IN THE COURT OF KING'S BENCH.

The King against Arkwright.

June 25, 1785.

THIS cause was instituted by the Attorney General by writ of scire facias to repeal a patent granted 16th December, 1775, to Mr. Richard Arkwright, for an invention of certain instruments or machines for preparing silk, cotton, flax, and wool, for spinning. The proceedings originated in the petty bag in the Court of Chancery, and were transmitted by the Lord Chancellor to the Court of King's Bench, to be there tried.

The allegations in the writ of scire facias were, 1. That the grant was prejudicial and inconve nient to the King's subjects in general.

2. That the invention, at the time of granting the letters patent, was not a new invention, as to the public use and exercise thereof within England.

3. That the same was not invented and found out by the said Richard Arkwright. And

4. That the said Richard Arkwright had not, by an instrument in writing, under his hand and seal inrolled in the High Court of Chancery, particularly described and ascertained the nature of his said invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed.

Mr. Bearcroft, on the part of the prosecution,

stated that a case of greater importance, of greater value to the individuals disputing it, and to the public in general, was never yet tried in any court. Upon the part of the defendant, Arkwright, it is a question of great property; for if he is right and well founded in this patent, it is of such value to him, that it will produce him great sums of money. Upon the other hand, if the patent has no validity in point of law, and yet it should be determined that it has, the consequence will be, that some individuals, well worthy of consideration, will be losers of sums much greater than any Mr. Arkwright can assume to be interested in, great as they are. There is also a matter of infinite importance behind, for if the determination should be for the validity of the patent, it will endanger the loss of the most valuable manufactory that this country knows, viz. the manufactory of cotton.

The first thing to be attended to, since these proceedings are totally to render void a patent, is the nature of that patent; and the machine from which Mr. Arkwright has derived great advantages, and of which he contends, by virtue of this patent, he has the sole use and property during the fourteen years, for which a certain act of parliament in certain cases allows a monopoly to be granted by the crown.

The date of the patent is, 16th December, 1775. The manner in which Mr. Arkwright describes his invention, upon the footing of which he asks and obtains the patent, and derives all the consequences, which by law he may; the expressions he

uses should be attended to, and almost every word used by him in his petition, and stated as the ground of the grant, are extremely material.

Mr. Arkwright is recited by his patent to have suggested that he has invented certain instruments or machines, which he conceives would be of public utility in preparing silk, cotton, flax, or wool, for spinning; and that the same instruments or machines were constructed upon easy and simple principles, very different from any yet contrived.

In truth, so far is this from being the true description of these machines, that they deserve a description the very reverse of this; for, in fact, they are not materially different from some before contrived; on the contrary, they are the

same.

It will be impossible to understand a step of what remains behind, without first having a general acquaintance with the nature of spinning cotton, and of the process towards the spinning of it, together with an acquaintance with the patent machine of Arkwright, that is to perform the operation for preparing for that spinning.

The various manufactures which are performed in and about Manchester are fabrics so ingenious, beautiful, and useful, that they have all the qualities that can recommend them to human nature; and in that article we are universally envied, and that sort of manufacture is coveted by every nation which has at all turned itself to manufactures ; the basis and principle of all those manufactures are, the fineness and excellence in the spinning

and twisting of the cotton thread, of which they are composed; therefore, every part of the process towards the making that fine and excellent cotton thread, is of the utmost importance to the kingdom in general.

To produce a fine thread, the cotton must be carded; this operation used to be performed by hand, and it took up a great deal of time, and of course was very expensive. The next process was, what the manufacturers called roving; roving means taking the cotton after it is carded and performing the operation of spinning by a wheel, making it into a coarse yarn thread or webb. This coarse thread, the roving, must be re-spun to make it fine, and give it a proper twist, and that sort of consistency, which is the foundation of the excellence of the Manchester manufacture; this too used to be done by hand. This spinning was the last and important finishing. If, therefore, a machine could be found out that in less time, and consequently at less expense, and in a better manner, could contrive to spin a second time, the first coarse spinning, called roving, it most undoubtedly was an improvement, and an invention of great value and merit, and of great importance to the public; and for which the inventor was fairly entitled to all that reward that can be derived from the monopoly permitted by law, which is, the sole enjoyment of the patent for fourteen

years.

Now Mr. Arkwright was in possession of a patent for that operation of spinning, which makes the roving into fine thread, which patent expired

upon the 3d July, 1793. The language of that patent was a machinery "never before found out for the making of web or yarn of cotton, flax, or wool, which will be of great utility to manufacturers."

That patent machine which was excessively ingenious should be thoroughly understood, for upon that a great deal turns, and that alone, when truly understood, is sufficient to overturn this patent, and make out one of the propositions alleged upon the scire facias, namely that this patent of 16th Dec. 1795, was not for a machine that at that time was a new invention.

Mr. Bearcroft then explained, by a model in court, the operation of the spinning machine for which Mr. Arkwright's first patent was obtained; and observed, that that machine would either make the roving, the coarse thread, or the spinning, the fine thread; the roving, in truth, is the first thread in the business, but it is the coarse one; but take the roving back again when it is made, and instead of the carded cotton, let the roving go under the operation a second time, and it comes out a fine thread. Both the roving and spinning are threads, the one a coarse thread, the other a fine one, equally performed by that very spinning machine.

Having given the idea of the machine for spinning, and shewn that it will operate to produce either a coarse or a fine thread, the next thing will be to shew the sort of patent which is in question.

The patent for spinning expired in July, 1803;

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