Early Chemical Patents and Monopolies in America €‘;ILL D. BOONE, U. S.P u t c u t Ofice, Washington, D. C.
Caldn-ell were favored with a loan of E1200 to cai the making of pig iron and kettles. Cristopher 1,effingwell who erected a paper mill in 1768 secured a bounty on all paper made there a t the rate of 2 pence the quire on nriting paper and 1 penny the quire on printing and coarse paper. Kithin two years he had made 4,020 quire< of writing paper and 10,600 of printing paper. One of the Connecticut mills manufactured paper for the press of Hartford with an output sufficient to supply a weekly circulation of 8,000 nrwspaperb; considerable writing paper was made for the state and the Continental Army a few years later. The Connecticut Assembly granted Aaron Eliot in 1772 a loan of 2500 to purchase a stock of iron for steel making. It seems that previously Eliot had paid in steel to a company in an adjoining state for the purchase of his iron on the basis of 256 a ton; this same steel was resold to the people of Connecticut a t 275 to 280 a ton. Massachusetts likewise encouraged the development of manufactures by grants of great breadth. I n 1641 Samuel JTinston, who had invented a method of making salt, wa. given the exclusive right for ten years for that method. In 1671 Richard Wharton and some Boston merchants received the sole right to make and sell pitch, rosin, oil of turpentine, and mastic; this company was to sell its products a t reasonable rates and pay a tax of 6 per cent on its manufactures. Among the several other monopolies mas that to the 1)orChester Paper Mills for ten years and a ten-year patent in 1750 to a manufacturer of sperm candles and other whale products. Glass was one of the products given protection, with the first sole right dated 1752. I n Rhode Island a monopoly was given John Lucena from Portugal in 1731 to make castile soap. Monopolies were not so extensive in Yew York. I n 1676 a tanning nionopoly was given two tanners. One was obtained for lampblack in 1712 and another for sugar refining in 1720. I n the South, Virginia granted to George Fletcher a patent for distilling; and in 1660 a salt monopoly was allowed. In 1716 South Carolina gave William Cook the sole right to make and sell a compound of oil of tar and other constituents which preserved planks from rotting and protected the bottom of vessels from river worms.
ROI-T the middle of the past century. Thomas E ~ d j a n k ,then Commissioner of Patents. colicited the help of the various state- which constituted the thirteen original colonies to preserve records of the grants of protection given under the colonial go\ ernments. Connecticut Lent in a very complele account and Massachu2ett. furni-lied a few items. Since then historians have gone through the state papers with the result that now all are available ( 2 ) . John Kintlirup, ,Jr , ( 1 ) nhose connection n i t h the early settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut as a political leader and organizer i, well known, was granted a monopoly of vast scope by the General Assembly of Connecticut in 1651. It gave to him, in fact, all mines and minerals therein nhich he might discover and did in fact actually work, and the land surrounding *ame for three miles. I n the printed qtatutes of Connecticut of 1672, the law states that monopolies would he granted for “Yuch new inventions as shall be judged profitable to the country.” And from then on, Connecticut sought to encourage those enterprises which benefited the public. Many of these were for industries generally regarded as chemical. One of the earliest exclusive grants waz that extended John Elliott in 1708 to make pitch for sale; it lasted ten year.. I n 1716 to encourage Ebenezer Fitch and his associate. tu erect a splitting mill for drawing out iron rods for nails, the state assembly restrained anyone else from erecting another nithin fifteen years; a penalty of 210 per month \\a. attached. I n 1717 the state conferred upon Edward Henman a monopoly to make molasses froin corn
