Joseph P. Bradley

“ The patent relates to an oven-shelf placed on a level with the bottom of the oven when the door is open, and outside of the oven, to serve as a shelf for pans and other vessels to rest on, when drawn out of, or shoved into, the oven. The claim is not for the shelf as that is admitted to be old, but for an automatic device for raising the shelf upright and enclosing it within the door when the latter is closed, and letting it down to a horizontal position when the door is opened. ”

“ Cam movements, and others of like character, producing simultaneous operations according to the needs of the case, such as opening valves in a steam-engine as the piston ascends and descends, and a thousand other things, are in such common use, that it requires but very little invention to adapt them to a particular case, like the one under consideration. ”

“ The defendants made and sold stoves containing oven-shelves constructed and operated as described in letters-patent granted to E. C. Little and D. H. Nation, dated July 9, 1878, and numbered 205,754. This shelf also has an automatic movement, being raised when the door shuts, and lowered when it opens. But the device by which this is accomplished is different from that of Bussey. A cam, or arm, is used on the door, it is true ”