Author: BOOCK, John C.T.
Title: The inventor's collection of papers and reports relating to his 'Boock Break of Gauge Device'.
Description: v.p. 1921 &c. Included are: Report of the Royal Commission on the Matter of Uniform Rail Gauge. 1921. Uniform Rail Gauge - Statement .. by the Secretary to the Royal Commission.1921. Patent of Boock's 'Improvement in Rail Car Undercarriage ..' accepted March 1936. Manuscript and typescript provisional specifications. Deed of Assignment of Patent. Aust. Official Journal of Patents .. 9th April 1936. Report From the Select Committee on the Advisableness of Constructing Three Railway Trucks to Demonstrate the Practicability of the Boock Railway Break-of-Gauge Device Together with Proceedings .. Minutes of Evidence and Appendices. May 1939. (2 copies and some separate sections which are proofs, all annotated). Proof of the N.S.W. Parliamentary Debates .. Thursday, 1 June 1939, with debate on the device. A couple of leaflets, photo of Boock & one of his wooden model; a quantity of clippings and various correspondence. ¶ The Boock device, with concerted backing by Joseph Hamlet and, judging by the clippings, a fair amount of public support (Sir George Julius is quoted as giving it the nod) was seriously considered by the government, as the substantial report makes obvious, but amidst much heat and accusations of political subterfuge the committee recommended against it. As usual the story is not so simple. There is a 1927 draft agreement to assign most of the rights to someone in exchange for backing and formal agreements made with Joseph Hamlet in 1936 signing over four fifths of the invention in exchange for backing. There is also a shaky and bitter 1941 letter to a Mr Elland in which Boock says that he never received a penny from Hamlet and that Hamlet without his consent or knowledge was selling shares in the invention. Boock died soon after this but his heirs seem to have doggedly pursued various governments for some years. A few letters indicate some foreign interest (or uninterest) but there is no evidence of further development.
Keywords: science technology railways c20th Australia history engineering association
Title: The inventor's collection of papers and reports relating to his 'Boock Break of Gauge Device'.
Description: v.p. 1921 &c. Included are: Report of the Royal Commission on the Matter of Uniform Rail Gauge. 1921. Uniform Rail Gauge - Statement .. by the Secretary to the Royal Commission.1921. Patent of Boock's 'Improvement in Rail Car Undercarriage ..' accepted March 1936. Manuscript and typescript provisional specifications. Deed of Assignment of Patent. Aust. Official Journal of Patents .. 9th April 1936. Report From the Select Committee on the Advisableness of Constructing Three Railway Trucks to Demonstrate the Practicability of the Boock Railway Break-of-Gauge Device Together with Proceedings .. Minutes of Evidence and Appendices. May 1939. (2 copies and some separate sections which are proofs, all annotated). Proof of the N.S.W. Parliamentary Debates .. Thursday, 1 June 1939, with debate on the device. A couple of leaflets, photo of Boock & one of his wooden model; a quantity of clippings and various correspondence. ¶ The Boock device, with concerted backing by Joseph Hamlet and, judging by the clippings, a fair amount of public support (Sir George Julius is quoted as giving it the nod) was seriously considered by the government, as the substantial report makes obvious, but amidst much heat and accusations of political subterfuge the committee recommended against it. As usual the story is not so simple. There is a 1927 draft agreement to assign most of the rights to someone in exchange for backing and formal agreements made with Joseph Hamlet in 1936 signing over four fifths of the invention in exchange for backing. There is also a shaky and bitter 1941 letter to a Mr Elland in which Boock says that he never received a penny from Hamlet and that Hamlet without his consent or knowledge was selling shares in the invention. Boock died soon after this but his heirs seem to have doggedly pursued various governments for some years. A few letters indicate some foreign interest (or uninterest) but there is no evidence of further development.
Keywords: science technology railways c20th Australia history engineering association
Price: AUD 450.00 = appr. US$ 311.34 Seller: Richard Neylon, Bookseller
- Book number: 8393
- Book number: 8393