Thomas Crompton’s Patents Found in London!
Thomas Bonsor Crompton, former owner of Rock Hall, applied for “patents” relating to his paper manufacture and drying process inventions.
We are very excited to say that we have managed to purchase two of Thomas Bonsor Crompton’s original Patent documents from a bookseller in London. The patents are number 5655 dated 13th May 1828 for Cutting paper and number 8027 dated 09th April 1839 for the Manufacture of paper. There is a 3rd Patent for the Drying of paper, but the original of that one is with a private collector.
We are excited to have found the two patents for sale as they are rare documents from the 1800’s.
In case you are not aware of what a Patent is, they are documents detailing an invention. The patent is granted by the government to the inventor, giving the inventor the right to stop others, for a limited period, from making, using or selling the invention without their permission. When patent protection is granted, the invention becomes the property of the inventor, which like any other form of property or business asset can be bought, sold, rented or hired.
Such original documents can sell for thousands of pounds depending on their subject matter. Our Charity has very limited funding available to buy heritage items, but we raised the funds privately to buy the patents. We bought them with the co-operation of the bookseller, Maurice Stroh, after telling him about our project to save Rock Hall. We are extremeley grateful to him for helping our project!
We intend to display them in the Hall eventually (if successful with our Lottery bid this September) and we are very pleased to have been able to bring them back to Farnworth.
Maurice told us an amazing story of how over 30 years ago, he acquired the patents. He originally bought nearly two million items in 1991 from Manchester City Libraries, which had been looking for a buyer for many years to clear 1,200 yards of shelving. The collection then included all British patents issued between 1617 and 1970 and nine 1 tonne vehicles were needed to take them to him in London. He has already sold many items but still has thousands left.
If you are interested in buying an original patent document, Maurice can be contacted by email at patent@mstroh.co.uk.
