x!iv

EXHIBITION OF 1851.

.Protection against Piracy of Inventions and Designs exhibited.

Ln order that Exhibitors might not be discouraged from sending to the Exhibitioneither new inventions or ornamental designs, under an apprehension that they mightbe subjected to piracy, or might afterwards be prevented from obtaining letterspatent lor their inventions, Her Majesty’s Government, at the instance of theCommissioners, introduced into Parliament two Bills, -which were passed into law,by means of which any inventor or designer was enabled, without any payment ollees, to register his claim in respect of the novelty of the article lie exhibited, andto obtain, for the period of one year, the same protection from piracy as if he hadincurred the cost of taking out letters patent, or a certificate of registration. TheExhibitor also secured thp right of obtaining within the year letters patent for hisinvention, or a certificate of registration lor his design, notwithstanding that theinvention or design had been thus publicly exhibited.

Nearly seven hundred persons exhibited articles which were fitting subjects lorletters patent, and many more were desirous of doing so, but were prevented bythe lateness of their applications. This novel experiment is considered to haveproved quite successful, and to have been beneficial as well to the Exhibition as toinvention and design generally. A detailed statement of the number of applicationsfor registration under the Designs Act of 1850, and the Protection of InventionsAct of 1851, is given in Appendix No. XXI I. And in Appendix No. XXIII. willbe found a further report upon the action of the latter Act.

Arrangements for the Working Classes visiting the Exhibition■

When it became evident that the Exhibition would prove a sufficiently powerfulattraction to render it probable that many visitors would come to it from distantparts ol' this country and also from abroad, much interest, and some uneasiness, wasfelt as to the probability of their finding adequate means of locomotion, and suffi-cient accommodation on their arrival, and the attention of the Commissioners havingbeen directed to this subject, they (on the 6th of July, 1850,) appointed Mr.Alexander Redgrave, of the Home Office, to co-operate with Sir William Reid inobtaining inlbrmation, and making any arrangements that might be necessary for ena-bling the working-classes to visit the Exhibition, and in communicating on this subjectwith the proper authorities in London , with the Railway Companies, and with theLocal Committees.

The result of Mr. Redgrave’s inquiries was such as to convince the Commis-sioners that it would be unnecessary and undesirable that they should intei'lerewith the natural course of private arrangements on these points, and no stepsof importance were taken, beyond those of communicating with the principal Rail-way Companies, on the subject of the reduction of fares to visitors coming to theExhibition, and of making known to the several Local Committees the arrangementswhich were adopted in different parts of the country to facilitate the visits of the.working classes, together with such suggestions as the experience of the Commis-sioners enabled them to oiler.