Samuel Blatchford

“ The question then is, was it a perfected and publicly known invention, the use of which was abandoned prior to the date of the Brush invention, or was its use merely experimental, which ended in an abandoned experiment on September 16th? The plaintiffs, in support of their view, say that Wallace & Sons were searching for a successful lamp, and were exhibitors of an electric lamp at the Centennial Exhibition; that inventors were in their employ, who were encouraged to make experiments and trials in the hope that something good might be produced, and, under this stimulus, one Hayes lamp was made ”

“ He also held that the clamp of the sixth claim is not any annular clamp adapted to grasp and move a carbon holder, but means to describe in general terms the clamp of the first claim, which raises, clamps, and feeds downwardly the rod, preserving a practically uniform length of arc by the described means, or an annular clamp surrounding the carbon holder independently of the core, but adapted to be raised by a lifter secured to the core, and some suitable agency to allow the clamp to be tripped ”

“ In 1876, this firm was trying to find a successful electric lamp to manufacture. Mr. White furnished them with his device, which they sent, as a part of their exhibit, to the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. Mr. Hayes testifies as follows: 'Experiments with the White lamp showed its defects so strongly or plainly that I designed this [the Hayes] lamp to overcome those defects. ”

“ It was raised by a lifter secured to the core, and was tripped by coming in contact with a floor, while the ascent of the rod was checked by the contact of the clamp with an adjustable stop. The plaintiffs' answer to the anticipatory char acter of this clamp is that it was an abandoned experiment, and never was a perfected invention. The facts in regard to its character and position as an invention are as follows: Mr. Hayes was in 1876, and has been continuously since, in the employ of Wallace & Sons, who are large manufacturers of brass goods in Ansonia. ”