Stanley Matthews

“ Henry Morton, an expert witness on behalf of the defendants, points out two particulars, in which the plan, as practiced by the defendants and shown in Exhibit C, differs from that of the Pope patent so materially that they cannot be considered substantially the same: The first of these is, that in the patent, insulated sections of the railroad track, used, when covered by a locomotive or cars, as a circuit closer, are made essential to the combinations claimed, while they are dispensed with in the Hall system, other and independent circuit closers being employed. ”

“ Suppose a train moving along the track, A, A, from left to right in a direction indicated by the arrow. Upon reaching the point, a, the wheels and axles of the train will form an electrical connection between the opposite insulated rails, and a circuit will be formed between the conductor, C, and the conductor, Z, traversing wires, 1 and 2, magnet, M, and wire, 3, and the signal attached to M will consequently be displayed. ”

“ A circuit-closer was placed upon the track at a point near the signal, which consisted of a lever so placed as to be depressed by the wheels of a passing train, which movement caused the circuit to be closed by pressing two springs together. When the circuit was thus closed by a passing train a connection was formed between the positive and negative conductors, and the electric current, in passing from one to the other, passed through and operated the magnet by which the signal was displayed. ”

“ The conductors, C and Z, may be placed on poles, and should be suitably insulated from each other and from the earth. The conductors, C and Z, are virtually prolongations of the positive and negative poles of the battery, B. Each of the insulated sections of track, a, a 1 point at or near which it is desired to erect a signal, and any required number of these may be employed to meet the requirements of any particular case. M, M1, and M2 are the electro-magnets, which actuate or display the respective signals. ”

“ Brett, 10 C. B. 838, cited and relied on by counsel for the appellants as in point, where the substitution of the earth for a wire as a conductor, being the sole difference, was held, under the English patent laws, not to be sufficient to destroy that identity between the two competing devices, which constituted in that case the infringement alleged, although the patent itself called only for metallic conductors. ”

“ It introduces into the plan of the defendants new elements, a new combination, and a new result. The two wire conductors are not the same, for, in the patent, one conducts positive electricity, the other returns the current and completes the circuit, while, in the other, both the metallic conductors carry the current forward, while the earth returns it, and in this mode the desideratum is obtained of securing equality of resistance by making all the circuits equal in size. ”

“ I also find the combination claimed in the third claim, of a battery, positiv and negative conductors, a circuit-closer and electro-magnet for actuating a signal, with a second circuit-closer, wires, and a magnet for reversing said signal.'
Mr. Moses G. Farmer, an expert witness on behalf of the complainants, makes the same comparison, with the result, according to his opinion, of establishing that the defendants' system is essentially the invention described in the patent. ”

“ As a result of this arrangement, the current always passes through the same or equal circuits, no matter at which station the connection is made, simple changing from one to the other of these equal parallel wires at the station where the contact is effected. ”