The New York herald., 1851-12-02
Monopoly In TeleSrsphing.

! .ttr Il. - No. 1.
The great tslsgraphic controversy. in which Mr.
Morse claims tho exclusive monopoly of the sp
piiostion of electro -magnstsm for recording ints
gence between distant points, has attracted the
rOus attention, not only Of tho legal profession, bat
also of tho public at large. The novelty Of the
doctrines propounded the msgntade of the interests
involved, and the interesting character Of the in
quiry, all unite to make this one Of the most i'm.
portant legal questions Of the day. II will be per
ceved that this controversy involves the very prin
ciPle and foundation upon which system Of
patent la W he's always been supposed to rest. We
do not propose to 20 into the merits of the respect
i've systems of Balm and Morse, nor to ascertain
whether the former in any mstterof detail nfringss
upon the rights of the latter, but merely to exam
Inc the broad grounds upon which Judge Kane has
recently decided in Philadelphia, that injunction
shall be issued to prohibit the use of the privilege
conferred by Bains patent, granted April IL, 1879
1--WE read Judge kanes decision Alright, he holds
in effect that patent may be obtained for an srt
In the abstract, 30 that Arkwright, for example,
could have taken out patent for the art generally
of spinning by machinery, and could have monopo-
lized or prevented oil future improvements It has,
on the coatrary been always understood that no one
could ont patent for anything mode,
machine, manufacture fully described in his spe-
cifcation. If this limit were not imposed upon tho
patent system, the largest and most Undesirable
mOnopoes would be created by the grant of patents
for arts in the abstract, and the patent system
which, even in its modified FORM has in the opinsn
OF many, done more harm than good, would inevi-
taby excite 80 much dissatisfacton in the public
mind, that the patent laws would be repealed alto
gsthsr.
'Such doctrine" says Judge Woodbury., in he
great telegraph case in Boston, would discourage
progress rather than encourage useful arts as the
consutution wishes to be done, by granting patents
1t would after one invention to The same subject
Or same principle of art, halt and bar all further
advances on the same subject 1t would petrify
everything % it stood to the great loss of mankind
and in derogstion Of both private and public rights
10 advance human improvements and human power.
1t would also render the first improver IN mouopolist
and exclude the exercise or reward of further genius
science and labor in the same line, however useful
and however much needed beyond what has already
been accomplished. But limit the doctrine, as We
have done already, to the particular improvement
made, and the patentee of it is allowed to protect
that improvement, as he ought to be, if being his
own venton bis own property, and the fruit Of his
and should not, monopoly of what else may have
been invented by others before, may be invented
| BY them afterwards, on the same subject. The
chief care must be, while allowing others their
his method or improvement, colorsbly or fradu-
lenty, but only use what is substantially different
elect Tel Comp. vs. Little. OF al, 81 Lond. Jour.
1t is clear, beyond doubt, that, long before Mr..
Morse turned his attention to the subject of tele-
graphing by electricity, the art Of conveying intel
iigence, by means of the electric current, had been
extensively known, published, and practised, IN
many parts of Europe and this country; but tho
batteries were supposed to be too feeble fr long
distances, and capitalists could not be found to sup.
Ply the means Of building long experimental lines.
supply the necessary funds, there was host Of sci.
entiic men engaged in this country, ~ we'll rs in
England, France, Germany, and other parts Of
Europe, In experiments on the electric tele-
graph. They invented, published, and put in prac.
tIoe, various ingenious modes Of conveying ntelli
gence BY the electric current, . summary OF which
is set forth IN Judge Woodbury. elaborate opinion
delivered at Boston; but 1t was found that the aid
Of the public purse was required to bear the expense
Of the construction of line of sufficient length to
demonstrate ths practical value and portance of
the discovery Assoon as this line was built, many
improvements, OF course, were made In matters Of
| detail, BY which rapidity enough for purposes Of
business was obtained.
When Morse obtained bis FIRST patent, he only
claimed 10 be the inventor Of new and useful i'm
p ovement in tha mode Of oommunicat cating informa-
ton by signals and by the power of electro mag.
netsm; ; but some years afterward, prssuning upon
his popularity, he began to enlarge his claims and
| the present litigation Is the result
In ls:sS, four years before Morse had even heard
Of telegraphing by electricity, various successful
efforts bad been made in this country, especially by
| Harrison Grey Dyer, an enterprsing American. IL
is beyond dispute. that in 1928 he constructed tele-
graph on Long Island, on the race course, by wires
On poles and using glass insulatops. He used com.
mon electricity, and but one wire, whi,h operated
by,a spark, which, after going through paper chem-
caily prepared, so As to leave red mark on it,
passed into the ground without q return circuit.
The difference OF time between the sparks was, by
an arbitrary alph sbet to signify different letters
1 nv wh
telegraph operated-though machinery was con-
templated to BE- introduced for that purpose Dyer
could not control capital enough TO have lang line
built and had no influential friends in Congress to
induce that body to supply the pecunisry means re-
qured. Various short lines had hesn put up in
difere Mt parts Of Europe before Morse filed his
caveat-amongst others, Steinheil had, at Bergen
hausen, an electro magnetic telegraph half o mile
long, on poles, which made dots and short marks on
paper.
Long before this, viz, ia 1870, Oersted, the
Danish philosopher, discovered that magnetic
needle, at distance, might be detected by a gal
vanic current and thus mark information by signals
which, as Judge Kane says, "spoke to the eye for
the nonent" S In the same year Arago, Ampsre,
and Sir Humphrey Dayy discovered As much as
Oersted had These discoveries were all published.
Here, then, We have the art Of transmitting in
telhgence to distant points by means Of the electric
current operating directly, and also by giving mo.
hon TO certain machinery. Thus, the electro
telegraph art clearly was not invented by Morse
but he uses tie means thus devised to produce
marks. This 10 now claimed by him to be a new
art, bat We should only cali 1t an improvement on
the first form Of the electric telegraph, aud this i.
what he calls 1t himself in his patent Be- this il
may, 1t q not pretended that he was the FIRST to
produce Ineligible marks by means Of the electric
current, for Dyer, for example, did that; but he
had not . letter for each word. nor mech hanical
coDtrivances TO secure the necessary despatch. IL
Is claim ed that others had made different marks
for each letter before Morse, and had published
their discovery. Judge Kane says that the vices
of Steinheil. Cook, and Wheatstone were merely
senaphores that spoke to the eye for the moment.
1he evidence however, was that Steinheil, before
July. 1851, published description Of his recording
Telegraph, and sta ed tha. It had been in use be-
tween Munich and Bergenhausen for twelve months.
Steinheil bad there an electro mag netie eegraph,
baif a nile lopg, on poles. This made dot5 aod
sbt marks on paIer, and preeede Morses cavett.
| An alphabet was used In 1887, Alexander formed
sp electro telegraph, BY which. through signals
somewhat like Houses, he communicated and spelt
out. at a distance, the word Victoria Indeed this