THE COLLECTION AND CULTIVATION OF OYSTER SPAWN AND BROOD
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hubert Ayckbourn, of 4, Symond's Inn, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Solicitor, for the Invention of "THE
COLLECTION AND CULTIVATION OF OYSTER SPAWN AND BROOD."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Eugene Kemmerer, of St. Martin, Ile de Ré,
France Doctor of Medicine
Sealed the 3rd May 1864, and dated the 21st November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hubert Ayckbourn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
November 1863.
I, HUBERT AYCKBOURN, of 4, Symond's Inn, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"THE COLLECTION AND CULTIVATION OF OYSTER SPAWN AND BROOD," communi-
cated to me from abroad. by Eugene Kemmerer, of St. Martin, Ile de Ré,
France, Doctor of Medicine, to be as follows:-
For this purpose I make use of tiles, bricks, stones, slates, stoneware or
earthenware, composition metal, wood, cork, or other material, preferring,
however, on account of their hollow form and the character of their surface,
tiles, which may be the pantiles in common use for roofing, or else concave
tiles made on purpose, of any size convenient to handle, provided they are
sufficiently hollow. These or other of the above substances to which when

page_text: so applied I give the name of " collectors," I cover with a coating of from
quarter to half an inch in thickness or more of mortar, cement, or com-
position, of such consistence and nature as while resisting the action of the
sea, on exposure to its influence, shall admit of being readily scaled off. At
the period of the year when oysters begin to spawn I lay down the collectors
so prepared on the shore chosen for the operation, and as near to low water-
mark as possible, placing under and among them, or in their immediate
vicinity, in greater or less number according to circumstances, the oysters
which are to supply the spawn. The arrangement which I prefer when
using tiles or similar materials is to place on the ground two, side by side and
about six inches apart, with the concave side downwards; upon these three
others crosswise, with the same side undermost, and then three more across
them, to be followed by one or two additional ranges till a group of eleven or
fourteen tiles placed crosswise with their hollow sides downwards is built up.
But any other arrangement may be adopted provided it admits of the free
entrance of the sea under and among the individual collectors. The spawn
on its ejection from the parent oyster floats in the water, and can only be
preserved from destruction by meeting with a surface to which it can adhere ;
such surfaces are provided by my tile or other collectors, which act the better
the freer they are kept from deposit and confervoid or other vegetation. As
soon as it adheres to any surface, or is of a size to be readily seen by the
naked eye, oyster spawn is distinguished by the name of "spat." If allowed
to remain attached to the collectors the spat would in the course of time
increase in size, and after passing through the intermediate states of "brood"
and " ware "become oysters. But in order to acquire the form required by
consumers, and to prevent it becoming too firmly fixed, it must be detached
while still young. It is to facilitate this operation that I coat my collectors with
mortar, cement, or composition. When about fourteen or fifteen months' old
the process of detaching the young brood may be undertaken. All that is
required is to scale off the mortar or other coating and then to break it in
pieces according to the number of spats adhering to it, or else by means of a
sharp instrument to gouge off the spat without injuring it. In order to render
the coating more easily removed I apply in a moist state to the surface to be
covered a piece of paper or other substance capable of answering the same
end, of somewhat smaller dimensions than the collector, which will leave a
margin for the material applied to adhere to, but in consequence of being
interposed between the collector and the coating will maintain the central
portion free. By detaching the adherent margin the entire coating can in
this way be easily removed with its attached spat or brood. The brood thus

page_text: detached must then be laid down in beds or layings possessing the conditions
necessary for its due development and subsequent fattening, which are well
understood hu these DOMAns
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hubert Ayckbourn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUBERT
AYCKBOURN, of 4, Symond's Inn, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Solicitor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Hubert Ayckbourn, Her special licence that I, the said Hubert
Ayckbourn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Hubert Ayckbourn, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"THE COLLECTION AND CULTIVATION OF OYSTER SPAWN AND BROOD," a communica-
tion to me from abroad by Eugene Kemmerer, of St. Martin, Ile de Ré,
France, Doctor of Medicine, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Hubert Ayckbourn, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hubert Ayckbourn, 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, that is to say :-.
Oyster spawn on its ejection from the parent oyster, swims or floats in the
sea, and is only preserved from destruction, by meeting with some body or
bodies to which it can adhere, "cultch," is the term in use for such bodies.
'

page_text: As soon as it attaches itself to any surface or is of a size to be readily seen by
the naked eye oyster spawn is distinguished by the name of "spat." In the
course of time the spat increasing in size and passing through its intermediate
stages, becomes oysters. But in order to acquire the characters preferred by
consumers, it ought to be detached from the bodies to which it has adhered
when still young, and placed on beds or layings known to possess fattening
properties. When left to nature, however, young oysters are found spon-
taneously to grow off the cultch to which they are fixed.
66
My Invention consists of contrivances calculated to meet these requirements
to which I give the name of "oystar spat collectors." For this purpose I
employ by preference tiles of the form of the "ridge tiles" in use for roofing,
and made of common potters' clay, or other suitable material. The dimensions
which answer best are, a breadth of seven or nine inches with a length
somewhat exceeding two or three diameters, as for instance, twenty-four inches
long. by seven broad, or twenty inches long by nine broad, I make use of the
above form and sizes as being calculated to afford a secure lodgment for the
young oysters, and as being convenient to handle and arrange compactly and
solidly in groups, but do not confine myself to such, almost any other size
and shape being capable of answering to some extent the objects in view.
Although tiles are perhaps the best materials that can be used for oyster spat
collectors, I do not limit myself to them, but in certain circumstances employ
stones, bricks, slates, earthenware, cement, compo," glass, metal, wood,
papier maché, wickerwork, felt, matting, rope, cork, or other material, to
which can be applied the facing or lining specified in the following description,
which is made specially applicable to concave tiles, as being the type and most
perfect form of my collectors. Having reduced some common clay to the
consistence of thick cream by working it up with water, I coat by means of a
brush or otherwise, the hollow surface of the tiles to be used with this mixture
leaving untouched a small margin on each side at their edges or corners.
After the coating of clay bas dried, I prepare in quantity sufficient to be all
worked off at one time before setting, a cement capable of resisting the action
of the water when submerged in the sea, such for instance as Portland cement,
which, by experience, I have found to be the best for the purpose. Upon the
prepared surface of the tile, I throw a trowelful of cement, and with the help
of a stiff brush or of a wooden or other mould of the same curve as the tile
and fitting its concave side, spread it rapidly over the surface, so as to form a
facing or lining of one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch or thereabout in thickness.
The free margins of the tile permit the cement to attach itself firmly to it,
while in the central part the interposed coating of clay, by preventing adhesion

page_text: causes it to be easily detached. Instead of leaving the margins or portions of
them free, the entire concave side of the tile may be coated with clay as well
as cement, and the latter if necessary, secured by some other means such as
applying at the corners or other parts of the edges masses of cement enveloping
both the tile and its lining, so as to hold them together after the manner of a
clamp. The same object may evidently be effected by using clamps of metal
or other pliant material. In place of clay I sometimes use other substances,
such as whitewash, bleack lead, soap, grease, paint, varnish, &c. A permanent
glaze, such as is in use for drain pipes and common pottery, I have likewise
found to facilitate the scaling off of the cement facing. When the latter plan
is adopted, it will be necessary to rub the glazed surface with an oily rag
before applying the cement. I also secure the same object by interposing
paper or other thin materials between the tile and the cement with which it
is faced. I do not limit myself to applying the cement to one side only of the
tiles or other bodies used as oyster spat collectors, for two or more surfaces
may be thus treated, although in practice little or nothing will be gained by so
doing. At or just before the period of the year when oysters begin to spawn,
I place the collectors so prepared in situations chosen for the operation of
collecting oyster spat, and where if necessary parent oysters have been pre-
viously laid, depositing the latter under or among them, or in their imme-
diate vicinity. When the foreshore is the situation selected, the part which
gives the best result, the ground being of the right sort, is that which lies
between low water of the neap and that of the spring tides. When the
collectors are three diameters in length, I arrange them in the following
manner, I place on the ground two collectors side by side and about six inches
apart with the concave faced side downwards, upon these three others cross-
wise with the same side undermost, and then three more across them, to be
followed by one or two additional ranges of three, till a group of eleven or
fourteen collectors placed crosswise in alternate rows is built up. When the
collectors are two diameters in length, I arrange them alternately in pairs
crosswise in the same number of rows. But other arrangements may be
adopted provided they permit among the individual collectors the free entrance
of the sea, which by its agitation washes off from the under surface any
sediment that might otherwise adhere; for it is only to clean surfaces that
oyster spat can hold on. The groups of collectors are to be arranged in lines
or in isolated patches, with passages between for coming and going or other
purposes. Before the time of year when frost is to be feared, the collectors
unless so situated as never to be entirely uncovered with water nor subject to
freshes," must be removed and treated according to the nature of the layings
66

page_text: prepared for the future growth of the oyster brood. They may either be
placed during the winter entire with their adherent crop of spat in suitable
layings or else the spat may be detached and transferred separately to the
layings. If not undertaken previously to the setting in of winter the latter
operation must be performed subsequently; a very favorable time is when the
brood is about fourteen or fifteen months old. At whatever period it is done,
all that is required is to remove the cement facing and then to break it.in
pieces according to the number of young present. When but little spat has
adhered to the collectors it will be found an economy instead of detaching the
entire facing merely to gouge off those portions which bear young, refreshing
the surface the following year with a coat of thin cement applied with a
brush.
I claim as my Invention for the "Collection and Cultivation of Oyster Spawn
and Brood," compound collectors formed in the manner and of the materials
above stated of a solid permanent body and a more or less adherent facing or
lining to be used in the manner above described:
In witness whereof, I, the said Hubert Ayckbourn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
. L
HUBERT AYCKBOURN. (L.S.)"