Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-08-28
THE RUTLAND HERALD
APATENT HUMBCG.


In 1866, one Scott obtained patent
from the United States Patent once for
what he called patent Grail and turn
err" for use in diaries and cheese 1acto-
ries, for curing and taking care OF cheese
from the time they came from the press
until they were fit toput uponthe market
on sale. Theinvention claimed was simply
in the arrangement of the cheeses upon
movable boards, so that by placing one
Of the boards over the cheese while 1t
set upon another, the whole could be
turned upon the rails by putting one
hand under the bottom board and the
other on the top one, without the dim
Guilty and labor experienced Ia pulilng
the cheese from the board in when II
set. and without any danger OF breaking
those that were soft and green.
Armed with this patent the assignees OF
Scott went through the country, eXtort-
ing from farmers and dairymen various
sums for royalty in using this convenient
method of turning their cheeses. g..
1t is supposed that several men OBJ
tanned fair living for years out of the
money they obtained from thnid people,
who were found using similar method
to that described in the specifications at
tached to the broad parchment, issued
from Uncle Sans patenting establish
ment to the enterprising Scott. No one
can blame these honest farmers, who
earn their bread by the sweat OF their
brows, for submitting to this robbery,
for the alternative of law suit over
patent in the United States courts, on
the Chancery side at that, was more
formidable than ordinary men would de-
sire to encounter. IF these same men
had presented a seven shooter at their
heads with the demand, ''to stand and
deliver" they would probably have as
serted their manhood by a striking re-
ply but these weapons of bills, answers,
injunctions and DEGREES, with years of
litigation and untold vexation and ex-
pense, was a calamity they had right
to buy out of, and many of them sub
mitted.
But in the summer of 1872, some fac
tories in central New York combined to
resist this robbery, and they refused to
be imposed upon, and the humbugs who
had been doing such a thriving business,
by their imposition, at once found their
occupation gone, unless they could over
awe the refractory subjects they desired
to fleece, and they commenced large
number of suits in equity in the Circuit
Court, for the Second Circuit in the
Northern District of New ork, and in
course of time, William Fl. Bright, Esq,
of Utica, was appointed Special Examin-
er, to take the testimony. He proceed
ed with that duty for several days, until
the defendants proved by large num-
Der of witnesses, that the same, identical
method of turning cheeses, had been in
common NE throughout some portions
of this country and Europe, since 1910,
and no one could tell how long before
that Also that Mr.. Scott saw the
apparatus in use in the factory of
Mr.. Robbins, in Russia, and in other
factories in this country soon after 1860.
This, of course, would destroy the val
idity of the patent, and the prosecutors
refused to go further, but withdrew the
suits and paid the costs.
Impositions of this kind are becoming
extremely common, and people ought to
take measures to protect themselves
against them. The Patent Office wants
overhauling and a more intelligent man
agement given to it, so that those fertile
minds who strike out new ideas and util-
ize them by practical application to
the affairs of life, may reap the fruits of
their genius and skill by moderate roy
atty upon their inventions, and at the
same time protect the public against the
deliberable assaults Of impostors and
swindlers, who use its grants to cover up
the most bare-faced imposture and fraud.
The man who, by perjury and false pre-
lenses, procures a patent, ought to be
severely punished, and the three-year
statute of limitation on prosecution, for
perjury, IN such cases, should be extend
ed during the life of the patent, at least.
As they now exist, patent rights, as
whole, are under suspicion, and public
sentiment is beginning to demand pro-
lection from this class of humbugs and
swindlers, and we hope the time is near
when the people will know how to pro-
tect themselves from these worse than
highwaymen. .........
TEN MILLION DEFICIT.