ERROR to the Circuit Court of Massachusetts. The plaintiffs in error instituted a suit in the circuit court of Massachusetts, for the recovery of damages for the violation of a patent granted to them by the United States, for a new and useful improvement in the construction of a plough.
The cause was tried before a jury, at October sessions of the circuit court, in 1841, and a verdict and judgment were rendered for the defendant. The plaintiffs took exceptions to the charge of the court, and prosecuted this writ of error.
The case was submitted to the court, on printed arguments, by Choate, for the plaintiffs in error; and by Dexter, for the defendants. The case is fully stated in the opinion of the court.
TANEY, Ch. J., delivered the opinion of the court.
This case is brought here by a writ of error to the circuit court of the United States for the district of Massachusetts. The action was instituted for the purpose of recovering damages for an infringement of a patent, which the plaintiffs had obtained for an improvement in the construction of the plough. The invention is described in the specification, as follows:
'Be it known, that we, the said Prouty and Mears, have jointly invented, made and applied to use, a new and useful improvement in the construction of the plough, which invention and improvement we describe and specify as follows, viz: Heretofore, the standard and land-side of the plough has been placed perpendicular to, and at right angles with, the plane of the share; on this standard, the beam has been placed in such manner as to form an acute angle with the land-side, of such extent as to place that part of the beam to which the moving power is applied, at the distance of three or more inches from an extended line of the land-side, to the right; while the after-part of the beam extends one or more inches to the left of the perpendicular of the land-side, near the handle; the object has been to cause the plough 'to run to land,' or hold its width of furrow. The effect produced has been an uneasy, struggling motion, as it meets resistance at the point, wing or heel. We make our plough with the standard and land-side forming an acute angle with the plane of the share, the standard inclining to the right or furrow side, in such manner as to enable us to place the centre of the beam on a line parallel with the land-side, the forepart thereof at such distance from the extended line aforesaid, as to cause the plough to hold its width of furrow, and the after-part falling within the perpendicular of the land-side of the plough, the centre of it being nearly perpendicular to the centre of resistance, on the mould-board, which we conceive to be at about one-fourth part of the lateral distance from the land-side to the wing of the share, and at about one-third part of the perpendicular height from the plane of the share to the upper edge of the mould-board. This location of the centre of resistance, we base on the fact, that many ploughs which have been used in sharp, sandy soils, have been worn quite through at that point. The result of this formation of the plough, is a steady, well-balanced motion, requiring less power of draft, and less effort in directing the plough in its course.