[D8630Z], Letter from Edison and Swan United Electric Light Co Ltd, Samuel Flood Page to Thomas Alva Edison, March 31st, 1886

https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D8630Z

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Title

[D8630Z], Letter from Edison and Swan United Electric Light Co Ltd, Samuel Flood Page to Thomas Alva Edison, March 31st, 1886

Editor's Notes

[Long, 6 page letter; following is paraphrased.] Insull's letter of 8th inst re the patents you have taken out in England since the formation of the Edison Co. was before the Board yesterday, and led to a careful consideration of the whole question involved. As Insull was anxious that we should cable him ASAP, I cabled him last night [see Doc D8630Y]. ##We contacted Mr. Handford and obtained from him a list of the patents in question; it appears there are 34. ##Immediately after Insull's visit, the Directors requested our scientific staff to consider and report the value to the Co. of each of the patents. ##The Directors have determined that 15 of the patents may be of value and are worth maintaining and 19 are not. [Lists first group, then second group, by patent number.] ##It appears from what Handford told us that you have paid about 800 pounds in England and about 200 pounds in America, making a total of about 1,000 pounds in connection with the patents in the first list. If you had consulted this Co. before taking out the patents, there is little doubt the Directors would not have approved of taking out the 19 patents in the second list. ##Therefore, the Directors are prepared to take over the 15 in the first list but not the 19 in the second list. ##[Letter then discusses method of payment; TAE had suggested that the amount be debited as against the amount the Edison Co of London advanced on the central station dynamos. The Directors agree; appears from Edison Co. books that they paid 1736 pounds for each dynamo, so the 1,000 the Co. owes corresponds to a portion of only one dynamo. But, the Directors recognize that TAE does not charge anything for experiments, and incurred cost for the patents they don't want, so they propose TAE handing over the 15 patents they want in return for one of the dynamos. Points out that three of the patents are connected to Electric Railways and do not concern this Co., and TAE should determine whether he wants to maintain them on his own account. Finally, suggests a way to handle future patents: as soon as TAE is ready to take out a patent in America, send as complete a specification as possible and this Co. will decide within one month whether to take out a patent in England.]

Mentioned

Date

1886-03-31

Type

Folder/Volume ID

D8630-F

Microfilm ID

79:729

Document ID

D8630Z

Publisher

Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University
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