8 - Louis VAN HOORICK (1780 - 1843) [1]

Major VAN HOORICK was born on 1 September 1780 in Borculo (The Netherlands). He joined the Dutch military in 1802 and became surveillant des haras royaux in Borculo. He subsequently moved to the Grand-Duchy where he became directeur du haras royal in Bonnevoie.

In 1825 he lived in Bonnevoie where one of his sons was born and in 1827, when VAN HOORICK filed his first patent application, he was in charge of the haras royal of Walferdange.

He filed a first application for a brevet d’importation (31 January 1827) followed by a second application for a brevet de perfectionnement (3 April 1828), both under the title of :

Train de voitures (voiture inversable)

The “imported” patent originated in France where it had been granted on 26 January 1827 to his elder brother Sylvestre VAN HOORICK, inspecteur général des haras de France. 

The invention related to a mechanism which allowed the decoupling of the two axles of the vehicle thereby providing it with more stability and preventing it from being overturned (“inversable”) [2].

The French Académie des Sciences, in its report of a meeting held on 21 May 1827, reported the following on VAN HOORICK’s invention of the voiture à flèche mobile: [3]

L'administration des messageries royales va faire construire plusieurs voitures à flèche mobile, dont l'adoption paraît à l'académie très avantageuse. 

The corresponding report in the Journal des Haras of 1 April 1828 was even more flattering: 

Ce nouveau système de train de voitures a été approuvé par une commission de l’Académie des Sciences, nommée ad hoc; et dans le rapport, ces commissaires l’ont considéré comme un bienfait pour l’humanité.

A vehicle equipped with the VAN HOORICK invention was used by the Duchesse du Berry for her outings and for going to the horse races.

Sa Majesté le Roi des Pays-Bas, however, did not agree with the French Académie des Sciences which considered that the invention was a so-called “bienfait pour l’humanité” and Major VAN HOORICK was sent the following rather laconic message on 27 May 1827 : 

Sa Majesté a, par disposition du 16 du courant, N° 98, décidé que cette importation ne peut être considérée comme pouvant, d’après l’esprit de la loi, faire l’objet d’un brevet ou privilège exclusif.

This refusal decision affected only the first patent application filed by VAN HOORICK since the “improvement” application had only just been filed and was therefore still being processed (see No 12).

In 1828 VAN HOORICK made another (unsuccessful) attempt to obtain a patent (see No 13).

VAN HOORICK’s military career [4] reveals that he left Luxembourg in October 1830 to join the Belgian Government where he served in Bruges in the rank of colonel as commandant de la place until his retirement in August 1842 (the Belgian State granted VAN HOORICK an annual pension of 3.200 Fr). He died soon after in Brussels on 18 February 1843.

____________________________________

[1] FamilySearch database (G73N-CVN)

[2] Attelage-patrimoine 2018

[3] Revue encyclopédique ou Analyse raisonnée des productions les plus remarquables, Paris, avril 1827, page 802 

[4] Bulletin officiel des lois et arrêtés royaux de la Belgique 1842, Tome 26, page 1002

(21/02/2021)