Medicine, Mining and Vegetables Covered by Patents to Inventors

Detroit Man Wins Rights on Treatment of Ulcers, While Florida, California and Texas Concentrate on Fruit.

From a Staff Correspondent

Richmond, Va., Dec. 15-A preparation held of value in treating ulcers, a method of prospecting through seismic surveys and developments in protective coatings for fruit and vegetables are among the 553 patents listed as granted in the current issue of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office.

A far cry from the old prospector is the apparatus patented by the California Trust Company as executor of the estate of Henry Hart Pratley, late of Glendale, as No. 2,364,655.

The patent covers a method of locating the ore deposits through a system of receiving stations. Seismic waves can be timed to one ten-thousandth of a second. When it is desired to locate a suspected ore deposit between different levels in a mine, an explosive charge is released so that its detonation will send waves through the area under investigation. At the opposite limit of the suspected area, receivers time the arrival of each wave. It is held that the apparatus thus permits the exact location of a deposit and indicates to an experienced operator the type of mineral ore which may be expected.