Sir J. Campbell, A. G., on the part of the crown, said, that A.D., 1838. he did not feel it necessary to address their lordships, as he concurred in their opinion as to the originality and utility of the invention, and that the remuneration received had not been sufficient, and he begged to express his great satisfaction, that in consequence of the care and attention of their lordships, the author of so important and beautiful an invention would not go without his fair share of the benefit resulting from the extension of the patent.

Lord BROUGHAM: Their lordships having taken the whole of Judgment. this matter into account, retain the opinion which they have had impressed upon their minds from the very beginning, that this is an invention of extraordinary merit, doing the greatest honour to the inventor, and conferring great benefit on the community; founded in this eminent merit, being not merely the application The merit and

of a known principle, embodying it in new machinery, and ap-vention. utility of the in

plying it to practical purposes, but involving the discovery of a new, curious, and most important principle, and at the same

time applying that principle to a most important purpose.

invention.

Their lordships have on the same side of the question taken The merit of into account (which it is material to mention) Mr. Russell's introducing the merit in patronizing the ingenious and deserving author of this invention, in expending money till he was enabled to complete this invention, and in liberally supplying the funds which were requisite for the purpose of carrying the invention into

execution.

on stock.

On the other hand, their lordships have taken into mature The amount of profit not consideration (which they always do in such cases) the profit greater than the made by the patentee, Mr. Russell standing in the situation of ordinary profits the inventor. They find, that it is not a case as in claims of other inventions of great ingenuity, and certainly of great public benefit, of actual loss in some, and of very scanty, if any, profit realized in others, but that a considerable profit has been realized, and, upon the whole, no loss. It is to be observed that that profit is not perhaps very much greater, if at all greater, than the ordinary profits on stock to that amount, employed without the privileges and extra profits of a monopoly. It is proper to The annoyances consider that one great item of deduction from those profits litigation to be also involves great pain, and anxiety, and suffering to the party, considered. namely, the litigation to which he has been subjected, and which is generally found to be in proportion to the merit and the usefulness of a patent, namely, the temptation to infringe it, and to set at nought the right of the patentee, both in the Court of Chancery, when he applies for protection by injunction, and afterwards in a court of law, when he comes to claim compensation for damages; the temptation being, as I have stated, in proportion to the benefit of and the demand for the invention. That is an item which has to a considerable degree attracted

and anxiety of

Judgment.

the attention of their lordships in this profit and loss account, which has been laid before them in the course of these transactions.

Taking the whole of the matter into consideration, the merits of the patentee, the merits of Mr. Russell, and the loss that has been sustained in the litigation, and setting against those, on the other hand, the profits which have been made, their lordships are of opinion that the term ought to be extended, and upon due execution being given to the undertaking (i) which has been just given on behalf of the inventor, that the term ought to be extended for the period of six years.

Report accordingly.

Tille.

Specification.

SOUTHWORTH'S PATENT.

Letters patent, 19th April, 1823, to William Southworth, for "certain machinery, or apparatus, adapted to facilitate the operation of drying calicoes, muslins, linens, or other similar fabrics."

My invention consists in the application of certain machinery or apparatus, adapted to perform the operation of hanging or suspending damp or wet calicoes, linens, or other similar fabrics (over a series of rails, or staves, situated in a stove or drying house), for the purpose of drying the same; the said machinery being also adapted to perform the operation of taking down or removing the said calicoes, muslins, linens, or other similar fabrics (from off the said rails or staves), after they have been sufficiently dried; by means of which invention a considerable saving of labour and expense may be effected in the operation of drying. I construct the above stove or drying house in a manner nearly similar to that at present in use; and I arrange the rails or staves (over which the cloth or fabric is intended to be hung or suspended) near to the upper part of the stove or drying house; I then construct a frame or carriage in such a manner as to be capable of moving freely upon guides or supports from one end of the drying house to the other, the said carriage being situated immediately above the range of rails or staves, but so as not to bear upon them; this carriage is furnished with proper supports for receiving certain rollers or boxes, upon the circumference of which rollers or boxes the wet cloth or fabric has been previously wound. The carriage is also furnished with certain cylinders or drums, which are

(i) See preceding note as to the mode of effecting this,

caused to revolve in such a manner as to draw or wind the Specification. wet cloth or fabric from off the aforesaid rollers or boxes in a regular manner; thus, if the frame or carriage, with its appendages, be slowly moved along upon its guides above the rails or staves, at the same time that the wet cloth or fabric is in the act of being drawn off the circumference of the rollers or boxes, by the operation of the revolving cylinders or drums before mentioned, the wet cloth or fabric will descend in the vacancies between the rails or staves, and will hang down in loops or folds, so as effectually to expose its surface to the action of the dry or heated air, and in order to suit the depth or height of the stove or drying house. The depth or length of the said loops or folds may be regulated or determined by the length of cloth or fabric, which would be given out by the revolving cylinders or drums, during the passage of the frame or carriage from one stave to the next. When the cloth or fabric has been hanging a sufficient length of time to become dry, it may be taken up again, or drawn off the rails or staves, and wound again upon the circumference of the rollers or boxes. This operation I perform by simply causing the frame or carriage, with its appendages of rollers and cylinders, to traverse slowly along the drying house in the contrary direction to what it moved during the operation of hanging the cloth, at the same time that the cylinders or drums are caused to revolve in a suitable direction for taking or winding up the cloth or fabric upon the circumference of the rollers or boxes; by this means the dry cloth may be wound evenly upon the circumference of the rollers or boxes, and removed from the machine. In some situations I find it advisable to vary the mode of arrangement, by causing the rails or staves (over which the cloth or fabric is intended to be hung) to be connected together with chains or ropes, somewhat in the manner of a rope ladder, being connected by endless chains or ropes, with a train, or wheels, or other well-known machinery, so as to be moved slowly along upon guides from one end of the stove or drying house to the other; in this last-mentioned arrangement, the frame or carriage containing the revolving cylinders or drums, for giving out and taking up the cloth remains stationary at one part of the stove or drying house. The operation of this machinery would be similar to the one before described with the traversing carriage ; for as the cylinders or drums are caused to revolve and give out the cloth or fabric at the same time that the chain of rails or staves were moving slowly beneath the cylinder or drum, the cloth or fabric would descend between the staves and hang down in loops or folds, in a manner similar to the machine with the moving carriage. [Here follows the description of the drawings annexed.]

I have now described fully one mode of carrying my inven

Specification.

tion into effect, and I do hereby declare, that I consider my claim of invention to extend to the application of the machinery or apparatus, as hereinbefore described, for the purpose of facilitating the operation of drying calicoes, muslins, or other similar fabrics; which machinery or apparatus is adapted, by means of a revolving and traversing cylinder or cylinders, situated over a series of stationary rails or staves, arranged in a stove or drying house in such a manner that the pieces of calico, muslins, linen, or other similar fabrics, may be previously wound upon the circumference, and by the revolving and traversing motion of the aforesaid cylinder or cylinders over the stationary rails or staves, or otherwise by the revolving motion of the cylinder or cylinders and the traversing movement of the rails or staves themselves, may be caused to descend in the spaces between the said rails or staves, and hang down in long loops or folds, in order to spread the pieces quickly, and expose their surfaces so as to facilitate the operation of drying the same; the said machinery or apparatus being also adapted to perform the operation of taking up or removing the said calicoes, muslins, linens, or other similar fabrics, from off the said rails or staves, and winding or rolling them upon the circumference of a roller or rollers, so that they may be removed from the machine after being sufficiently dried; at the same time I must observe, that the form and proportion of the different parts may be varied according to the situation, or discretion of the workmen employed in constructing the same; the materials of which the same may be made may also be varied, according to the circumstances of the case, without departing from the intent and object of my invention, as above described and set forth. In witness, &c.

Not essential to

the cases to

HAWORTH V. HARDCASTLE.

[4 M. & Sc. 720; 1 Bing. N. C. 182.]

Cor. Sir N. Tindal, C.J.; Parke, J.; Gaselee, J.; Alderson, J.
E. T., 1834.

This was an action for the infringement of the above patent, the validity of a of which the plaintiff was the assignee. At the trial of the cause patent, that the invention should before Mr. Justice Alderson (M. Vac., 1833), it appeared that the be useful for all old process of drying calicoes, linens, muslins, and the like fabrics, it is pro- was performed in a place called a stove or drying house, about posed as aptwenty feet high, or upwards, divided into three stages or floors, plicable. If a scire facias which were formed of rails or staves, traversing the building be pending, the horizontally. The cloth intended to be dried was then carried

court will be

entertain an

to the upper part of the drying house, and dropped by hand less inclined to over the top row of staves, a man standing on the second row objection to the to guide its descent, and to give notice to the person above validity of the when sufficient had been allowed to fall to form a loop about patent. six feet long and when the upper compartment of staves was covered in this manner, the second and lower floors were similarly hung. This method, besides being expensive and tedious, was found very inconvenient, the number of loops and of staves preventing the free passage of the heated air in the stove. The object of the patent upon which this action was brought, was for the adaptation of certain machinery to supersede the labour of man in the process of hanging up and taking down the cloth, and to obviate the other inconveniences that were found to attend the old method of drying it.

It appeared upon the evidence, that prior to the year 1823, Plaintiff's case. some drying houses had been constructed with one row of staves only, placed in the upper part of the building; and also that a machine had some years before been used by Ainsworth & Fogg, for the purpose of letting down cloth from staves placed at the top of a drying house, consisting of a carriage similar to that used by the patentee, but having only one roller, on which the cloth was placed, and which was turned with a winch. Fogg, who was called as a witness, stated that he had used this machine for about six months, and then discontinued it, finding it of little use. The defendant had used three machines, one of which was purchased by him from the patentee, but was used without a license; the other two varied in some degree from the patent machine. The latter when traversing the staves was followed by a stop roller, to determine the length of the loop of cloth, by nipping or pressing it upon the edge of the stave, so as to hold it until the succeeding loop became of sufficient length to balance by its weight the preceding one. This was found not to answer the purpose intended, in consequence of the heat of the drying house causing the staves to warp; and therefore the inventor substituted a dropping-board or flapper; and in one of the machines used by the defendant, a bag of shot was the substitute for the stop roller. It was proved by several witnesses, and, amongst others, by the son of the patentee, that the machine did not answer the purpose of taking up some descriptions of cloth, by reason (as some of them stated) of the deception used in the manufacture.

On the part of the defendant it was contended, that the patent Defendant's was void, on the grounds that the specification claimed as new case. the placing the staves or rails at the top of the drying house; that it claimed the invention of that which had previously been used by Ainsworth & Fogg, and that it was not adapted to the taking up the cloth, as stated in the specification.