‍ 19a - Philippe Christophe WURTH (1787-1861) [1]

Jean Philippe Christophe WURTH was a respected entrepreneur, vice president of the first Chambre de commerce created in 1840 and échevin in the city of Luxembourg (1844). 

Although there is no evidence that WURTH was directly involved in the weaving business, he applied on 14 October 1842 for a brevet d’importation based on a a patent granted in 1841 in Belgium to Charles DE POORTER [2] for a 

Nouveau système de métier de tissage à la barre et à la navette volante

At the time of forwarding the application to la Haye, the Luxembourg authorities were unusually lenient towards WURTH:

La demande n'est pas tout à fait conditionnée selon les dispositions des articles 1 et 2 du règlement du 26 mars 1817 en ce qu'il n'y a pas eu ni déposition sous cachet des pièces jointes, ni procès-verbal, dans les formes voulues.

Comme cependant celles-ci ne sont prescrites, que dans l'intérêt exclusif des pétitionnaires, nous ne croyons pas devoir y insister.

This non-fulfilment of the formal requirements may explain why WURTH’s application is not mentioned in the Register of “patents applied”.

The patent, however, was granted on 27 January 1843 and the grant duly published in the Mémorial and a complete description of the invention (without drawings), was published in the Register of “patents granted”.

As mentioned above, WURTH was apparently not involved in the weaving business and probably intended to license the technology of the patent to one of the local manufacturers. However, judging from a publication of 1849 [3], the DE POORTER invention was not yet in use even at that time in Belgium.

The patent was signed personally by Guillaume II and by De Blochausen.

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[1] FamilySearch database (L1CC-6VL)

[2] Compte Rendu de l’exposition industrielle des deux Flandres 1849, page 223

(22/02/2021)