Delaware Coal & Ice Co. v. Packer

The complainants are owners of certain letters patent, numberéd 73,684, and dated January 21,1868, issued to John Henry Wood, for “improvements on wagons for unloading coal, ” and have brought their suit against the defendant for infringing on the same.

The defendant, in his answer, denies (1) the novelty and usefulness of the patent, and (2) the alleged infringement.

The complainant’s patent is for a mechanism to accomplish a certain result, to-wit: the unloading of coal, or other material, from wagons. The inventor, in .his specifications, calls it an improvement upon old devices for the same…