Mecklenburg Consulate.
9 Billiter Square <1>
1st Septr 1847.
Mr Kreeft presents his compliments to Mr H. Fox Talbot & begs to hand him a Letter <2> from Zürich received this morning, upon the subject of Mr Talbots new patent Gun Cotton Engine <3> – any communication in reply Mr Kreeft will be happy to take charge of for Messrs Bucher & Hanisch. <4>
[envelope:]
[sealed with Mecklenburg red wax seal]
H. F. Talbot Esqr
31 Sackville Street Picadilly
Laycock
near Chippenham
Notes:
1. London.
2. See Doc. No: 05984.
3. This was WHFT’s patent No. 11475, ‘Obtaining and Applying Motive Power’ filed on 7 December 1846 and enrolled 7 June 1847. This was an improvement on his 1840 patent, where he used a galvanic spark to ignite flammable liquids, in the later patent he turned to solids, preferring gun cotton over gunpowder for obvious safety reasons.
4. Leonhard Bucher, of Feldkirch in Vorarlberg, was an engineering draughtsman at the firm of Escher Wyss & Co., and Julius Hanisch, Swiss inventor.