Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-08-26
CLINKERLESS STOVES,
And the Long Legal Fight Over
Their Manufacture.
The Discovery OF she Principle lm
lS5O.A Later Devlce.Pur.
suit Or Q Patent.IN.
Crlngements.
New York sun. |


The scientific principles OF a stove are
not yet determined. We know that a very
large part of the heat goes up the chimney,
hut We can not yet prevent Il. The two
great innovations In stoves within the
memory of this generation are on the base
burning principle and the clinkcrless CRATE
By putting large quantity OF coal In an
upright cylinder, which Is open nj the bot
tom. fire can he retained for n long time.
As fast as the bottom of the column Of coal
Is burned away the coal above falls down
and keeps the fire supplied This was dis.
covered about 1850. Clinkcrless CRATES
are later device. the first ones having
been manufactured in 1870 or 1871. When
coal has been in state of ignition for
some time il partially cakes together and
most of the support beneath can be taken
away. The support has generally been
given by the CRATE. upon which the ashes
and other refuse from the coal gathered.
thus choking the draught. II is however,
possible to remove the CRATE leaving the
coal suspended hy il lateral pressure. and
take poker and lightly sweep away the
ashes which hang 10 1t. The bed Of Goals
will thus shine downward as well 10
above
Spear. of Philadelphia. WAS the first who
produced parlOr stoves based on this dis
covery. They attracted the attention
" = Perry. of Albany, who was travel
ing in Pennsylvania. and he conceived the
idea of making stoves somewhat like them.
The head OF the firm. John = Perry, at
his cousins solicitation. also examined
them, and they determined to go into the
manufacture spear demanded $4,000 Il
year for a license 10 use his invention.
The Perrys thought this was excessive;
hut in the meantime Mrs. John = Perry, q
highly accomplished lady, began u search
in the state library to ascertain whether
Mr.. Spears patent was good one. A
stove patent very rarely is good. and this
proved no exception. A patent Ind been
granted three or four years before 10 man
living in small town In Massachusetts,
involving the same principle.
4 trusty agent of the finn was sent over
there with instructions TO buy il, but on
arriving in the village he found that the
inventor was dead, never having used his
patent but in single case. which was that
Of church in which he had placed
furnace Something was wrong with II
the first night IT was used. for the ashes
and coal were precipitated on the hoor In
the night and the church was burned
down. That ended his experimenting and
inclined the heirs TO dispose of their in.
tercsi At nominal sum- But of his half.
dozen children who held the right of the
patent one had gone to Texas, and
his address was unknown. Armed
with photograph and q description, the
agent sailed for Texas. and after two
months search found the man, from whom
he purchased the remaining interest
Perry & Go, accordingly did not take out
a license from Spear, but went ON manu-
featuring the clinkerlcss CRATES without
permission.
They were Immediately sued BY Spear.
accomplishment which they at once returned.
Other manufacturers also began making
these CRATES, and were sued by both Spear
and Perry. The novelty was, however, too
taking for them to desist, and within two
years every manufacturer In the United
States was producing this kind of stove
under license from the Perrys or Spear, or
ms an infringcr. Those who were sued as
infringers formed an association to defend
each other. the amount spent In litigation
being enormous. Spear and the Perrys
joined forces. but II was Of little avail, for
the supreme court of the United States
decided that their claims were not good,
and the making of clinkerless stoves Is now