"Patent Pending" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1954. It was also published as "The Invention". It later appeared in his collection ''

Tales from the White Hart ''Tales from the White Hart'' is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, in the "club tales" style. Thirteen of the fifteen stories originally appeared across a number of different publications. "Moving Sp ...

''. "Patent Pending" is a

frame story A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

, purporting to recount a scientific

tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it n ...

told by a certain Harry Purvis at the (fictional) "

White Hart The White Hart ("hart" being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a pun ...

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

sometime in the 1950s, during a discussion of literary censorship (at the expense of the censors).

Plot summary

The

story within a story A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...

tells of a French scientist who successfully finds a way to record and play back brain waves, allowing experiences to be replayed by other people (rather like the feelies in Aldous Huxley's '' Brave New World''). After the device's inventor proves the fidelity of the recordings by capturing a well known gourmet's rapturous appreciation of a ''cordon bleu'' meal, and playing it back, reproducing every fine gustatory sensation, his assistant "Georges" recognizes that other sorts of rapture can also be recorded, finding a pornographic use for the device. Starting with amateur recordings of his own amorous play with his mistress, Georges progressed to a more sophisticated work involving a male-female pair of

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

whose technique and physical attributes were more up to the job (In telling the story to the audience at the ''White Hart'', Harry Purvis emphasized that the pair were not from the '' Place Pigalle'', because the assistant's budget did not extend to it - "He did not go anywhere near the ''Place Pigalle'', because that was full of Americans and prices were accordingly exorbitant"). The resulting recordings were, indeed, every bit as faithful to the young, fit couple's raptures as the gourmet's, and Georges was delighted - entirely too delighted. Eventually, Georges' fascination with the recording of that professional performance takes over his life, Georges's neglected mistress takes his life for the first known act of electronic infidelity. After the police investigation ended, a venture to make the recording process commercial (with city officials among the investors) supposedly went underway, according to Purvis (as he ended the story).

References

* * Arthur C Clarke (1957) ''Tales from the White Hart'' Short stories by Arthur C. Clarke 1954 short stories Paris in fiction Tales from the White Hart {{1950s-sf-story-stub