Tyler v. Boston
Supreme Court of the United States
Tyler brought suit, in the Circuit Court for Massachusetts, against the city of Boston, for infringement of a patent; the ease being this: The plaintiff professed to have discovered a new compound substance, being a combination of fusel oil with the mineral and earthy oils, which compound constitutes a burning fluid, “by which term,” he says, “I mean a liquid which will burn for the purpose of illumination, without material smoke, in a lamp with a small solid wick, and…
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Tyler brought suit, in the Circuit Court for Massachusetts, against the city of Boston, for infringement of a patent; the ease being this: The plaintiff professed to have discovered a new compound substance, being a combination of fusel oil with the mineral and earthy oils, which compound constitutes a burning fluid, “by which term,” he says, “I mean a liquid which will burn for the purpose of illumination, without material smoke, in a lamp with a small solid wick, and without a chimney.” The claim of his patent which the defendant was charged with, infringing, was “ the compound produced by…
1Opinion of the Court
Mlv Justice GRIER
delivered the opinion of the court.
The patent states that “ the exact quantity of fusel oil which is necessary to produce the most desirable compound' must be determined by experiment.”
Now a'machine which consists-of a combination of devices is the .subject ofinveution, and its effects may.be calculated a priori, while a discovery of a new substance by means of chemical combinations of known materials is empirical and discovered by experiment. Where a patent is claimed for such a discovery, it should state the componént parts of the new manufacture claimed with clearness and…
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- The Incandescent Lamp PatentSupreme Court of the United States · 1895
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