Samuel Nelson

“ We think that both reason and the statute demand of him, who claims the exclusive right, to define clearly the limits of his invention. It can in no case be difficult for an inventor to say, distinctly, whether he claims two or more elements singly, or merely in combination. ”

“ The reason usually given for requiring a more liberal construction of patents, than of other instruments, is, that there is a great difficulty in giving exact descriptions of inventions. Conceding the fact to be so, it may be a sufficient answer to say, that the statute requires an exact description as a condition of the grant. But, aside from the statute, it should be borne in mind, that every mechanic in the land is bound, at his peril, to decide correctly, from the specification, what every patent, touching his business, covers ”

“ You will recollect that it has been shown, in the course of the trial, that in the operation of the machine, the straw comes into the acute-angled spaces on each side of the spear-shaped fingers, and that the angles of the fingers operate to hold the straws, while the sickle-teeth, being reversed, cut in both directions as the blade vibrates. ”

“ It also appeared, that ever since the date of the first reaping patent in 1834, the plaintiff had experimented with this reversed sickle edge without producing any successful result, until he combined it in the manner described in the patent of 1845.
2. The sickle, separate and apart from the machine, is no invention, in whatever way the teeth are cut, but when combined in the machine in the manner described, the reversed cut becomes a very valuable invention, enabling the sickle to cut itself clear each stroke ”

“ That the latter should no more be stretched beyond the fair import of their terms when the interest of the patentees would be promoted by their extension, or contracted in like degree when their interest would be promoted by their restriction, than should any other deeds or contracts. ”