61a - Chrétien HESSE [1]
Joannes Christianus HESSE was born in 1820 in the Kingdom of Hanover.
Judging from the birth places of his children, he must have moved from Wittlich to Remich sometime between 1853 and 1857. His son Christianus HESSE was born in Remich on 29 June 1857.
He cannot have stayed very long in Remich because his name does not appear in any Remich Census of the relevant period.
On 18 December 1857, HESSE, then a marchand, distillateur et fabricant de vinaigre, filed a patent application for
Fabrication de la levure artificielle
The Government was obviously intrigued by the newcomer to Remich and requested from the Commissaire de district that he provide additional information on HESSE:
Un nommé Chrétien Hesse, originaire du royaume de Hanovre se disant marchand, distillateur et fabricant de vinaigre à Remich, a présenté une demande à l'effet d'obtenir un brevet d'invention pour un nouveau procédé dans la fabrication de la levure artificielle.
Avant de répondre au sieur Hesse, je vous prie d'inviter l'autorité urbaine de Remich à vous fournir des renseignements sur la conduite et les moyens d'existence du pétitionnaire et de me les faire parvenir avec votre avis.
The administrative file does not reveal the outcome of the enquiry.
The patent application was also forwarded to the Chambre de commerce for examination. The latter reported that it could not conduct the examination on the basis of the documents provided:
Le pétitionnaire n’ayant pas fait connaître son procédé, notre collège n'a pu s'occuper de cette demande que pour vous prier d'inviter M. Hesse de donner des renseignements propres à guider les experts dans l'appréciation de la nouveauté et de l'utilité de l'invention.
HESSE was informed of this report and on 5 March 1858 he provided a sealed envelope containing the description of his invention, which to this day (November 2020) has not yet been opened.
No patent was granted
NOTE: The handling of this application is surprising in several respects:
- the application was not recorded in the Register of patent applications
- even so, it was treated as an application and processed through the Chambre de commerce
- an enquiry concerning the private and professional background of the inventor was launched
- a sealed envelope containing the description of the invention was kept in the administrative file, and not returned to the applicant, even though no patent was granted
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(26/02/2021)
