La Rue v. Western Electric Co.

This is an equity action for infringement of letters patent No. 270,767, granted to Edgar A. Edwards, January 16, 1883, and by him assigned to the complainant. The invention relates to instruments used for transmitting telegraphic signals, and is said to be an improvement upon the well-known Morse key; the inventor substituting, as the lever fulcrum, a torsional spring or strip of metal for the trunnions or pivots which were before in use. The patent contains four claims. In the first, second, and fourth, “the circuit-breaking lever” is distinctly made an ingredient of the combination. The…