Roberts v. Reed Torpedo Co.
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania
This was a bill in equity, filed [by Edward A. L. Roberts against the Reed Torpedo Company] to restrain the defendants from infringing letters patent for “improvement in explosive torpedoes in artesian wells,” granted to complainant April 25, 1865 [No. 47,458]. The invention consisted .in the provision of certain devices to secure the prompt ignition of the powder in a torpedo, designed to be exploded in an artesian well, and also to protect it from water.
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This was a bill in equity, filed [by Edward A. L. Roberts against the Reed Torpedo Company] to restrain the defendants from infringing letters patent for “improvement in explosive torpedoes in artesian wells,” granted to complainant April 25, 1865 [No. 47,458]. The invention consisted .in the provision of certain devices to secure the prompt ignition of the powder in a torpedo, designed to be exploded in an artesian well, and also to protect it from water. Those devices were, in substance, a small priming chamber between the nipple and the powder, and a tube of India rubber or similar…
1Opinion of the Court
GRIER, Circuit Justice.
As I write with difficulty, I can only state conclusions to
[Drawing of patent No. 47,458, granted April 25, 1865, to E. A. L. Roberts. Published from the records of the United States patent office.]
which my mind has come after a careful examination of this case.
The complainant has exhibited a patent dated April 25, 1865. This is prima facie evidence of a good title, and puts on the respondents the burden of proof that the patent is void or worthless.
In Goodyear v. Day [Case No. 5,569] I said: “It is usually the case when any valuable discovery is made or any new…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Roberts v. WalleyU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern New York · 1882
- Roberts v. SchreiberU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Pennsylvania · 1880