bewitched
I'm not used to writing and publishing. A worker never works less than 12 or 14 hours a day (except Monday, Christmas and Easter). It is conceivable! Since let me write down what I want to say directly, I have to pick up a pen and paper and do my best. I wish I could understand my shortcomings.
I was born near London, but I have been working in a workshop in Birmingham since I became a teacher (you call it a factory, we call it a workshop here). I was an apprentice near my birthplace, but I studied iron. My name is John. Since I was nineteen years old, people have been calling me "old John" since I saw that my hair is not much. Now I am 56 years old, and my hair is no more than when I was 19 years old, but it is no less than then. Therefore, there is nothing new to say in this respect.
Next April will be my 35th wedding anniversary. I got married on April Fool's Day. Let people laugh at my victory. It was on that day that I won a good wife. That day was really the most interesting day of my life.
We always have ten children and six survive. My eldest son works as a pilot on an Italian passenger ship. The ship's signboard is "Manzo Giono", which runs between Marseille and Naples, calling at Genoa, Laiheng and Silvita Fancy. He is a good craftsman and has invented many useful gadgets, but these inventions have never brought him any benefits. I also have two sons, one in Sydney and the other in New South Wales. They all did a good job. When I wrote back, they were not married. My other son (James) is a little crazy. He went to India to serve as a soldier, where he was hit by a particle warhead embedded in his shoulder blade and lay in hospital for six weeks. He wrote to me personally. Among several sons, he is the most handsome. I have a daughter (Mary). She lives a comfortable life, but she has pleural effusion. The other daughter (Charlotte) was abandoned by her husband, which was really mean to the extreme. She brought three children. My youngest child, who is only six years old at present, is interested in machinery.
I'm not an expert in charting. I have never been. I do see a lot of public dissatisfaction, but I don't think the idea of chartists is a good way to correct these dissatisfaction. If I think so, then I really become a chartist. But I don't think so, so I can't be a chartist. I read newspapers and went to Birmingham to listen to the discussion in what we call the "hall", so I know many chartists. However, please note that none of them advocate solving problems by brute force.
If I say that I have always had a hobby of inventing, it is not bragging (I can't write the whole thing completely without writing down everything I want to say at once). I invented a screw, earned twenty pounds, and still use it. For twenty years, I have been working on an invention intermittently, improving it while doing it. At ten o'clock last Christmas Eve, I finally finished the invention. Call your wife in when you're done. At this time, my wife and I were standing next to the machine model, and tears fell on it.
A friend of mine named William Butscher is a chartist and a moderate. He is a great speaker, and his speech is full of energy. I often hear him say that the reason why we workers hit a wall everywhere is because we have to feed those yamen that have been formed for a long time, and also because we have to follow the bad habits of officialdom and pay some fees that we shouldn't have paid to feed those yamen people. "Yes," William Butscher said, "the whole public has shared a share, but the burden on workers is the heaviest, because workers only have the means to make a living; Similarly, it is the most unfair thing for anyone to set obstacles when workers demand to correct their fallacies and safeguard justice. " Ladies and gentlemen, I'm just recording what William Butscher said. He just said in his speech.
Now, I'll talk about my model later. It was finished at ten o'clock on Christmas Eve almost a year ago. I spent all the money I could save on this model. Speaking of bad luck, my daughter Charlotte's child is sick, or it never rains but it pours, both of which have to be put aside, and the model will not touch it for months. I also took it all apart, improved it and made it again, so I don't know how many times I made it, and finally it became the model mentioned above.
On Christmas Day, William Butscher and I had a long talk about this model. William is a very clever man, but sometimes he has a strange temper. He said, "John, what are you going to do with it?" I said, "I want to apply for a patent." William said, "What's up, John?" I said, "Apply for a patent." William just told me that patent law is really a headache. John, if you make your invention public before you get the patent, others will steal your hard work at any time, and you will be in a dilemma, John. Either you do a loss-making business and invite a group of partners to come out in advance to bear a large amount of patent application expenses, or you just run into a wall and get caught between several groups of partners, bargaining and fiddling with what you invented. In this way, your invention is likely to be taken away by accident. "I said," William Butscher, you think very strange. Sometimes you will feel very strange. " William said, "It's not my fault, John. I will tell you the truth. " So he told me some further details. I told William Butscher that I wanted to apply for a patent myself.
My brother-in-law, George Bailey of West Bromwich (his wife was unfortunately caught in a bad habit of drinking, lost everything, was put into Birmingham prison 17 times, and finally died in prison, everything was closed). When he died, he left my wife and his sister 128 pounds 10 shilling in the Bank of England stock. My wife and I have never used this money. Guys, we're old. You will also lose your ability to work. Therefore, we both agree to apply for a patent for this invention. As we said, we even intend to apply for a patent with the money mentioned above. William Butscher wrote a letter for me to Thomas Qiao Ai in London. This Thomas Qiao Ai is a carpenter, six feet four inches long. He is best at throwing ropes. He lives in Chelsea in London, near a church. I asked for leave from the workshop so that I could continue to work when I came back. I am a good craftsman. I am not a teetotaler, but I have never been drunk. After the Christmas holiday, I took a "fourth-class bus" to London and rented a house from Thomas Qiao Ai for a week. Joe Ai is a married man with a son who is a sailor.
Thomas Qiao Ai (from a book) said that the first step in applying for a patent is to submit an application to Queen Victoria. This is what William Butscher said. He helped me draft the draft. Ladies and gentlemen, William is a fast writer. The application should be accompanied by a statement to the judge, and we have drafted it. After some twists and turns, I found a judge in the Thornton building near the judge of the judicial court, made a statement with him and paid eighteen pence. He asked me to give the declaration and application to the Home Office in Whitehall, and give it to the Home Office Minister for signature, paying two pounds, two shillings and sixpence. Six days later, the minister signed it and asked me to take it to the attorney general's office to type an investigation report. I did as he said and paid four pounds and four shillings. Ladies and gentlemen, none of the people I met from beginning to end received money to express their gratitude. On the contrary, they are rude people.
I'm staying with Thomas Qiao E for the time being. The lease was extended by one week, and now five days have passed. The chief prosecutor wrote a so-called routine investigation report (as William Butscher told me before I left, my invention was not opposed and passed smoothly) and took me to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with this thing. The Ministry of Internal Affairs made a copy, which they called a permit. I paid 7 pounds 13 shilling and 6 pence for this license. This permit will be sent to the Queen for signature. After the Queen signs it, it will be returned and the Home Secretary will sign it again. When I visited the department, a gentleman inside threw his license in front of me and said, "Now take it to the patent office of Lincoln Hotel." I have lived in Thomas Joe for the third week now, and the cost is quite high, so I have to scrimp and save everywhere. I feel a little discouraged.
In the Patent Office of Lincoln Hotel, they made a "Draft Queen's Decree" for my invention, and also prepared a "Summary of China's Decree". I spent five pounds, ten shillings and sixpence on this thing. The Patent Office also "officially copied two legal texts, one for the Seal Bureau and one for the Minister responsible for seals". After this procedure, I paid one pound, seven shillings and sixpence, plus three pounds of stamp duty. The scribe of this bureau copied down the queen's decree and signed it. I paid him a pound and a shilling. Plus stamp duty, one pound and ten shillings. Next, I will send the queen's decree to the chief prosecutor for signature. I paid more than five pounds when I went to buy it. Take it back to the minister of the interior. He gave it to the queen. The queen signed again. I paid another 7 pounds 16 shilling 6 pence for this operation. Up to now, I have stayed at Thomas Joe's house for more than a month. I have little patience and my wallet is almost empty.
Thomas Qiao Ai told William Butscher everything about me. Butscher told this story to three "halls" in Birmingham and spread it to all "halls" from there. I also heard that it later spread to all workshops in northern England. Ladies and gentlemen, William Butscher gave a speech in his "Hall" and described this patent application as a way to turn people into chartists.
But I didn't do that. The queen's imperial edict has to be sent to the seal office of Somerset House on the riverside avenue-the printing house is also there. The secretary of the seal bureau made a "seal bureau order for the signature of the minister in charge of seals", and I paid him four pounds and seven shillings. The secretary of the minister in charge of the seal also prepared a copy of the "order of the minister in charge of the seal for the signature of the judge", and I paid him four pounds and two shillings. The decree of the seal was transferred to the secretary who handled the patent. I paid him five pounds, seven shillings and eight pence after copying. At the same time, I paid the stamp duty on this patent, paying 30 pounds at a time. Then I paid a "patent application fee", * * * nine pounds and seven pence. Ladies and gentlemen, if you use the same patent to go to Thomas Qiao Ai's box, he only needs to charge eighteen pence. Then, I paid two pounds and two shillings for the "Assistant Finance Minister's Fee". Then, I paid seven pounds and thirteen shillings as the "secretary fee for keeping the folder". Then, I paid ten shillings for the "assistant secretary's fee for keeping the folder". Then I paid the Lord Chancellor a pound, eleven shillings and sixpence. Finally, he paid ten shillings and sixpence as "the assistant of the minister in charge of the seal and the assistant of sealing hot wax". At this time, I have been in Thomas Qiao Ai's place for six weeks. This successful invention has cost me 96 pounds and 7 shillings 18 pence. It only works at home. If I take it out of England, I will spend another 300 pounds.
You know, when I was young, my education was very poor. Even if I received some education, it was very limited. You might say it's too bad for me. I said so myself. William Butscher is twenty years younger than me, but he knows a hundred years more than me. If William Butscher applied for a patent for his own invention and was pushed from one yamen to another, he wouldn't be as easy to deal with as I am. Ladies and gentlemen, William sometimes has a stubborn temper. You know, porters, messengers and clerks are all a little stubborn.
I don't want to accept this explanation. After applying for a patent, I was tired of life. However, I want to say that it is always a good thing for a person to make a clever technological innovation, but it seems that he has done something wrong. Is it fair? If this is the case everywhere, how can a person be thoughtful if he doesn't think so? All inventors who apply for patents will think so. Look at these expenses again. How stingy it is for me to spend so much money without doing anything; If I have any talent, how important it is to the whole country! I want to say gratefully that my invention has finally been accepted and applied well. ) Do the math for me. It costs up to 96 pounds, 7 shillings and 8 pence. No more, no less, so much money.
I really have nothing to refute William Butcher's statement about so many official positions. You see: minister of the interior, chief prosecutor, patent office, clerk, chief justice, minister in charge of seal, secretary of patent processing, financial assistant of chief justice, secretary in charge of folder, assistant in charge of folder, assistant in charge of seal and assistant in charge of hot seal. In Britain, anyone who wants to apply for a patent for even a rubber band or an iron hoop has to deal with this long list of yamen. Have a plenty of yamen, you have to deal with them again and again. I always go through 36 procedures before and after. Start dealing with the queen of Wang Baobao, and finally deal with the assistant who seals the hot wax. Ladies and gentlemen, I really want to see for myself whether this hot wax sealing assistant is human or something else.
I said what I wanted to say. I wrote down everything I had to say. I hope I wrote everything clearly. I don't mean calligraphy (I have nothing to boast about in this respect), I mean here. Finally, I want to say more about Thomas Xia Jiaer. When we parted, Thomas said this to me: "John, if the national laws are really as fair and upright as it says, you can go to London-get an accurate and detailed description of your invention (it costs about half a five-shilling silver coin to make such a thing), and you can handle your patent with this thing."
My opinion now is not far from that of Ai. Not only that. I agree with William Butscher: "The folder manager and the hot wax manager must be abolished. Britain has made them tired of being fooled and spoiled."