The New York herald., 1851-12-04

Monopoly Of TslsgraPhs.
Morss's arst patent, q renewed the last time, IL
giving It favorable construction 70 make valid .
pstsns for certain spscihed mode Of marking
signs of letters" BY certain msohinsry, put in
motion BY tho use Of the mstvs power Of the cleo
tro or galvsnio current Bain's patent u for max
ing signs Of letters directly by the ection Of ths
without the Intervention Of any mechanical oontrr
vances worked by the motive power Of electro mag
netism. Consequently, BAin's patent does not IN
fringe Morse's II We construe the latte! - Judge
Woodbury. does (; whereas, If We hold that Morse
was entitled to monopoly of all the means OF re-
oording signs of letters, whether such means are de
scribed in his patent or not and patent for sucn
an overwhelming monopoly was really granted to
him. then, and not otherwise, the privilege granted
by Bsin's patent coRaioted with that of Morss's
first patent a. amended. Houses patent differs, If
not being for the Of the motive power Of electro
magnets %, to imprint signs Of letters - but it
is for . method of printing plain roman letters for
which machinery Totally different from that used by
Morse is required By Morses system, it is true,
that single letter could be printed, but not plain
letters successvely and inteligibly, different ma
chinery being required for that purpose. Judge
Kane srroneousiy quotes Morses patent as II the
"signs OF letters" BY which he meant mere dots
and dashes, as nothing else could possibly be made
by the system described in his claim and specif.
cations By Houses system, the % composition Of
of electricity, electro magnetism, compressed air,
and the force of spring. Without any record be-
ing made the operator can read the intelligence
thus composed. and II House stopped here, Morse
would not have complained of infringement But
House adopts the idea Of recording paper the
Intelligence thus composed and prese uted to the eye
Morse claimed that his patent was infringed, not,
used BY him, or described by his patent, or any
thing like it for Houses type is made to print by
manual power applied to machinery but Morse in
manently marking intelligence by electricity; that
be could have patent for the idea irres peotive Of
any specification of the n1odxs oferandt, and that
he has obtained such patent We have already
seen that he is clearly wrong In al these three seve-
The assumption that if Morse was the FIRST to re-
cord intelligence by electricity, by signs of letters,
he could have patent for the exclusive right Of re-
means of using that power, is palpable fallacy.
Moreover, no such patent was ever granted or ap'
piled for. Yet Morse thought that House, patent,
although IL was not even for marking signs OF let
ment. The opinisn of scientific men on the subject
is thus set forth by Judge Woodbury.
''lf We proceed next to the opinion of experts,
whether House infringes on Morse, or, in other
words, whether the principle of the two machines
be unlike or not, there seems to be q remarkable
prepondersnce in favor Of Houses machine Mr.
Morse himself n the other way . gentle man, not
educated specially to any branch Of science, but
taught, anda highly ingenious mind prof Sill
mans ssv,, ~, al He wHs painter BY profession,
according to his evidence, (4S. r,) and beside him.
regarding House rs infringing, is only Mr. Foss an
ker and grocer till lS45 (Foss' Ev., l34) These
are all against Houses machine; and neither Of
them seem to be experts such as usually are relied
on to give scientific opinions rather than mere facts
On the other hand, and that the principles of the
two machines are clearly unlike, are numerous ex-
perts, including some of the most experienced and
talented men in this line of science in the country
and some of them also very practical men. They
all, twelve fourteen in mum ber unite in the
clusion that the principle of the two Is wholly differ
ent. (See Borden, Ev. ga, record q; Harvey, Ev.
so; Philips, Ev: 307, 81; Eddy, Ev 6e; Chiffon,
2sS, 2s2; Charming, A a; hbbard, ~ ., 32 q;
g; Reynolds, 27l; Renwiok, 2ao; Jackson, 1867
"Some consider the two unlike IS ga goose quill
is to . printing PRESS" (Borden's Ev., 7s) aDd
several Of them express decided opinion thai
Houses is superior, some think work Of science,
some as piece Of mechanism, and some ~ to its
Essvs H1 S's S4 o ss.tt. a % Es a6 1aS 2is Ps
lips Ev., 303, 81, 2sS; Lindsy, Bill Andrews l0s;
plcated, its results are in Roman letters, and
eure translation its speed in action is greater,
and it is not SO liable to misak IL transmitting
.Sa ss'R,Ds MANI S the
changes from former modes or machines as to be
tested in their material diversity chiefly by their
better results, such the fame OF gas rather than
Gil, the bot blast rather than tie Geld, charcoal
used in making sugar, hot water in place Of cold in
making cloth, &c Sc (Web. Ca. 400; Mason
I; Wood Min. DevOl Vs. Brown; Wash 1877;
l Peters e. G 394)"
In another part Of his opinion the learned Jud ga
Speaking Of the difference between Morse's and
Houses systems, says-"Morse's operates rapidly,
and records In species of hierogyphics or stenog-
raPhy, which has to be translated into English
Houses moves much faster. and at the astonishing
rate OF oO or 10 strokes or breaks in SEQ md and
Of once records the information, by its own ma
ehinery, IN roman letters 1t literally gives let
ters TO Lightning, as well ~ lightning to letters
In short, the system Of Morse, in one respect viz
TO its mode Of recording, from that Of Houses and
depends on machinery and devices origin in Morse;
whereas, House does not copy this either in form or
substance, but records In . different manner, and
by new machinery, and BY aid Of ono new power In
axial magnetism, and Of another old but different
power In air, applied in new way and IL does
this In letters, not sgns and with wonderful speed
and accuracy"
When Balm applied for his patent, i. was resisted
by Morse, not on the ground Of his present absurd
claim to monopoly Of all the n recording by
electricity, whether describe 'atent or not,
but upon the ground that hl nted the same
system as Bsin's, and had caveat before
Bain's application. Balm had obtained a patent In
Ergland on 18th December, 1916, and on 9th
January, l5i7, caveat for q similar invention
entered by Morse in the secret archives Of the office
~ Whrnlulton III was oci1 by tue attorney
General, that Balm being alien, could not be al
lowed to prove that he the inventor before the
date Of his patent, but that Mosse might show that
be was acquainted with the invention before that
date, and thus sustain his caveat. Accordingly,
Morses con proved that his father had ex p aimed 10
bim the same invention before 18th December
Islo patent vss granted to Morse, whereupon
bsin appealed, In the mode prescribed by the act of
Congress, to the Chief Justice Of the District of
Columbia, who decided that Balm " - entitled 10 a
patent which was granted accordingly, and no the
parties claiming M der Balm are ehjOsed By Cir
cult Court from using the privilege thereby ranted
his Is ore OF the numerous soomsles ~f the patent
laws.
The application By Balm for a pa,ont was for a
mode Of teegrsphing In which the gslvanic current
s made TO produce marks upon paper chem cally
prepared, wishout the Intervention Of magnets. or
other machibery to be moved The Commission
Of Patents, Mr. Burke, in deciding in favor Of
Morse, a. above mentioned, 500 that By thus ds-
pebtipg ~ith machinery, the Inertia which ma
chinery has 10 overcome is avoided, which il very
important in telesraphng thro Igh great distsaess
and mn ad i itai era 49,