Robert Cooper Grier

“ Now a jail can hardly come under the denomination of 'a machine;' nor, though made by hands, can it well be classed with 'manufactures;' nor, although compounded of matter, can it be termed a 'composition of matter,' in the meaning of the patent act. ”

“ But waiving all these difficulties as hypercritical, and assuming the correctness of the positions taken, that whatever is neither a machine, nor a manufacture, nor a composition of matter, must (ex necessitate) be 'an art;' that a jail is a thing 'made;' and that the patent is for the 'process of making it,' let us examine the case as presented by the bill and answer.
The bill relies upon four several patents which it sets forth. ”

“ The art of tanning leather might also come within the category, because it requires various processes and manipulations. The difficulty still exists, however, under which category of the patent act an improvement in the construction of jails is to be classed, or whether under any. ”