Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/218

OOLLEMDEB V. OBIFFITH. 211 �•with the manufacturer of either the plane vertical-sided tables or my improved bevel tables." �The clause is as folio ws: "In combination with the bed and projecting cushion rails, the bevelled sides or broad rails /, the whole constructed and arranged substantially in the manner and for the purposes described." �Infringement is proved and is not contested. The defeuces insisted on are that the patent is invalid because the plain- tiff was not the original and first inventor of the combination claimed in the patent, because the same invention was de- scribed by him in a prier patent, and because the invention claimed was not, in itself, a patentable invention. The orig- inal patent of Deeember 23, 1873, was applied for January 16, 1872. �On the sixth of June, 1871, letters patent were issued to the plaintiff for a design for a billiard table. The specifica- tion says : "My invention relates to a new shape and design for billiard tables. Previous to my invention billiard tables bave generally been made with the sides to extend down ver- tically from the lower side of the rail. In this shape, sinoe the body of the table bas to be rather deep to give strength to it, it is rather inconvenient for the player to get his leg in a position which will enable him to reach over the table, and hence this form of construction is objectionable. This ob- jection bas, I believe, been partially overcome by a design of some of the Prench tables, the deep side pieces of which run downward in a sort of ogee form ; but this shape, composed of curved surfaces, renders the cost of manufacture of thô table much greater than is compensated for by the advantage of greater convenience to the player. I propose, by my de- sign, to overcome the difficulty found in the shape of body or sides, as the tables have been generally made, and render the design and appearance of the table much handsomer; while, at the same time, the cost of manufacture shall not be increased at ail. In the aoeompanying drawing I bave shown, in elevation at figure 1, and in vertical cross section at figure 2, a table of my new design or shape. In the drawing, A is the body or main frame of the table; B, the bed; c, the ����