Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-02-16

The expiration of the fundamental
telephone patent in March of last year
created considerable commotion in tele-
phone circles. although possibly the
upheaval was more among the general
public than in the American Bell
Telephone company. At any rate the
event brought forth Il large number Of
iIquries from financially interested
parties. and exhaustive and numerous
articles in the various journals touch
ing upon the status Of makers and
users Of telephones as against tn"
Bell company, which has so effectual-
Is held its monopoly during the past
seventeen years, writes Willialn A
Rosenbaum TO the Electrical Review.
1t has been impossible until recent
ly to make 4 definite statement Of the
condition Of the various controlling
patents because OF the absence of Il
final construction of the statutes by
the supreme court regarding the effect
Of the expiration of u foreign patent
upon the life Of i United States patent
applied for or issued subsequent TO
the issu" Of the foreign patent Even
now the condition of the Bcrliner
patent and the Basic Blake patent
can only be Surmiscd, bur the circunl-
stances bearing upon these two are
such that their fate can be forctold
with 4 reasonable degree Of certainty
| belief that Il brief statement set
ITl,Y fApfh I,n Of, Il e
the fundamental patents and their
present status would be of interest
and value at the opening Of the new
year, which bids fair to be lively
one in telephone circles, and / have
endeayorcd, in what follows. to pre-
sent the matte, clearly and concisely
The patents which are generally
recognized rs controlling the telephone
situation are the following:
l, the original Bell, dated March {.
1876; >, the Bell receiver, dated Jan.
80, 1877; 3, the Blake transmitter,
dated Nov. %, 1891; I, the HImming
transmittcr. dated Aug 80, 1881; ;,
the Bcrliner tranSmittcr, dated Nov. II.
1891; 6, the Edison transmitter, dated
May :, 1892
Wncn ii is certain that all Of these
patents have expired by regular limi-
tatiOn, or otherwise become void, the
field Of commercial telephony is prac-
tically open TO the public. That is to
say, barring these patents, 4 service
able tranSmittcr and receiver may be
made. sod and used. The following
is Il statement Of the condition of each
of the above patents: a The original
Bell patent which is the fundamental
patent covering III practical methods
of transmitting articulatc speech by
electricity, expired by statutory limita-
ton on March z, 1898, ii having been
in force its fuli term Of Il years (2)
Tie Bell receiver patent, which coy
erS, III the broadcast possible manner,
al electro magnet in combination with
Il plate tdiaphr; 21D of iron or steel.
or other material capable of inductive
action, which can be thrown into Yibra-
ton hy the movement of the surround
ing air or 10y magnetic attraction.
will expire by statutory limitation on
Jan. 80, 1894. il having then been in
force lis full term Of II years ca
The Blake tranSmitter patents are
four in number, and they We're issued
Nov. %, 1881 The first covers q dia-
phragm held against a ring seat by
spring pressing ut its free end
against the center of one side of the
diaphragm. The second covers an I'M
important detail of construction. The
third covers an arrangement of springs
TO hold the electrode in contact. re-
CARELESS of the movements of the iia-
phragm, and the fourth is for a special
arrangement of weight for doing the
same thing. The British patent on
these inventions issued Jan 20, 1879, is
prior to the dates of filing of the appli-
cations of Ill the above Blake patents
IN this country. Ordinarily, under
that condition. the latter would expire
with the British patent which took
place Jan. 20, 1898. a. The Hunning
tranSmitter patent, which covers broad
ly the use of granular carbon in
loose state, rs the variable resistance.
would not expire regularly until Aug
30 1898, but fortunately for the pub
lie the same invention was patented
in England in September, 1878, long
before the applica lion in this country
was filed. and the United States patent
therefore expired with the English on
Sept. 16. 1892. 10 The claims of the
Rerliner patent are broadly for the
method Of producing in circuit elec-
trlcal undulationS, similar in form to
sound waves, for the purpose Of vary
ing the pressure between electrodes
IN constant contact and thereby vary
ing the resistance of the circuit. In
other words, this patent covers the
Well known and commonly used means
"a pair of electrodes in contact for
carrying out the fundamental method
disclosed in the original Bell patent
of 1876. The application for the Ber-
liner patent was filed June 4, 1877, and
did not become a patent until Nov. II,
1891. On its face, therefore, this patent
IS a practical continuation for another
IL years from November. 1891. of the
monopoly which the Bell company has
already so long enjoyed (6) The
Edison transmitter patents are three
in number. and they were all issued
May 3. 1892. The application for one
of them was filed in April. 1877. and
for the other two in July of the same
year. The first is unimportant, as 1t
covers a resistance medium consist
: ~ ~ diSc-like nice, of nlumha oo in