SCARESITY, WHEN EVERY NECESSARY OF LIFE IS SO IMMODERATELY
DEAR, AS BY MEANS OF THIS MACHINE THE PRICE OF FISH WILL BE GREATLY
REDUCED, WHICH CONSEQUENTLY WILL CAUSE A FAR GREATER CONSUMPTION THAN HAS
HERETOFORE BEEN CONSUMED, AND OF COURSE A GREATER NUMBER OF HANDS WILL
BE EMPLOYED, BOTH IN THE CATCHING AND THE SALE THEREOF;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe obliging me, the said William

page_text: Cobb, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and how the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisoe, I, the said
William Cobb, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a machine for
the beneficial uses and purposes above mentioned is composed of the following
materials, and described as follows, viz:
Long lines; small lines for snoods, with hooks fixed thereunto; weights
to sink the same; small buoys or floats under water to prevent the hooks and
baits touching the bottom for in- other words to keep them floating at a
proper height from the bottom of the sea, that the fish may the more easily
discover the bait, on account of which small buoys under water consists the
validity of the machine or Invention); anchors at convenient distances, with
buoys to each anchor to discover where the said anchors are to be found;
which long lines, small lines for snoods, with hooks fixed thereon, weights
to sink the same, small. buoys or floats under water to prevent, the hooks and
baits touching the bottom, anchors at convenient distances, with buoys to
each anchor to discover where the said anchors are to be found, and small
buoys or floats under water, have communication with each other, and are
the completion of the above Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cobb, have hereunto sett my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the said seventh
year of the reign of our now said Sovereign Lord King George the
Third, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and
sixty-seven.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that on the aforesaid Twelfth day of Sep-
tember, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Cobb came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
5 above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made in the sixth year of the reign of the late
King and Queen William and Mary of England, & so forth.
Inrolled the same Twelfth day of September, in the year above written.