Stanley Matthews

“ The mutual mistakes of the two parties cannot be considered as correcting each other. Hartshorn claimed an invention to which he now confesses he was not entitled, and for that reason his original patent was invalid. Campbell contented himself with the narrow claim originally contained in his patent of 1867, and thereby acknowledged that he was not entitled to the broader claim which he now asserts under his reissue. He had the means and the opportunity, at the time the application for his original patent was pending, to have asserted his claim to priority of invention. ”

“ In what was previously known as the coach fixture, it was necessary, while one hand of the operator lifted the pawl from the ratchet by means of the cord, to hold the shade with the other hand, or else the shade would quickly fly up for its whole extent. The particular construction or arrangement of pawl and ratched described by Hartshorn, in his patent of 1864, as his invention, consisted of a ratchet or notched hub on the end of the roller and revolving with it, and a pawl placed upon the bracket or stationary part of the fixture, and dropping into the ratchet or notched hub by gravity. ”

“ In each case there was, therefore, a delay of about nine years in obtaining the reissue.
In order to understand and resolve the questions arising in the case, it will be necessary to consider the state of the art at the time of the issue of the patents. This may be briefly stated as follows: The inventions in question are in that class of shade-rollers which are rolled up by the unwinding of a coiled spring. The roller was hollow, and the spring placed within it, one end being attached to the roller, and the other end to the shaft or rod on which the roller revolved. ”