New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-05-27
EDISON,S PATENT AT STAkE.
ARGUMENT BEGUN IN A GREAT SUIT.
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INvoLvED-THE UNiiND
STATES ELECTRIC LIGHTING COM
p,Nv TUE DFFFNDANT

STATES ELECTRIC LIGHTING COM
PANY THE DEFENDANT
Judge wallace's courtroom in the Federal Buliuiis
| looked like physical laboratory yesterday. ohu0i
ono table were half dozen rows OF electric batteie
| ,bo yvircs from which led TO various lamps on inc
table There were dozens Of incandescent lamps some
IN various STAGES OF manufacture, and numerous uia
grams illustrating the principles MADE use Oh III eieo'0
lighting. The place also looked Ike Classroom !"
| COLLEGE for man was giving lecture on the mean
descent lamp On an easel were dozen big sheets Oh
oo,dtoord On which we're drawn diagrams Of electrical
inventions and pictures illustrating the principles eN
nIarad nv the sneaker group Of lawye. sat at TWO
| Inc which were Uttered with books and papers
Under the tables also piles OF Dilei' eAoio. anu
testimony. The argument In tie great sum u ~.
Edison Electric Light Company against tne chi'eu
states Electric Lighting Company was begun oeiore
Judge Wallace in the morning. 'honas a. E'ison
S,nsor yas in court lie sat with toothplck in bis
| mouth all day.
Earb side was we'll represented by attorneys For
| Tho compainants there we're Richard ~ Dyer eros
venor p Lowrey, Clarence A. seward ana sherDurho
blake Eaton. of counsel, the firm Of Eaton a. Lewis
beinc the solicitors. For the defendants Duncan
Curtls & Pane were solicitors and Samuel A. Duncan
| Edward Wetmore Leonard L. Curtis and Frederic H.
| potts were the counsel Mr.. Dyer opened for the
comnlainants He explained that the Edison patent
for an incandescent lamp had been sustained In every
detail in England and partly in Germany, and that
Justee bradley Of the United States supreme Court
| had in the McKeesport case two years ago upheid
Tho nrpcple Mr.. Dyer then briefly reviewed tho
whole subject of electric lighting explaining tho
principles in such clear way that any intelligent
nerson could follow him perfectly. He told Just how
tbo flow NJ an electric current depended on certain
| elements making his statements entirely compre-
hensible by drawing analogy between the 10" Oh
water through pipe and that OF an electric curfehe
| through a wire
The difference between arranging lamps In series
and in multiple arc was made clear In tne n's0
case the whole current passed successfully through
all the lamps In the circuit in the second the current
was divided n part going to each lamp. The mniupie
arc system was the one In in ordinary ncandesceht
lighting Mr. Dyer then took up in succession various
patents for electric lamps which were ootaheu oeioe
Mr. Edison secured his. He said that none Oh .ies'
were practicable inventions. In some OF them h"ru'
or gas retort, carbon, which was Dritue was uscu'
This lasted only short time. Occasionally one OF the
Iamns burned n few hours. Mr. Edsons incandescent
Iamn was guaranteed TO burn 600 hours and some OF
them lasted even 1000 hours.
Mr. DYER argued that the King patent OF 1s45 was
OF no commercial value because the end wires 10 winch
the carbon In the lamp was fastened were OF copper
instead of platinum The bulb heated TO be sealed
and when 1t cooled again the copper contracted so much
that the lamp was not alright Mr.. Edison overcame
this difficulty by using platinum, the coefcient OF
expansIon of which was almost the same as that OF
glass King had declared that the bulb need not be
vacuum as long 1t did not contain anything winch
supported combustion. Mr. Edison had been the frst
TO insist that vacuum essential, and that any
gas although it did not support combusuon had de-
structive effect on the carbon.
Mr. Dyer spoke for four solid hours, and will prob
ably finish to-day. The case is likely to last about
week yet, and Judge Wallace has promised To give
decision early in the The case will be taken
TO the Circuit Court of Appeals, and will be finally
settled there unless the judges of that court agree to
send 1t to the United States Supreme Court.
The suit is Of extreme importance for verdict for
the complalnants will bring them in 100000 year
as long as the patent runs. About $4,000 incandes-
cent lamps made every day, about hall Of which
are from the Edison factories. Half a dozen
other companies are making the lamps. The
fight is really against the Westinghouse people, for they
the United States Electric Lighting Company The
compainants declare that ncandescent electric lighting
would have been commercially impossible without Mr.
Edlsons invention of the carbon flament. They say
that he the first to use the multiple arc Tor In
candescent lamps, that his of filnment with
copper wire In short their allegation Is that Edsons
genius alone made 1t possible TO burn .incandescent
lamps at cost that brought them into general use.
Man in 1878 invented substantially the lamp patented
by Mr. Edison in 1850. They admit that he improved
the construction Of the carbon by making 1t longer ana
They alege that the principle OF the incandescent
lamp has been known to scientists for many years ana
that Mr. Edison merely seized upon system which
mony containing some so 900 words have been taken
in various parts Of the country many leading scientists
having been witnesses