The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-03-07
WILMINGTON
ELECTRIC co.
An Injunction Applied For
to Restrain It From
Using a Storage
Battery Plant.

case before him. II is that Of the Storass
Battery Co., Of Philadelphia, against the
Wilmington City Electric Company. The
case promises to be one of tho most i'm
portant pieces Of litigation broughtto the
attention Of the public for some time
Tho Storage Battery Company asks for an
injunction to restrain tho local company
from using recently installed plant.
which Is claimed to be au infringement Of
patent
The party Interested m ,st In the case,
however, is the firm OF Sips and Sisler
Of Cleveland, Ohio.-s4 II. appsars tha4 spsAasi
time aco tie Wilmington City Electric
Company entered into contract with the
Cleveland firm for Storage Battery
plant which was duly placed In position
and compensation for same Is now about
due.
Soon after the contract had been com.
pleted IL was learned that tho storage bat
terry company claimed an infrlnge lnent Of
one Of its patents
In tho United States Court yesterday
afternoon John P. Nields asked leave to
file a petition to compel certain witnesses
testify relative to certain trade secrets. He
wanted the testimony Of such witnesses to
tnkon before tho opening Of tho case. j. H.
Hoffecker Jr., who represents the defend
ant Company opposed the motion.
Witnesses were thon or their way from
Cleveland and such course would cause
hnth dolov nd ipcnp iauoo
Tho court folt it would be b,tter to hear
Counsel on the point raised II witnesses
could DO compelled to testify under such
circumstances.
William Houston Kenyon. Of the law
firm Of Kenyonand Kenyon, of New York,
arrived early this morning He had bum
dies Of papers, drawings and frames with
him.
Augustus Stoughton, OF Philadelphia,
appointment patent lawyer Of tina. city, Is
in the case with Mr.. Nieltls
The case Is sure to bring out some deli
cato points and legal Int 10 Is nntici-
pated. The case will extend to the exami-
nation Of various kinds Of storage batter.
les, the most intricate pieces of machinery
10 the electrical world. Foreign and do
nestle patents will have 70 bs examined.
When court conveyed this morning Mr..
Stoughton argued on tho motion made
yesterday. He claimed that the aft lavits
of the defendant In answering tho petition
did not disclose tho process under which
the Storage Battery was used. This lisa
case Of trade secret. The court here
stated that the case was now ready for Is
sue. Itdid not think that the motion
should be granted unless Under peculiar
circumstances
Mr.. Stoughton claimed the circum-
stances were peculiar In that all tho afii-
davlts filed did not reveal the secret.
Mr.. Kenyon said he came from New
York to argue the main motion for an in.
Junction. But upon his arrival hore he
was met by this motion to examine the de.
fepdaut's witnesses. Flo opposed tn, mo.
tion strenously on tho ground that the spe-
c'fic detail of tho thing tho defendant was
doing should not be disclosed The affida-
Wits OF the defendant disclose sufficient to
show that there Is no Infringement on the
patent, Of the plaintiff. II both sides are
to have tho Same show of exa.ninin2 and
cross-axamining witnesse, then 1t come
down to q final hcarlug. Why did not
tho plaintiff commence these proceedings
years ago before the successors of the
Woodruff Battery won't ahead with bust
ness. Argument was still going on at
tlmo OF going to press.
WORK HOUSE BILL Is LOST. x
Tho famous Workhouse bill Ia having
ON eyentfpl career In tho frat plaza it
was declared passed in the Senate aud was
lator found to have beon Declared carried
nconstitutionalIy and President Salmon
announced that 1t was lost. The bill was
r,considered aud laid on the table and on
the table 1t Is likely to stay for soma
time. tits now lost, in fact. No one
can find Il. The clerk Of tho Senate ro-
turned 1t to tho House, per request. and
today when Senator Brasure requested
Tint body TO return tn, bill the clerk OF
tho House disclaimcd having had Ii.
Somebody is likely to get in trouble over
this loss, as the clerk of tho House Is
now directly rospon ible.. for the safo
keeping OF the WorNhouse bill since II
came into his possession. In past days
the lobby has made good thing out of
uietly capturin. undes irable bills and 10
Is strongly limited that such may be found
to be tho case this time. A large lobby
WAS here on Friday when tho Workhouso
bill was passed by tho Scnat,'