The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-02-08

said that Waite paid Il. w. Stoughton alon,
$4,000 Of the banks money. The law.
yers on both sides were the best that could
be obtained in the country. Hon. Edmund
Burke, of ~ H., Commissioner of Patents
under President Pierce, and the man who
found our whole patent system in chaos
when he went into Office, and who built ur
substantially the whole present system OF
patent practice in America, the most ad.
mirablc In the world, was the original and
leading counsel for Estey.& Co. This de.
cision is complete vindication of the
opinion he rendered as soon as he exam.
ined the case, that there was nothing in it.
The late Charles N. Davenport also ap.
peared for the Esteys in some of the pre-.
liminary stages. After Mr.. Burke's death
the counsel who fought magnifcently for
them all through, and were especially pro.
ficient in patent practice, were VIM. NJ.
Evarts, Charles G. Bcaman, Jr and Ed.
ward N, Dickerson of New York. On the
other side the lawyers at different stages of
the fight were f. W., II. f., and c. Is.
Stoughton, Edward j. Phelps, Senator Ed
monds, George Harding of Philadelphia,
and Col. X, Haskins and Congressman
Tyler before the master.
LITTLE ORGAN HISTORY.
Not all OF the defence of Estey e. Co.,
has appeared in the case. Since the clos.
ing of the testimony, they have come into
possession Of much fresh evidence and
many books and documents, bearing
upon the questions involved in the case
and upon organs containing the features of
the patent, manufactured long before it
was issued, which would make their de-
Tense more than overwhelmingly. concu-
sive. There is quite literature upon reed
instrument manufacture in Europe, even
before this century, and some of il demon.
strates that Burdetts ideas bad long before
been put in use in various degrees of prac.
ticability.
But without more than an allusion to all
this it is enough to say what appears in
the record of the case gave Estey & Co., q
conclusive victory, In this country and as
far back as 1854, the patent office records
show that Geo. G. Hunt, who was an EN-.
ployee in Dayton's factory, patented the de.
vice Of placing one or two additional hori
zontal set of reeds above the common ones.
In 1856 j. r. Rollins of Buffalo, N. Y. in
vented an improvement, including partial
sets Of reeds. In 1866 Riley Burdett took
the same reed board as is shown in Hunts
patent, and placing the additional reeds on
an incline, took patent on the improve
ment, and sold it to Estey & Co.. SO We
see that the ideas, and as the Supreme
Court holds, all the essential features of the
Burdctt patent of 1866, the one in contro
versy, had been anticipated and that real
ly the patents validity was narrowed to the
size of the hole or valve openings whcl
had always been used on reed instruments
and the court finds that man cannot have
Il patent for making hole little large
than some one else before him
Every lawyer who has been employed by
Burdett and Waite has had different the
ory of the case. Mr. Harding, of Philadel
yers in the country, and was brought il
for this reason, declared in his argument a
Washington that there is not the slightest
reason for questioning the integrity of one
of the Estey's exhibits, or doubling tha,
they made the organs when they claimed
and as they claimed
BuRDETr AND HIS BoNDsMEN TO PAY THE
COSTS.
AS result of the decision, Burdett and
his bondsmen have got to pay the costs
Waite, who was Burdett's right-hand man
is now lying in prison for the crimes com
mitted to carry on this suit although al
the present time Burdett has escaped con
nection with them. Burdett swore that
Waite owned one half in it,and Waite swears
that he owned nothing in it; which to be
lieve, the public must now decide be
tween these two men. Burdett also testi
fled that he has little or no means : if so,
then financially, he is ruined forever, be.
cause his slight income can never make ur
for the great strain that is now to be lalC
upon him.
One of the stockholders in the Burdett
Organ Co. swore that they had some inter.
est in it how far they are identified with
the case has not yet been fully shown, bu
one thing is certain-that they have at
tempted to make some capital out of it by
advertising, and they cannot now escape
their share of the responsibility.
THE EFFECT ON THE TRADE.
Waite and Burdette in the carly histor,
OF the case, tried to soothc the anxiety o.
the trade by telling them that they should
not be troubled, and the trade was lulet
to sleep, and gave Estcys no support Will,
evidence was being accumulated against
them now if this case had gone the othel
way at Washington, it is known that ovel
thirty suits which had been prepared
would have been instituted, and there
would have been the liveliest time that was
ever known in this country in the music
business.
Almost the entire organ trade, without
spending even single cent, or giving Es
teys Il single bit of comfort, escape ordina
ry expense, for it is known that nearly all
in the trade were making flat sets while
Estey & Co. were making the Inclined sets
The plaintiffs proceeded against Estey fol
motion for fine and Imprisonment
for making fiat sets, but with all the power
which that company could command, they
resisted the effort of Burdctt at fraud ant
wrong-doing, and the result is, the trad,
get the benefit
SUITS TO FOLLOW.
Estcy & Co, have brought suits agains
Burdette and Waite, and their counsel ant
witnesses, which we suppose they vii
press with extraordinary vigor.
j. SalIzer, general agent for the EstcS
Organs for Columbia, Montour and North
umberland counties.