Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/763

BRUCE V. MARDEE. 751 �The claim of lack of patentability resta upon the argument that there ean be no invention in merely increasing the size of the types for figures, or the width of the body of the type, and none in doing both. At first it would seem that this argument was well founded as to scope of the patent, and sound. But a doser examination of the subject shows that the patent involves more than either of these things, or the eombination of both. The invention is not merely of an increase of the size of type for figures. Figures in printing are to be used in the same body of type with letters, and the whole are to be justified, in the language of printers; in other words, spaced so as to fill ont the Unes. By the old method figures were cast on types one-half the width of the body of the Une, whatever the size of the type might be; and an increase of the size of the figures made neces- sary an increase of the size of the whole. The orator invented a method of increasing the size of the figures, without increasing the size of the type of the letters and the body of the Une, and a method of eonveniently justifying the types for figures by making the width of the body of the type exactly two-thirds of the width of the body of the Une, so that they could be justified by two of the ordinary three- in-em spaces, whatever the size of the type of the body of the Une might be. This involved finding a new rule of proportion between the sizes of letters and the sizes of figures, and one that not only would give more legible figures, but such as would be more legible without increasing the size of the letters with which they should be printed, and such size of body of type on which to cast the figures that the types could be used eonveniently, and economically of space. This required more than mere mechanical skill ; it made necessary the creative genius of the inventor. The testimony of practical and largely-experienced printers taken in the case shows that his method was not known bef ore his invention ; that it has been of great utility and gone largely into use since. This shows that he discovered and put to use what others skilled in the art had overlooked; that it was very desirable when known, and would very probably have been found out before if ordinary skill in that art could have discovered it. On the whole, the presumption of patentability arising from the grant of the patent is not only not overthrown, but is well sustained. �The evidence as to prior knowledge and use establishes fairly enough that types for figures were cast with the body of the type two- thirds the width of the body of the Une before this invention ; and if that was all of the invention, or if the claim was to be construed according to its own terms without resort to the specification, so that ��� �