Samuel Nelson

“ The object of the act of Congress is to encourage men to devote their time and talent in making new and useful discoveries in the arts, manufactures, and compositions of matter. Why does the act provide so carefully for new compositions of matter, if an individual could obtain a patent for a use of an element of matter without any composition at all? ”

“ Now if the foregoing view of the improvement claimed in this patent be correct, it is quite apparent that there was no error in the submission of the questions presented at the trial to the jury; for unless more ingenuity and skill in applying the old method of fastening the shank and the knob were required in the application of it to the clay or porcelain knob than were possessed by an ordinary mechanic acquainted with the business, there was an absence of that degree of skill and ingenuity which constitute essential elements of every invention. ”

“ The patentee in this case is endeavoring to add a new clause to the patent law. He is claiming the right to apply a common element of nature to a new purpose, without the aid of any new mode or process of working it, and without combining it with any other portions of matter so as to make it a composition. ”

“ We think it clear the claim is for manufacturing knobs of clay in the particular manner specified, so that, when manufactured, they shall be held to the shank by force of the dovetail.
We think it clear that, had not the defendants established the fact on the trial, that knobs for door-handles and for locks had been previously patented to a person in Middletown, which were made and fastened in the same identical way as the ones described in the plaintiffs' specification, the plaintiffs would have claimed the right to recover against us for making and fastening the knobs in that particular way. ”

“ Again, one man has been long accustomed to make windowsashes of pine wood; another comes and says he can make window-sashes of cast-iron, and claims the exclusive right to make all the cast-iron sashes the country may want for the next fourteen years. ”

“ D, a knob with a shank calculated to receive a nut on the outside or front. What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the manufacturing of knobs, as stated in the foregoing specifications, of potter's clay, or any kind of clay used in pottery, and shaped and finished by moulding, turning, burning, and glazing ”

“ The defendants will also prove that the said patentees, John G. Hotchkiss, John A. Davenport, and John W. Quincy, at the time of making application for the said patent, well knew that the said knobs so patented had been previously made and sold in a foreign country, to wit, in the kingdom of Great Britain, and also in Germany, and did not believe themselves to be the first inventors or discoverers of manufacturing knobs from potter's clay or porcelain. All of which will be insisted upon in bar of the action. ”

“ The clay or porcelain knob, connected with the metallic shank is a new and useful manufacture, according to the letter as well as the spirit and intent of our statute.
1st. 'That it is 'a manufacture' can admit of no doubt ”

“ The mode of moistening and using it, and making it into knobs, teapots, plates, bowls, cups and saucers, &c., and of glazing, staining, and baking it, is also well known, and no change is proposed in these operations. ”