William Strong

“ Seibert's patent, as we have stated, was granted on the fourteenth day of February, 1871, for a new and useful improvement in lubricators. He had previously (in 1869, Sept. 14) obtained a patent for a lubricator, in which hydrostatic pressure in forcing the lubricant from its cup, or reservoir, was found to act beneficially, though the patent did not claim that specifically, and the inventor seems not to have been aware at that time of its value. The model for this patent Seibert procured to be made by Garratt. ”

“ It is not, however, very material to determine that Seibert's invention was made before May, 1870; for we are of opinion that even if it was not made before February, 1871, there is not sufficient evidence in the case to show it was anticipated by Garratt, or by any one. Garratt was a brass founder. In 1869, he had the agency for making the Roscoe oilers, or lubricators, then covered by a patent. It is plain those lubricators were designed for the use of tallow, and tallow alone. ”

“ The steam, acting only on the surface of hard tallow, would not melt and take up enough to lubricate the engine; and Garratt, late in the fall of 1869, after Seibert's first patent was granted, as he and some other witnesses testify, undertook to remedy the defect. ”