225 - Godefroid SIRTAINE (1837 - ) (2) [1]

Richard Godefroid SIRTAINE’s family were fabricants de draps, residing in Verviers.

On 2 November 1878, SIRTAINE's representative, Mathieu MULLENDORF, conseiller de Gouvernement, filed a patent application under the title of 

Application des gaz à l'échardonnage  des laines et à toutes opérations de désagrégation des matières végétales

MULLENDORF had already filed a patent application on behalf of SIRTAINE in 1875 under the same title (see No 169), but this application did not proceed to grant and was presumably withdrawn. 

It is likely that the application of 1875 was revived since no patent in the name of SIRTAINE could be located concerning the « treatment of wool », other than the French patent which formed the basis of the 1875 application [2].

The 1878 application was examined and a patent was granted on 12 February 1879 under the 1817 Patent Law with a revised title of « mode d'application des gaz à l'échardonnage des laines et à toute opération de désagrégation de matières végétales ». [3]

‍ SIRTAINE took advantage of the possibility, offered by the Patent Law of 1880, to convert his patent, falling under the 1817 Law, into a patent governed by the 1880 Law, thereby allowing an extension of the duration of the patent. The patent re-issued on 23 September 1880 under sequential number No 65.

It is interesting to note that, in 1880, SIRTAINE had to change his representative before the patent authorities by substituting Leon BÜCK, libraire, for MULLENDORFF, who had been appointed on 5 July 1880 as « chargé de recevoir les dépôts de brevets » under the new Law and could no longer act as representative in patent matters. [4]

The title of the invention had also been reformulated, once more, through the conversion to:

Appareil servant à imprégner de toute espèce de gaz des corps et étoffes pour des usages industriels

suggesting that the apparatus for using gaz for dislodging « chardons » (thistles) had become an apparatus for using gaz for impregnating textiles.

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[1] FamilySearch database

[2] FR patent No 97,139.

[3] No corresponding administrative file could be located in the National Archives 

[4] Mullendorff was also family-related to a business partner of Sirtaine (see No 169)

(08/02/2021)