Awards for War Inventions

Abstract

THE final report of the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, which has now been published (Cmd. 5594) shows that, in all, 1,834 applications were received by the Commission, of which 369 were dealt with by the Commission direct. Of the remaining 1,465, which were in the first instance considered by the Investigating Committee, 846 were withdrawn or apparently abandoned, 75 were referred to and later heard by the Commission and 544 were rejected by the Committee as having no reasonable chance of success. In 200 of them the claimant exercised his right of a personal appearance before the Investigating Committee. ^The total amount of awards was about £1,500,000, and a summary of the awards is appended to the report. Claims submitted to the Commission before the final date fixed by Royal Warrant (March 31, 1932) were virtually determined by December 31, 1933, but there were at that date certain claims the position of which had not been finally determined. The claims in question have since been otherwise disposed of, but while further sittings of the Commission were not necessary, the submission of a final report was delayed. The actual sittings of the Commission covered a period of fifteen years, and in that time the Commission lost by death its chairman, Lord Tomlin, as well as two members, Mr. A. C. Chapman and Prof. W. E. Dalby.