Joseph P. Bradley

“ The traverse changer, by itself, was not claimed in the patent as the invention of Conant, but it was claimed in combination with other things, which may or may not have been exhibited in his drawings; and traverse changers had been in use long before Conant had thought of the subject at all. To make the matter more manifest, it may be proper to give a brief description of the machine and the invention which related to it. In winding thread upon a spool it is necessary to wind it in layers, one above or around the other, until the spool is filled flush with the two ends. ”

“ So I made my traverse changer long enough for winding the coarsest number of thread in ordinary business, and then fixed the adjustment of the lips, so that, by spreading them apart, I could wind as short courses as was desirable, when by setting the lips close together, I could wind courses the full length of the traverse changer. It was also a point in my study to make the machine as simple as possible, so it could be readily operated by persons of ordinary ability. ”

“ The device for effecting this change of extent of lateral movement is the thing which requires most inventive skill in the construction, of the machine. Conant evidently supposed that he was the first to cotrive a device of this kind, which, in his patent, he calls a 'pattern cam,' or 'traverse changer.' But in this he was mistaken; spool-winders had long been in use in England, with the right and left hand screw device for giving the thread-guide an alternate backward and forward movement, both in hand machines and in automatic machines driven by power ”

“ The defendants, promptly answered, and the cause lay until February, 1874, when the complainants filed a supplemental bill, setting up the extension of the patent, and repeating the charge of infringement. The defendants answered, and the parties went into proofs. In March, 1879, the circuit court, held by District Judge NIXON, rendered a decree in favor of the validity of the patent, adjudged that the defendants had infringed the first and third claims thereof, granted an injunction, and ordered a reference to a master to take an account of profits and damages against the defendants. ”

“ No person accustomed to weigh the credibility of human testimony can fail to perceive the stress under which this evidence was given. With the most favorable construction, the most that can be deduced from it is that the invention was not completed until July, 1858. ”

“ There is other evidence, however, sufficient to verify the same facts. The allegation that the invention of Conant, for which his said letters patent were granted, was made before the publication or sealing of Weild's patent requires more careful consideration. ”

“ There is a certified copy of the file-wrapper and contents in the record, which shows that the original application was filed in the office January 5, 1859, and was withdrawn, and a new application filed April 30, 1859, the papers being received in the examiner's office a day or two later in each case. ”

“ The defendants, in their answer, denied that they had infringed Conant's patent, and denied that he was the first inventor of what is claimed to be patented thereby, and averred 'that, on the contrary, the same, under the broad >construction thereof claimed for it by complainants, was, prior to any invention thereof by said Conant, described in and patented by letters patent granted by the government of Great Britain to Archibald Thomson, which were dated the 10th day of November, 1801, and numbered 25,053 ”