Horace Gray, United States Rifle Cartridge Company v…
“ There may be an abandonment of an invention to the public, as well after an application has been rejected or withdrawn as before any application is made. Such abandonment may be proved either by express declarations of an intention to abandon, or by conduct inconsistent with any other conclusion. An inventor whose application for a patent has been rejected, and who, without substantial reason or excuse, omits for many years to take any step to reinstate or renew it, must be held to have acquiesced in its rejection, and to have abandoned any intention of further prosecuting his claim. ”
