Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-21
Bell In obtaining his patent. AS the am
daylt Il short II is given In full.

years Of age, and am by occupation solicitor Of
In III, year 1875 was employed BY the gov
eminent II the United states as principal ex-
aniner OF the patent office, IN charge OF the
class OF electricity, The application OF Alex
ander Graham Bell for patent for Improve
ments In telegraphy, which was filed February
IA, 1879, ehiuh patent was issued on the TN OF
March. 1875, and numbered l7t,t65 was put In
my charge a. examiner and was passed 10 is'
cue by me.
/ reached the said application for examina.
ton on the 10Th Of February, 1876 and found
on that day n caveat had been hled by one
Elisha Gray, on the l4th OF February, 1915, for
a new art OF transmitting vocal sounds tel
egraphiSally, which cayeat, 10 ny opinion, y,
tcrfered with the fret fourth and fifth claims OF
Bells said application.
ON the 10Th OF February, 1876, / satisfied
Messrs Pollok and Bailey, Bells attorneys,
that the frat, fourth aud NJ h clauses OF claims
in said application relate TO matters described
/ in pending cavoat Afterwards, 10 wit, on or
about the 2ith day Of February, 1910, the SAID
attorneys, Pollok and Bailey, addressed let
ter - the commissioner Of patents wherein
they stated that they had Inquired the date OF
1ling the cavcat, inasmuch as we are entitHd
TO the knowledge" and prot sted against the
subject them to. They thereuuon made spe'
cial application 70 the commissioner of patents,
under whose instructions afterwards, to VIII,
on tho glth day OF February, 1870, withdrew the
suspension Of the application | have since
carefully examined the law on patents and am
satisfied that the notice 10 the attorneys OF Bell
and that their ascertalnment of the date OF NJ
Ing Gray's cayeat IL also 0ntrary to the letter
and spirit OF section 1901 OF the Revised
Statutes. TO give such information 10 appli
cAnts mad, to an extent, become custom In the
patent ONCE, but now clearly perceive that the
Jaw did not contemplate the giving Of such In
formation TO an applicant for n patent as II
distinctly requires the cayoat to be kept secret
and the csveator alone TO be notified. On the
2gth day OF February, lsIG, an amendment was S
In the application, but to said amendment Bell
did not make oath nor did he subscribe to the
same, as verify believe
sNorn and subscribed TO before me, this Sd
day OF August, A. d. 1855.
LsEAL.l JoHN + BEALL, Notary Pablo.
Mr.. Van Der Benthuysen in the afIida-
Wit of August IS, 1885, swears that he
was In the city of Washington in July,
1885, and occupied rooms at the Ebbltt
house, and that on that day Mr.. Wilbur,
of the above affidavit, called upon him at
his rooms by appointment with Mr. Ar
thur Won Brlesen Of New York, for the
purpose of making affidavit az to the
course pursued by him in helping Bell to
secure the patent Of March Z, 1876. That
! In allowing said patent the examiner had,
contrary to law, Informed said Bell that
a caveat had been filed by Elisha Gray on
the same day as his application, Febru.
airy II, 1876, and informed him that the
same in some OF its claims was Identical
with his; that an amendment had been
made by the said Bell to his applica-
ton about fifteen days after the applica.
ton had been filed, which amendment had
not been called for by the patent-oilce
and was unsupported by them. Thai
| Wilbur had made the above statement
and in his presence and that of CASEY
Young OF Tennessee and &. L. Hunting.
ton OF Mississippi, and Wilbur said that
he had made known the contents of the
Gray cayeat to A. G.. Bell before his at
torneys at the time OF the suspension OF
the Bell application, which suspension
had been given on February 10, 1876, as
appears on the records of the patent
office, and that he had not known he had
acted contrary to law until his attention
was called to the fact by Mr.. Won Briesen
II il claimed and clearly established
that, Ii 1t had not been for the amend
ment made to the original application Of
Bells patent, he would never have OBJ
tanned the patent in March, 1876. 1t /.
further set up and established with rea
sonablc clearness that the information
contained in this amendment was fraudu
lently obtained, and therefore his origin
al patent should be Cancelled upon this
ground, If there were no other reason.
Tor asking II.
when il comes olshowing the prlorit!
telephone the testimonyis overwhelming
ana every claim in the invention or dis
coVery described In the Bell patent wa.
shown before the interior department
10 nave been used and known by the fol-
lowing persons prior to 1876, when Rell,,
] Dutpnt iggnaA. 10 d
oil chicago, Daniel Drawbaugh of Penn
slyvauia, Elisha Gray of Illinois. Thomas
A. Edison OF New York, Amos L. Dol
bear OF Massachusetts, Philip II. Van don
Weide of Brooklyn, Adolph out of New
York. w. Il. Charming, Providence, II. /.
benjamin L. Edwards, formerly of RIOS
ton, now deceased; James Hamblett, Jr.
OF Brooklyn Edward Farrand, New
Hampshirei Antonio Meucci, Staten
Island; w. s. Volker of Pennsylvania
| Charles Il. Cross of Boston George W
Blodgett of Boston, Alfred G.. Uolcomh
OF New York and Ellen G.. Holcomb of
Massachusetts.
! ADout 100 extracts are given from
various electrical journals describing
! telephones which had been discovered and
perfected prior to 1876.
one OF the most Interesting bits of ties.
/ timony in the books Is from Prof Elisha
gray, ana as TINS has Il direct bearing
| upon the story Of fraud the PRINCIPAL
points OF his affidavit are given.
! Prof. Gray was one of the founders Of
the Harmonic Telegraph company in the
year 1876, which co-operated with the
American Speaking Telephone company.
the Gold and Stock Telegraph company
and the Western Union Telegraph com.
pany, Ihese companies We're defendants
III SUIT OF the American Telephone COM
pany, IN what IS commonly known az the
boWu case, This suit resultedin a com.
promise, by which the complainant com.
pany and the defendant companies Jointly
owned oil the patent rights involved. the
American Speaking Telephone comnanv
receiving in said compromise 20 per cent
OF the royalty received upon all patents
owned by the said companies.
froi' Gray in his AFFIDAVIT said that no
hau no control over the suit. He does
not think II was honestly conducted. nnd
lhat compromise was obtained throngb
an improper union of interests of con-
plainants and defendants. In March 1874
froi, Gray says that he honestly beIinveS
that irol Bell was the real inyentnr of
tue telephone, for which he received a
patent lie says 81 then believed that
ne ana were both aiming AZ the SAM.
emu, ana that each without knowing ,vhst
thc other was doing had discovered o;,d
invented speaking telephone A. tba
centennial Mr.. Bell exhibited a teIenhono
which transmitted artlculate speecb
witnessed the exhibition. III ala -.
use a louia tra,.,,,t.. N4N nut