William Strong

“ The manufacture of hand-made and woven corsets is an art long known,-known long before the Johnson improvement. Those made by hand had gores inserted to give enlarged space for the breasts of the wearer, and also gores or gussets at the lower part to give space for the hips. In woven corsets these enlargements, equivalent to gussets, were formed by the jacquard loom. For more than twenty years it has been customary to weave in these gussets bone-pockets stopped off or closed in the weaving at various distances from the edge of the corset. ”

“ Every person skilled in corset making knew the necessity of such variation. In Johnson's description, it was asserted that the shape or contour of his corset was formed in the weaving; so far, therefore, as that was effected by the relative length of the pockets, it was dependent upon the loom. The description left to the manufacturer to determine what should be the length of each pocket, in order to secure the elegance and graceful contour of sewn corsets; in other words, to determine before the weaving where the double portions or slots should be stopped off. ”

“ To defeat a party suing for an infringement, it is sufficient to plead and prove that the thing patented to him had been patented or described in some printed publication prior to his supposed invention or discovery thereof. ”