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THE PETITION 
 
 CHARLES GOODYEAR, Jr., 
 
 e2s:eoxjtoi^. 
 
 EITEISIOI OE LETTERS PATENT, 
 
 GRANTED TO CHARLES GOODYEAR, DECEASED, 
 
 FOR THE INVENTION OF 
 
 VULCANIZED INDIA RUBBER. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 GEORGE F. NESBITT & CO., PRINTERS AND STATIONERS, 
 
 CORNER PEARL AND PINE STS., N. Y. 
 1864. 
 
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PETITION OF CHARLES GOODYEAR, jR. 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United States, in Congress Assembled : 
 
 The petition of Charles Goodyear, Jr., of Stam- 
 ford, Connecticut, son of Charles Goodyear, de- 
 ceased, and executor of his last will and testament, 
 on behalf of himself, and of the creditors of the 
 estate, and of the members of the family of the 
 said Charles Goodyear, respectfully represents as 
 follows : 
 
 Charles Goodyear, late of New Haven, Connecti- 
 cut, discovered, in his life-time, a process of treat- 
 ing India-rubber with heat and sulphur, so as to 
 render the product beneficially available for a very 
 great number of new and valuable uses. 
 
 The process which he discovered is now publicly 
 known as Vulcanization; and all India-rubber goods 
 manufactured by means thereof are styled Vulcan- 
 ized Goods. 
 
 Mr. Goodyear's attention was first directed to the 
 improvement of the manufacture of India-rubber in 
 1831 or 1832, and he was engaged, for many years, 
 in the preliminary efforts and experiments which 
 led to his final discovery of vulcanization ; and, until 
 the day of his death, his whole mind and all his 
 
energies were concentrated upon dcTeloping his 
 invention, applying it practically to its multifarious 
 uses, and establishing branches of industry founded 
 upon it. The original discovery of vulcanization 
 was but an incentive to further exertion. It was the 
 discovery of a new material in manufactures and the 
 industrial arts. The successful application of this 
 new material to its proper uses could only be the 
 result of a multitude of continuous experiments, 
 which were often attended by failure, and always 
 by great expenditures. His last days found him still 
 engaged in this field of labor, still enthusiastic, still 
 making experiments in testing new developments 
 and new applications of his invention. His work 
 in this regard was, owing to its magnitude, left in- 
 complete ; and some of the most useful applications 
 of his discovery have been established as practical 
 branches of manufacture only since his decease ; 
 while many others which he contemplated yet 
 await the necessary efibrt and expenditure to be 
 brought into existence. 
 
 A patent was granted to Mr. Goodyear for his 
 discovery of vulcanization on the 15th of June, 
 1844. He was poor, and the only way in which 
 he could procure the means to perfect and develope 
 his invention, was to grant licenses under the pat- 
 ent, in which he reserved to himself a tariff. Soon 
 after his invention had been brought into use, 
 by the manufacture and sale of articles of cloth- 
 
ing — such as coats and over-shoes — numerous in- 
 fringers of the patent sprang up, filling the mar- 
 ket with spurious goods, thereby destroying the 
 fair profits of the rightful manufacturers and the 
 tariffs reserved by the patentee. It was necessary 
 to defend the patent and to prosecute infringers. 
 To do this required more money than Mr. Goodyear 
 had at his command ; and, in order to secure the 
 means necessary to defray the expenses of these 
 inevitable litigations, he was obliged, either to com- 
 mute the tariffs reserved under his licenses for a 
 sum in gross, or to consent to a permanent reduc- 
 tion of the agreed tariffs, in consideration of the 
 advance of moneys needed for this purpose. 
 
 In one of the litigations which took place in re- 
 gard to his patent, one of the witnesses, speaking of 
 Mr. Goodyear and of his family, testified as follows : 
 
 The first part of the time they were extremely destitute. 
 They had sickness in the family. I was often in, and found them 
 very poor, very destitute both for food and fuel. I knew they 
 had to go into the fields and woods to glean fuel. They had 
 none. They had nothing to buy any with. This was before they 
 boarded with us, and while they were keeping house. They told 
 me they had no money to buy their bread with from one day to 
 another. They did not know how they should get it. The chil- 
 dren said they did not know what they should do for food. They 
 dug their potatoes before they were half grown, for the sake of 
 having something to eat. Their son Charles, eight years old, 
 used to say they ought to be thankful that they had the potatoes, 
 for they did not know what they should do without them. We 
 used to furnish them with milk, and they wished us to take fur- 
 
6 
 
 niture and bed-clothes in payment, rather than not pay for it. At 
 
 one time they had nothing to eat, and a barrel of flour was un- 
 expectedly sent them. They had a child three years old, which 
 died at Woburn while they kept house. They were very desti- 
 tute at that time. At the funeral, they walked to the grave. The 
 child was carried in a wagon. They said they could not afford to 
 hire carriages. Mrs. Goodyear had just been confined at the death 
 of the child. We often sent them in milk. The neighbors were 
 very attentive to them. Wtien they came to board with us they 
 were in so much better circumstances that they were able to pay 
 for their board, but they had not money to spare to buy much 
 clothing. 
 
 Mr. Webster, on the hearing of the case decided 
 at Trenton, read in evidence a letter from Mr. Good- 
 year, as follows : 
 
 Debtor's Prison, April 21, 1840. 
 
 Gentlemen, — I have the pleasure to invite you to call and see 
 me at my lodging on matters of business and to communicate 
 with my family, and possibly to establish an India-rubber factory 
 for myself on the spot. Do not fail to call on receipt of this, as I 
 feel some anxiety on account of my family. My father will 
 probably arrange my affairs in relation to this hotel, which, after 
 all, is perhaps as good a resting place as any this side the grave. 
 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 CHARLES GOODYEAR. 
 
 Mr. Webster continued : 
 
 He says it is as good a lodging as he may expect this side the 
 grave, and hopes his friends will come and see him on India-rubber 
 matters, and then speaks of his family and his wife. He had but 
 two objects — his family and his discovery. * * -x- * 
 
 Is Charles Goodyear the discoverer of this invention of vul- 
 canized rubber ? Is there a man in the world who found out that 
 
fact before Charles Goodyear ? Who is he? Where is he? On 
 what continent does he live ? Who has heard of him ? What 
 books treat of him? What man, among all the men on earth, has 
 seen him, known him, named him ? I say that there is not in 
 the world a human being that can stand up and say that it is his 
 invention, except the man who is sitting at that table. I believe 
 that the man who sits at that table — Charles Goodyear — is to go 
 down to posterity, in the history of the arts in this country, in that 
 great class of inventors, at the head of which stands Eobert 
 Fulton. 
 
 In giving judgment in favor of Mr. Goodyear, 
 Mr. Justice Grier said : 
 
 When genius and patient perseverance have at length suc- 
 ceeded, in sjjite of sneers and scoifs, in perfecting some valuable 
 invention or discovery, how seldom is it followed by reward ! 
 Envy robs him of the honor, while speculators, swindlers and 
 pirates, rob him of the profits. Every unsuccessful experimenter 
 who did, or did not, come very near making the discovery, now 
 claims it Every one who can invent an improvement, or vary its 
 form, claims a right to pirate the original discovery. We need not 
 summon Morse, or Blanchard, or Woodworth, to prove that this 
 is the usual history of every great discovery or invention. 
 
 The present case adds another chapter to this long and uniform 
 history. Every man who has made experiments with India-rub- 
 ber, sulphur, lead, or any other substance ; who has heated them 
 in a stove or furnace ; who has annoyed his family and his neigh- 
 bors with sulphurous gas ; who has set i^p a rubber factory and 
 failed ; who has made India-rubber goods that no one would buy, 
 or, if bought, were returned as worthless ; in fine, all who had 
 ceased their experiments and endeavors, because they had not dis- 
 covered that such qualities could be given to that substance, are 
 now paraded forth as the inventors and discoverers of vulcanized 
 India-rubber. Notwithstanding the indomitable energy and persever- 
 ance with which this attempt to invalidate the patenthas been pursued, 
 
8 
 
 the volumes of testimony ivith tchich it is oppressed, and the great 
 ability with which it has been canvassed in the argument, we are of 
 opinion that the defendant has most signally failed in the attempt to 
 show that himself or any other person, discovered and "perfected the 
 process of 'manufacturing vulcanized India-rubber before Charles 
 Goodyear. 
 
 This litigation continued until about the time of 
 the expiration of the first term of the patent ; and 
 Charles Goodyear cannot be said to have enjoyed 
 quiet possession of his rights, during any portion 
 of that term. 
 
 In April, 1858, Mr. Goodyear made application, 
 in the manner prescribed by law, to the Commis- 
 sioner of Patents, for an extension of his patent. 
 In his account of receipts and expenditures, sub- 
 mitted upon that application, his receipts from 
 the patent were stated to be $162,894.09, and his 
 expenditures, 1129,535.46 ; leaving a balance of 
 profit, accruing to him from his invention, of 
 f 33,358.63 ; but subsequent investigations have 
 shown the incorrectness of these figures, and have 
 shown the balance to be against him. His appli- 
 cation was opposed by Horace H. Day, and by one 
 Charles F. Stansbury. who, it was understood, re- 
 presented the English manufacturers, Macintosh & 
 Co., and Thomas Hancock. The Commissioner, Mr. 
 Holt, ordered the extension of the patent for seven 
 years, and it was accordingly extended. In decid- 
 ing the application, the Commissioner pronounced 
 
9 
 
 an opinion, whicb, because of the clear and suc- 
 cinct manner in which it states the case of Mr. 
 Goodyear, is herewith submitted in an Appendix, 
 as affording an unanswerable argument upon the 
 question of Mr. Goodyear's right to the extension, 
 and in the course of which the Commissioner said : 
 
 However much the seeming perplexity ia the applicant's ac- 
 count may expose him to cavil, and to that vituperation which 
 is so ready a coinage of professional zeal, and however short 
 some of the points in the case may fall of that complete elucida- 
 tion which could have been desired, there is one fact established 
 beyond all controversy, and which stands out from this record 
 with painful prominence. At the close of all his toils and sacri- 
 fices, and of the humiliations he has been called on to endure, 
 this public-spirited inventor, whose life has been worn away in 
 advancing the best interests of mankind, is found to be still poor, 
 oppressed with debt, and with the winter of age creei^ing upon, 
 his shattered constitution. It is perfectly manifest that this is, in 
 no degree, the result of vice or improvidence on his part, but is an 
 inexorable consequence of the impoverishing experiments insepa- 
 rable from the prosecution of his great enterprise, and of that 
 prolonged and exhausting strife in which unscrupulous men have 
 involved him. He now begs of that country to which the ener- 
 gies of his manhood have been so freely and faithfully given, that 
 he may be allowed to enjoy, for a few years longer, that precarious 
 protection which our most feeble and imperfect laws extend to 
 . the fruits of intellectual labor ; and, were the appeal denied, I feel 
 that I should be false to the generous spirit of the patent laws, 
 and forgetful of the exalted ends which it must ever be the 
 crowning glory of those laws to accomplish. 
 
 Mr. Goodyear died July 1st, 1860, having lived 
 two years after the extension of his patent ; and, 
 during that time he received from his tariffs under 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 his patent an annual sum of about ^30,000. He 
 left a widow, who is in feeble health : five chil- 
 dren, the youngest now only four years of age ; 
 one grandchild, the daughter of a deceased daugh- 
 ter ; and one adopted child, who are nearly all, 
 if not ail, wholly dependent upon the settlement 
 of his estate for their pecuniary maintenance and 
 support. Since his death, your petitioner, Charles 
 Goodyear, junior, has been duly appointed his ex- 
 ecutor, and has now the care, control and manage- 
 ment of his estate. He found the estate incum- 
 bered with a large amount of liabilities and claims. 
 Many of them he has audited and admitted ; others 
 are in course of adjustment ; and others have been 
 and are subjects of troublesome and expensive 
 litigation. The largest part of these claims are for 
 debts due by Mr. Goodyear, which were incur- 
 red prior to the extension of his patent, and which 
 should have been included in his account rendered 
 to the Commissioner, but which he overlooked 
 in that account. If they had been so included, 
 the apparent balance of profits of f 33,358.63, aris- 
 ing from the use and sale of his invention, would 
 have been cancelled, and a large balance would 
 have been stated on the other side of the account. 
 Mr. Holt had a perception of the probability that this 
 would eventually appear to be the fact, foi- he says : 
 
 It is probable, indeed, in view of the whole testimony, it is 
 my firm conviction, that, if it were possible to extract from the 
 
11 
 
 tangled mazes of the multifarious and now half- forgotten trans- 
 actions connected with the invention, all the moneys expended 
 therein, it would be found that, instead of there being a balance 
 to its credit, the balance would be on the other side. 
 
 During the lifetime of Mr. Goodyear, his heavy- 
 liabilities were kept in suspense by partial pay- 
 ments and by renewals ; so that he himself did 
 not know with accuracy their amount ; but since 
 his death, and in the course of the settlement of 
 the estate, it has become necessary to audit and 
 adjust these liabilities ; and they are found to 
 amount thus far to the sum of ^191,100.73 of un- 
 disputed debts ; while a large amount is in dis- 
 pute, and still other amounts are known of, but not 
 yet proved. He left no property with which to dis- 
 charge those liabilities, except the present, and 
 contingent future, interest in the patent, and the 
 house he lived in, of small value. All these debts 
 were incurred by Mr. Goodyear in the creation of 
 these very improvements which have so greatly en- 
 riched the world within these few years, and which 
 must go on still further to add untold millions 
 to the wealth of man ; and now, when the pro- 
 tection of the law, which alone gives any pro- 
 perty in all this wealth to its producer, is about to 
 cease, it is found that he has not appropriated 
 to himself an amount of it sufficient to pay the 
 expenses of its own creation, and that his family, 
 which had a right to expect that the creator of so 
 
12 
 
 much property should at least be able to provide 
 for them those means of subsistence which usually 
 result from ordinary industry applied to any ordi- 
 nary business, are left without a dollar, and only 
 the heirs of an unpaid debt. That so great a 
 wrong as this should remain unredressed, when, by 
 extending for a short time the protection of the 
 law to the property thus created, the debts of 
 Charles Goodyear, incurred in its creation, can be 
 paid, and some provision made for the support of 
 his family, which have suffered privation and po- 
 verty that the country might be made rich, would 
 be at once to show public ingratitude for great 
 services ; and to discourage all others who may 
 come after him, impelled by similar inspirations, 
 from struggling against the adversities which op- 
 pose the progress of the true inventor. The power 
 and the duty conferred by the Constitution on 
 Congress " to promote the progress of Science and 
 Useful Arts," cannot better be exercised than 
 by holding out to inventois the assurance, that 
 living, they shall be protected in the enjoyment 
 of the property they have created, until it re- 
 pays the cost of its creation ; and that dying, their 
 country will become the guardians of their families, 
 and the defenders of their memories, at least so far 
 as to protect their property till it pays their debts, 
 and secures a competence to those whom they 
 leave behind. 
 
13 
 
 Charles Goodyear crowded into a lifetime the 
 work of generations. To accomplish this, he 
 spent all that he liad, and borrowed all that 
 he honestly could, feeling and often expressing 
 his conviction, that his country would, by some 
 public act of recompense, enable him to do justice 
 to all. So far as his own personal interests were 
 concerned, we may judge something of his feel- 
 ings by what he has Avritten in his book before 
 mentioned. Eeferring to his many disappoint- 
 ments and sacrifices made and suffered, he says : 
 
 I am not disposed to repine, find say that I have planted and 
 others have gathered the fruits. The advantage of a career in life 
 should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars 
 and cents, as is too often done. Man has just cause for regret only 
 when he sows and no one reaps. 
 
 The nett result of the collection of tariffs by your 
 petitioner, applicable to payment of the debts of 
 the estate, for the three years since the decease 
 of Charles Goodyear, ending on the 1st of July, 
 1863, has averaged less than $30,000 per annum. 
 If the income from tariffs should average, during 
 the whole present term of seven years, the 
 amount received by Mr. Goodyear, during its 
 first two years, it would equal the sum of 
 f 210,000. This would not suffice even to pay the 
 debts of Mr. Goodyear, much less to provide for 
 his family. 
 
 Your petitioner has not deemed it necessary to 
 
14 
 
 enter into any detailed statement of the great value 
 and importance of this invention to the public. 
 The economy and advantage resulting to them from 
 its now general adoption and use in manufactures 
 and the industrial arts, amount to several millions 
 of dollars per annum, even in the present stage of 
 its development. 
 
 It is true that the invention of Mr. Goodyear has 
 been largely used, both in England and France ; but, 
 he never received any income or emolument from 
 that use. He was unjustly deprived of all benefit of 
 his invention in England, by its unfair appropria- 
 tion by Thomas Hancock, who secured a patent 
 therefor ; and who subsequently testified that the 
 first vulcanized India-rubber which he had ever 
 seen, was several samples which Mr, Goodyear 
 sent to England, for the purpose of selling his 
 invention there. He was deprived of all benefit 
 of his invention in France, though a French 
 patent for vulcanization was granted to him on 
 the 16th of April, 1844, being the first publi- 
 cation, in any country, of the process and art 
 of vulcanization. It Was alleged, however, that 
 Mr. Goodyear permitted the introduction into 
 France of some American vulcanized India-rub- 
 ber shoes ; and this trivial cause, under the pecu- 
 liarities of the French law, deprived him of all 
 rights under his patent in France, But both 
 France and England acknowledged the value of 
 
15 
 
 this invention, and the fact that Mr. Goodyear 
 was its discoverer. England awarded to him, at 
 the World's Fair, in 1851, the Council Medal ; and 
 France, at the World's Fair, in 1855, the Grand Medal 
 of Honor ; and the Emperor bestowed upon him the 
 Cross of the Legion of Honor, which reached 
 him while confined in the debtors' prison of Clichy. 
 
 Tour petitioner, therefore, respectfully prays, that 
 tlie Letters patent of Charles Goodyear may be ex- 
 tended for seven years from the IStli day of June, 
 1865. Congress has, in repeated instances, granted 
 . similar prayers, when presented by meritorious in- 
 ventors who were living, and who were able in their 
 lifetime to realize from their inventions both the 
 honor and the profit to which they were entitled. 
 The present application differs from others, in that it 
 is made to enable his survivors to render the most 
 grateful tribute to his memory, by the i^ayment of 
 those debts which weighed heavily upon him in the 
 last hours of his existence, and to provide for those 
 helpless ones whose only wealth is the honor of 
 bearing the name, and the happiness of having 
 shared the affections of this great public benefactor. 
 
 Your petitioner annexes hereto, and submits 
 herewith, the draft of a bill for the extension of the 
 said letters patent of Charles Goodyear for the 
 
10 
 
 further term of seven years, which he humbly 
 prays may be passed by Congress. 
 
 And your petitioner will ever pray, &e. 
 
 CHARLES GOODYEAR, Jr., Executor. 
 
 TO EXTEND LETTERS PATENT OF CHARLES GOODYEAR, ORIGI- 
 NALLY GRANTED JUNE 15TH, 1844, COMMONLY CALLED 
 THE PATENT FOR VULCANIZATION. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United States of America in Congress assembled: 
 
 Sec. 1. That the patent granted to Charles Goodyear, deceased, 
 onthe 15th day of June, 1844, for an improvement in India-rub- 
 ber Fabrics, and re-issued to him December 25th, 1849, in two sep- 
 arate patents — one being for an improvement in processes for the 
 manufacture of India-rubber — and the other being for an improve- 
 ment in felting India-rubber with cotton, and again re-issued 
 on the 20th day of November, 1860, to Charles Goodyear, Junior, 
 
i: 
 
 executor of the last will of said Charles Goodyear, deceased, 
 for " a new and useful manufacture of Caoutchouc or India-rub- 
 ber," and for "a new and useful improvement in the manner of 
 preparing fabrics of Caoutchouc or India-rubber," — a description 
 of which said improvements is given in the schedules annexed to 
 the said last-named re-issued letters patent, numbered 1084 and 
 1085 respectively— be, and the same are, and that each of said last- 
 named re-issued letters patent be, and the same is, hereby extend- 
 ed to the said Charles Goodyear, junior, executor as aforesaid 
 for the term of seven years from and after the 15th day of June, 
 in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-live ; and 
 the Commissioner of Patents is hereby directed to make a certifi- 
 cate of such extension, in the name of the said Charles Goodyear, 
 Junior, executor of the last will of said Charles Goodyear, de- 
 ceased, and to append an authenticated copy thereof to a duly cer- 
 tified copy of said original letters patent, and to the original of 
 each of said last-named re-issued letters patent, whenever the same 
 shall be requested by the said executor, his successors or assigns. 
 
 Sec. 2. Aiid be it further enacted, That all persons or corporations 
 who shall hold licenses to manufacture under said original and 
 extended letters patent on the 15th of June, 1865, shall be entitled, 
 under this extension, to a continuance of such licenses ; provided 
 they shall agree to pay and shall pay said executor a tariff, to be 
 charged by said executor, not to exceed five per cent, of 
 the nett amount of sales of goods or articles which shall be 
 manufactured under such licenses ; and if they shall refuse to 
 pay said tariff as aforesaid, then their said licenses shall terminate 
 and be void. 
 3 
 
^ppE:[srr>ix. 
 
 BEFOEE THE HON. JOSEPH HOLT, 
 
 Commissioner of Patents of the United States. 
 
 In the Matter of the AiDplication of 
 Charles Goodyear, for the Exten- 
 sion of Letters Patent granted to i 
 him June 1.5th, 1844, for an •' Im- 
 provement in India-Rubber Fab-f 
 rics," as re-issned to him Decemberv 
 25th, 1849, in two separate patents,, 
 one being for an "Improvement int. 
 Processes for the Manufacture ofl 
 India-Rubber," and the other being I 
 for an " Improvement in Felting In- 
 dia-Rubber with Cotton Fibre." 
 
 Deciiiiion of the Commissioner. 
 
 United States Patent Office, ) 
 June 14th, 1858. j 
 
 In the matter of the application of Charles Goodyear, for the 
 extension of a patent granted to him for " Improvement in India- 
 rubber Fabrics" on the 15th day of June, 1844, and which was 
 re-issued in two separate patents on the 25th day of December, 
 1849, under the designations of " Improvement in Processes for 
 the Manufacture of India-Rubber" and " Improvement in Felting 
 India-Rubber with Cotton Fibre." 
 
 It appears that on the 30th January, 1844, the applicant, through 
 his agent, (Newton,) obtained from the Bonglish Government a pa- 
 tent for this invention or discovery, known in popular parlance as 
 a "process for vulcanizing India-rubber," and on the 15th of June 
 thereafter the patent now sought to be extended was issued from 
 this Office. It is assumed and insisted by the contestants that the 
 American patent should have borne even date with the English, 
 and that, in law, it expired with it on the 30th January last, and, 
 
19 
 
 in consequence, it is denied that the Commissioner lias any au- 
 thority to entertain a petition for its renewal. What shall be the 
 date and duration of a patent is a question which must be decided 
 by this Office on each original application, and, in the case under 
 consideration, it was determined tliat it should bear date the 15th 
 June, 1844, and should secure a monopoly of the invention for 
 fourteen years thereafter. If this was irregular in view of the 
 English patent, it did not render that issued by this Office void, 
 as was held by the Supreme Court, in 15 Howard 112, (O'Reilly 
 et al. vs. Morse et al.) Being at most voidable, it would seem that 
 it should be treated as valid until vacated by the judgment of 
 some judicial tribunal. At all events, whatever may be the 
 power of the Courts over the instrument, it is not believed to be 
 competent for the Commissioner, in a summary and, in some re- 
 spects, a collateral proceeding like this, to revise and reverse a 
 former decision of this Office under which so many rights have 
 been vested. Were his power, however, plenary in the matter, I 
 should not hesitate to hold that the provisions oi' law cited do not 
 sustain this objection, which has been taken in the nature of a plea 
 to the jurisdiction. The 8th section of the act of 1836, and the 
 5th section of that of 1839, being in pari materia, must be con- 
 strued together, and as the latter is not, in its terms, a repeal of 
 the former, it can, according to a well-settled principle of construc- 
 tion, be allowed to have that effect only so far as the provisions 
 of the two are clearly incompatible. The statute of 1836 declares 
 that nothing therein contained " shall be construed to deprive an 
 original and true inventor of the right to a patent for his invention 
 by reason of his having previously taken out lettere paten tthere- 
 for in a foreign country, and the same having been published at 
 any time within six months next preceding the filing of his specifica- 
 tion and drawings. And tchenever the ajyplicant shall request it, the 
 patent shall take date from the filing of the specification and draw- 
 ings ; not, however, exceeding six months prior to the actual issu- 
 ing of the patent." It is sufficiently clear that this clause applies 
 only to those cases in which the foreign patent has been issued 
 he/ore, but within six months of the filing of the specification and 
 drawings. A reference to the record, however, shows that the 
 specification and drawings in this case were filed on the loth of 
 January, 1844, so that the foreign patent, instead of having been 
 taken out he/ore, as contemplated by the act, was in fact taken out 
 fifteen days after the filing of the specification and drawings in 
 this Office. This would seem to relieve the case entirely from the 
 operation of the provision. But, should it be treated as subject to 
 it, as the American patent was issued four and a half months after 
 the publication of the English, the most that could be claimed 
 would be that the applicant might, "on request,'' have had his 
 patent ante-dated so as to have reached back to the filing of his 
 
20 
 
 specification and drawings, but he luas not hound to do so. It is 
 manifestly a privilege bestowed and not a duty imposed upon him. 
 He did not choose to avail himself of that privilege, and hence the 
 patent went out properly bearing its actual date. The act of 1839 
 asserts that " no person shall be debarred from receiving a patent 
 for any invention or discovery, as provided in the act app'roved 
 on the 4th July, 1836, to which this is additional, by reason of 
 the same having been patented in a foreign country viore than six 
 months prior to his a2}plicatio7i : Provided, That the same shall not 
 have been introduced into public and common use in the United 
 States prior to the application for such patent: And provided, also, 
 That in all cases every such patent shall be limited to the term of 
 fourteen years from the date or publication of such letters patent." 
 It will be perceived that this provision is confined expressly to an 
 invention or discovery for which letters patent shall have been 
 taken out in a foreign country more than six months prior to the 
 filing of the application here, and declares such invention or dis- 
 covery patentable under limitations. The act of 1836 referred to 
 this class of cases, and, in effect, treated them as unpatentable. 
 To this extent it is repealed by the act of 1889, hecavse irreconcilable 
 with it. But the act of 1836 refers to another and very distinct 
 class of cases in which the foreign letters patent u-ere not pmblished 
 more t/ian six months he/ore the date of the application here, and de- 
 clares them patentable. To this latter class no allusion is made 
 by the act of 1889, and as this act is in this respect in no degree 
 inconsistent with that of 1836, and, as it professes to be not abro- 
 gatory of, but " additional" to it, it must, upon the soundest prin- 
 ciples of interpretation, be held that this feature of the act of 1836 
 remains in full force. The closing language of the clause quoted 
 is not regarded as in conflict with the construction insisted on. 
 The words are, " in all cases every such patent shall be limited," etc. 
 What is intended by " every such patent ?" Undoubtedly the kind 
 of patent spoken of in the preceding part of the section, and no 
 other, to wit — a patent based on an invention for which letters 
 patent had been issued in a foreign country more than six months 
 before the filing of the ajjplication here. It may be very well sup- 
 posed that Congress might consider six months as too small a frac- 
 tion of time to require its introduction as a part of the lifetime of 
 the patent, and would, therefore, leave it to be embraced or not, at 
 the option of the applicant, while, to guard against abuse, if the 
 period were longer, the inclusion of the whole might be consistent- 
 ly and properly exacted. 
 
 The novelty and original patentability of this invention, as well 
 as its great public utility, are fully established by the report of the 
 examiner and by the depositions on file. But two leading ques- 
 tions, therefore, remain to be disposed of : 
 
21 
 
 1st. Has the applicant used due diligence in developing his in- 
 vention and in introducing it into public use ? 
 
 2d. Has he, from the use and sale of the invention, received a 
 reasonable remuneration for the time, ingenuity and expense be- 
 stowed upon the same and the introduction thereof into use? 
 
 Upon the first point, the testimony alike of the applicant and of 
 the contestants is concurrent and conclusive. From the first mo- 
 ment that the conception entered his mind until his complete suc- 
 cess — embracing a period of from sixteen to eighteen years — he 
 applied himself unceasingly and enthusiastically to its perfection, 
 and to its introduction into use, iu every form that his fruitful 
 genius could devise. So intensely were his faculties concentrated 
 upon it that he seems to have been incapable of thought or of ac- 
 tion upon any other subject. He had no other occupation, was 
 inspired by no other hope, cherished no other ambition. He car- 
 ried continually about his person a piece of India-rubber, and into 
 the ears of all who would listen he poured incessantly the story of 
 his experiments and the glowing language of his prophesies. He 
 was, according to the witnesses, completely absorbed by it, both 
 by day and night, pursuing it with untiring energy and with al- 
 most superhuman perseverance. Not only were the powers of his 
 mind and body thus ardently devoted to the invention and its in- 
 troduction into iise, but every dollar he possessed or could com- 
 mand through the resources of his credit, or the influences of 
 friendship, was uncalculatingly cast into that seething cauldron of 
 experiment which was allowed no rei30se. The very bed on which 
 his wife slept, and the linen that covered his table, were seized and 
 sold to pay his board, and we see him, with his stricken household, 
 following in the funeral of his child on foot, because he had no 
 means with which to hire a carriage. His family had to endure 
 privations almost surpassing belief, being frequently without an 
 article of food in their house, or fuel in the coldest weather — and 
 indeed it is said that they could not have lived through the winter 
 of 1839 but for the kind oiiices of a few charitable friends. They 
 are represented as gathering sticks in the woods and on the edges 
 of the highways, with which to cook their meals, and digging the 
 potatoes of their little garden before they were half grown, while 
 one of his hungry children, in a spirit worthy of his father, is heard 
 expressing his thanks that this much had been spared to them. 
 We often find him arrested and incarcerated in the debtor's prison, 
 but even amid its gloom his vision of the future never grew dim, 
 his faith in his ultimate triumph never faltered. Undismayed by 
 discomfitures and sorrows which might well have broken the 
 stoutest spirit, his language everywhere, and under all circum- 
 stances, was that of encouragement and of a profound conviction 
 of final success. Not only in the United States did he thus exert 
 himself to establish and apply to every possible use his invention, 
 
22 
 
 but in England, France, and other countries of Europe, lie zeal- 
 ously pursued the same career. In 1855, he appeared at the 
 World's Fair in Paris, and the golden medal and the Grand Cross 
 of the Legion of Honor were awarded to him as the representative 
 of his country's inventive genius. Fortune, however, while thus 
 caressing him with one hand, was at the same moment smiting 
 him with the other ; for we learn from the testimony that these 
 brilliant memorials passed from the Emperor and reached their 
 honored recipient, then the occupant of a debtor's prison among 
 strangers and in a foreign land — thus adding yet another to that 
 long sad catalogue of public benefactors who have stood neglected 
 and imjioverished in the midst of the waving harvest of blessings 
 they had bestowed upon their race. Throughout all these scenes 
 of trial, so vividly depicted by the evidence, he derived no support 
 from the sympathies of the public. While the community at large 
 seem to have looked on him as one chasing a phantom, there were 
 times when even his best friends turned away from him as an idle 
 visionary, and he was fated to encounter on every side sneers and 
 ridicule, to which each bafQed experiment, and the pecuniary loss 
 it inflicted, added a yet keener edge. The mercenary naturally 
 enough pronounced his expenditures, so freely made, culpably 
 wasteful ; the selfish and the narrow-minded greeted the expres- 
 sion of his enlarged and far-reaching views as the ravings of an 
 enthusiast ; while it is fair to infer from the depositions, that not a 
 few of the timid and plodding who cling, tremblingly apprehen- 
 sive of change, to the beaten paths of human thought and action, 
 regarded him as wandering on the very brink of insanity, if not 
 already jjursuing its wild and flickering lights. Such in all times 
 has been the fate of the greatest spirits that have appeared on the 
 arena of human discovery, and such will probably continue to be 
 the doom of all whose stalwart strides carry them in advance of 
 the race to which they belong. With such a record of toil, of pri- 
 vation, of courage, and of perseverance in the midst of discourage- 
 ments the most depressing, it is safe to affirm that not only has 
 the applicant used that due diligence enjoined by law, but that 
 his diligence has been, in degree and in merit, perhaps, without 
 parallel in the annals of invention. 
 
 Before entering upon an examination of the second leading 
 question, several preliminary issues raised by the contestants must 
 be met and decided. 
 
 The account of expenditures and receipts originally presented, 
 it is admitted, was too general in its terms to be accepted as a com- 
 pliance with the requirements of the statute. Hence, subsequently, 
 in Ajiril, an additional or amended account was offered, which, in 
 consequence of the absence of the applicant in England, was not 
 sworn to by him until the 23d of that month, and was not filed in 
 this Office, as thus verified, until the 8th of May. This amended 
 
23 
 
 statement was intended, not as a substitute for the original, but aS 
 a correction of certain inaccuracies wbicli had crept into it, and as 
 furnishing the details which law and usage demand. It is object- 
 ed that it should not be considered, because, when first lodged 
 here, it was without the oath of the applicant, and because, when 
 that oath was appended on the 8th May, it was too late for the 
 contestants to take their rebutting testimony. It will be observed 
 that there is nothing in the circumstances attending this delay- 
 calculated to excite a suspicion of a desire on the part of the ap- 
 plicant to suppress the truth by stifling inquiry; and it must be 
 also borne in mind, that, although there is a rule in this OflSce on 
 the subject, the statute is silent as to the time when the account 
 shall be filed. It is true that it must be " under oath," and the 
 oath of the patentee was no doubt contemjjiated by the framers 
 of the law ; but it is also true that cases have arisen in which that 
 oath was necessarily and properly dispensed with — as when the 
 patentee had died or become insane. Other cases may well be 
 imagined in which the oath of parties entirely disinterested and 
 having a thorough knowledge of the subject-matter would be 
 more satisfactory to the judicial mind than that of the patentee. 
 The amended account was, as early as the 8th of April, verified 
 by the oaths of a number of disinterested witnesses professing an 
 acquaintance with the transactions to which it relates, and this is 
 claimed to be a substantial compliance with the statute. Assum- 
 ing that the contestants were not bound to take rebutting testi- 
 mony until after the account had been sworn to by the applicant, 
 yet they had notice of the existence and character of that account, 
 through a copy served on them as early as the 20 th April, and 
 this was sufficient to put them upon inquiry. Being thus dis- 
 tinctly apprised of what it was proposed to prove, they could 
 have occupied themselves in discovering such evidence as might 
 exist in their favor, and in taking at least the preliminary steps to 
 the examination of the witnesses. The time ibr taking the proof 
 having been extended, there were at least sixteen days, between the 
 8th and 24th of May, allowed for assailing the account by coun- 
 teracting testimony, and we are warranted ii'om the record in pre- 
 suming that this time was, with the greatest zeal and activity, de- 
 voted to the taking of depositions, and that all the witnesses who 
 could be found, having knowledge of facts deemed important for 
 the contestants, and who were willing to depose, were examined. 
 It is true that Mr. Cozzens, in his deposition, expresses the opin- 
 ion " that there had not been anything like enough time, since the 
 filing of the applicant's petition and statement, to properly pre- 
 pare an opposition thereto." Waiving the obvious criticisms upon 
 this language, it is a complete answer to say, that the name of no 
 witness is given whom the contestants were prevented from ex- 
 amining for want of time, nor is any fact material to them alleged 
 
to exist and to be susceptible of proof, but which they were de- 
 nied an opportunity of establishing. In the absence of any such 
 specific averment, it is impossible to decide, in the language of a 
 rule of this Office, that " a substantial injury has been wrought to 
 the party raising the objection," and hence, according to that rule, 
 such objection cannot prevail on the final hearing. When a party 
 frankly avows that he has committed an error in a judicial oath, 
 and asks the privilege of correcting it under the same sanctions, a 
 tribunal whose mission is the ascertainment of truth, should rather 
 encoru'age him to make such correction than rebuke him for an 
 offer to do so. 
 
 Another question to be answered before proceeding to the main 
 inquiry is, whether, in determining the adequacy of the remuner- 
 ation received by the applicant, the receipts of his assignees and 
 licensees — admitted to amount to many millions — should be 
 charged to the patent. The first impression of my mind was 
 favorable to the position taken by the contestants, but a more 
 critical examination of the statute has led me to an opposite con- 
 clusion. At the time of the passage of the act of 1836, it was the 
 universal custom of inventors to sell and assign the rights secured 
 to them by their patents, and this course on their part has been 
 constantly contemplated and sanctioned by law. Hence, the stat- 
 ute declares that if the " patentee" shall fail, from " the use and 
 sale of his invention," to realize a reasonable remuneration, he 
 shall be entitled to an extension. The law, in its enactments, is 
 generally found to be a faithful reflection of the actual life of the 
 world. It was well known that inventors, as a class, were par- 
 ticularly liable to be over-reached in their contracts, and to be 
 driven to dispose of their inventions at ruinous rates, under the 
 pressure of poverty, and often before their utility had been fully 
 demonstrated. Hence the generous guarantee was given them 
 that if fi'om such " sales," no matter how made, and from such 
 " use" as they might choose to make of their inventions, they 
 were unable to secure a reasonable compensation, their monopoly 
 should be further extended. There is not the remotest allusion 
 to their assignees and licensees, and, as the reason of the enact- 
 ment does not reach them, it would be an unsound principle of 
 construction which should embrace them by implication. A fur- 
 ther reason why they should not be thus embraced is found in the 
 fact that a very large part of the profits of these assignees, who 
 are generally manufactui'ers, is the product of their own capital 
 and enterprise in association with the invention, and could not 
 therefore be properly charged to its account in this proceeding. 
 Assignees and licensees constitute a very numerous class, scat- 
 tered throughout the length and breadth of the land, and their 
 profits from inventions must be regarded as the profits of that 
 great public of which they are so important a part. The very 
 
25 
 
 large sums whicli they are alleged, by all the witnesses who have 
 spoken on the subject, to have made from this invention, is but 
 another of the ever-multiplying proofs of its extraordinary value 
 to the world ; for it is safe to conclude that the consumers of the 
 fabrics have been equally benefitted with the manufacturers who 
 produce them. If on an application for an extension, the paten- 
 tee were chargeable with the receipts of his assignees and licen- 
 sees, it would then follow that he would be bound to exhibit them 
 in his accounts — a manifest impossibility, as it is scarcely neces- 
 sary to say, in the great majority of cases. 
 
 The first step in determining the sufficiency of the remuneration 
 is to ascertain, as far as practicable, the amount of the applicant's 
 receipts and expenditures in connection with the invention. The 
 apparently discrepant and informal character of the accounts filed 
 has provoked much severity of criticism, and some denunciation 
 on the part of counsel. It is admitted they have not the precis- 
 ion and symmeteiy which belong to the products of the counting- 
 room, and which might have been imparted to them by the ap- 
 plicant, had he been a merchant's clerk instead of the brilliant 
 and impulsive genius that he is. In explanation of the generality 
 and uncertainty for which it is insisted they are marked, it is in 
 i:)roof that the applicant never kept any books or memoranda from 
 which more reliable statements could be prepared. In this respect, 
 his course of life has been in entire harmony with that of the class 
 to which he belongs. Inventors, and other men of high creative 
 genius, have ever been distinguished for a total want of what is 
 called " business habits." Completely engrossed by some favor- 
 ite theory, and living in the dazzling dreams of their own imagin- 
 ation, they scorn the counsels and restraints of worldly thrift, and 
 fling from them the petty cares of the mere man of commerce as 
 the lion shakes a stinging insect from his mane. The law, in its 
 wisdom, takes cognizance of human character, and deals with 
 men and with classes of men as it finds them. It seems, in this 
 instance, to have assumed, and justly, that if we would have the 
 magnificent creations of genius, we must take them with all those 
 infirmities which seem as inseparable from them as spots are from 
 the sun. Hence, the statute does not require that the accounts of 
 inventors shall have that formality and that severe exactitude 
 ■which might well have been claimed of a merchant with his led- 
 ger open before him. All that is insisted on is, that the state- 
 ment furnished shall be " sufficientl// in detail to exhibit a true and 
 faithful account of Joss and jjroftt. in any manner accruing to him 
 from and by reason of said invention." It is manifest that it is 
 to the results — which indicate "loss and profit" — rather than the 
 minute elements of the transactions which form the subject of the 
 account, that the law looks. The applicant's statement, as amend- 
 ed, appears to have been compiled with the most laborious care, 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 and from every source of information accessible to him or liis at- 
 torneys. It is regarded as fully conforming to the letter and 
 spirit of the statute. The principal discrepancy between the ori- 
 ginal and amended statement is satisfactorily explained. The ap- 
 plicant held at the moment three patents for the processes con- 
 nected with the manufacture of India-rubber, viz., that of Chaflee, 
 that of Hay ward, and that for his own vulcanizing process. In 
 all his contracts he transferred these three patents together, mak- 
 ing no designation, in the body of the assignments, of the esti- 
 mate placed upon either of them separately. In his original 
 statement, he inadvertently charges to his own patent the whole 
 of the receipts from this source ; iu his amendment, he sets the 
 Chaflee and Hayward patents down as properly chargeable with 
 one-fourth of the proceeds of such sales, and makes, accordingly, 
 a corresponding deduction from his exhibit of receipts. The lan- 
 guage of his first statement, properly interpreted in the light of 
 the assignments themselves, justified this step. Whatever those 
 patents have cost him, they were his projaerty, and it was due to 
 truth and to the claim now under consideration that their actual 
 value should have been ascertained. The witnesses who speak of 
 them prove conclusively that the applicant has rather under than 
 over-rated them, which relieves him from all imputation in the 
 matter. 
 
 What, then, has been the amount of the applicant's remuner- 
 ation ? His account, as amended, exhiliits $1C2,81M.09 of re- 
 ceipts, and $129,o35.46 of expenditures — thus showing a profit of 
 $33,358.63. Numerous intelligent and unimpeached witnesses 
 having intimate relations with the applicant, and acquainted with 
 his business affairs, have deposed in reference to this account, 
 and their testimony, without an exception, powerfully supports 
 its truth. Considering the remoteness and complicated character 
 of the transactions, the statements in this paper are illustrated 
 and sustained with singular force. The rebutting evidence as- 
 sails directly no item either of the receipts or expenditures, but 
 consists of the opinions and conjectures of a large number of wit- 
 nesses who clearly had no means of knowing either the truth or 
 falsehood of the matters set forth in the account. They profess to 
 believe that the applicant could not have expended such large 
 sums in his exjDeriments, because he was poor; and this is the 
 sole basis of almost every opinion expressed on the subject. Had 
 these witnesses known — what this record makes so apparent — the 
 overwhelming debts which have hung over the applicant tiiroagh- 
 out his long and self-sacrificing career, and many of which still 
 bear him down, his enormous outlays would not have been to 
 them so impenetrable a mystery. The very elaborate report of 
 the Examiner, after a severe scrutiny of the expenditures and re- 
 ceipts as exhibited, re-states the account, and, in doing so, in- 
 
2T 
 
 creases the applicant's profits to $114,128.09. In arriving, how- 
 ever, at this conclusion, he has excluded two items of expendi- 
 ture, which I am well satisfied should have been retained. The 
 first is for $13,310, and is not allowed because for disbursements 
 occurring hefore the invention or discovery was made. The act 
 of Congress directs an inquiry into the " loss and profit in any 
 manner accruing to him (the inventor) from and by reason of said 
 invention." Whether we consult the letter or i-eason of the law, 
 I entertain no doubt but that expenditures made in the progi'ess 
 of experiments prece.ding the invention, but looking to it, are as 
 clearly chargeable to the patent as those made afterward, either 
 in perfecting it or introducing it into use. The other item is 
 $46,084.46, as set forth in E.^hibit No. 2, and I am at a loss to 
 jierceive any sufficient reason for its rejection. The applicant 
 alleges expressly in his sworn statement, that the whole of this 
 sum " was expended by him in perfecting his said invention and 
 bringing the same into use." De Forest, who advanced the 
 money, and who holds the drafts specified in the Exhibit, when 
 interrogated on the point, says explicitly that it was applied by 
 the applicant to "experiments in developing his improvements 
 and new applications and branches of the India-rubber manufac- 
 ture ;" and this statement is uncontradicted. The fact averred, 
 and not denied, that De Forest has not been reimbursed these ad- 
 vances, which constitute a subsisting debt on the part of the ap- 
 plicant, furnishes no argument against their being charged to the 
 patent. All moneys expended upon the invention and its intro- 
 duction into use are properly so chargeable, no matter whence or 
 how obtained. Kestoring, then, these items, and adopting the 
 other corrections of the E.\aminer, there will still remain to the 
 credit of the invention a clear profit of $54,733.03. The appli- 
 cant, in his amended statement, acting under the promptings of 
 the same high sense of honor which led him to satisfy an indebt- 
 edness of $35,000 from which he had been discharged by a cer- 
 tificate of bankruptcy, shrinks from debiting the patent with any 
 expenditures, the particulars of wdiich he cannot recall with some 
 degree of certainty, but, while doing so, unhesitatingly expresses 
 the belief that they were quite as large as the sums set forth in 
 gross in the first account. It is probable — indeed, in view of the 
 whole testimony, it is my firm conviction — that if it were possible 
 to extract from the tangled mazes of the multifarious and now 
 half-forgotten transactions connected with the invention, all the 
 monejrs expended therein, it would be found that, instead of there 
 being a balance to its credit, the balance would be on the other 
 side. I am justified in arriving at this conclusion from the fact 
 that, although the applicant has had no other occupation or busi- 
 ness, yet, instead of having now in hand this sura of $54,733.63, 
 he is admitted to be penniless and overwhelmed with debt — and 
 
28 
 
 this, too, notwithstanding his life is shown to have been temper- 
 ate, frugal and, in all respects, self-denying. Being reimbursed his 
 actual " expenses," is this sum of $o-i,73o.63 a reasonable re- 
 muneration to the applicant for the "ingenuity and time" be- 
 stowed on the invention and the introduction thereof into use ? 
 
 An earnest endeavor has been made to depreciate the ingenuity 
 displayed in the invention, by representing the discovery to have 
 been the result I'atherof " accident" than of scientific investigation. 
 As early as 1834r-'5, Mr. Goodyear seems to have formed a most 
 exalted estimate of the capabilities, as a material for manufacture, 
 of the gum known as caoutchouc or India-rubber. This gum had 
 been previously extensively employed in the fabrication of a 
 variety of articles, but, owing to their indifl'erent tpiality, all con- 
 cerned in these enterprizes, as well as in those which followed for 
 a series of years afterward, were involved in bankruptcy and ruin. 
 The fiibrics thus made could not keep the market, because they 
 were found to grow rigid under the influence of cold, and to soften 
 and become sticky under that of heat, while they rapidly decom- 
 posed when brought into contact with perspiration and the animal 
 oils. The applicant was thoroughly convinced that these quali- 
 ties, which had proved so disastrous to tlie trade, could be re- 
 moved, and he set himself resolutely to work to ascertain the pro- 
 cess for accomplishing this result. Sulphur had already been 
 advantageously combined with India-rubber, by Hay ward, so that 
 the discovery had been approached to its very verge. The step, 
 however, which remained to be taken, short as it was, was indis- 
 pensable, and witliout it all those which had preceded it would 
 have been unavailing. Science coukl afford but little assistance 
 in the inquir}', for, as the event proved, the most potent element 
 in the process was too subtle to be disclosed by the severest chem- 
 ical analysis. The applicant had therefore to pursue the investi- 
 gation gropingly ; but he persisted in it with an ardor and a cour- 
 age which nothing could abate or daunt. His aim was definite, 
 his conviction as to its attainability complete. As one who 
 searches for a hidden treasure in a fiekl where he knows it is to 
 be found, so pursued he his explorations in quest of this secret. 
 He sought it on the right hand and on tlie left, by day and by 
 night, in the midst of ceaseless toil and lavish expenditure, and 
 by the light of every form of experiment which his most fer- 
 tile genius and daring spirit could suggest. He became complete- 
 ly master of everything known in regard to the properties of the 
 material which it was his ambition to improve, and so thoroughly 
 was he imbued with the soul of his inquiry, and so intensely 
 quiclcened was his vigilance, that no phenomenon, however min- 
 ute, could meet his eye, no sound, however faint, could fall upon 
 his ear, without his at once detecting and appreciating its bearing 
 upon the great problem whose solution he was seeking. From 
 
29 
 
 four to five years were passed in these unremitted labors, when an 
 incident occurred which at once revealed the long-sought truth. 
 And it is a singular coincidence, that the spark of light yielded 
 by this incident, was elicited by a collision, so to speak, the result 
 of that intense zeal which, so far as health and fortune were con- 
 cerned, had been the consuming fire of his life. In one of those 
 animated conversations so habitual to him, in reference to his ex- 
 periments, a piece of India-rubber combined with sulphur, which 
 he held in his hand as the text of all his discoui'ses, was by a vio- 
 lent gesture thrown into a burning sLove near which he was stand- 
 ing. When taken out, after having been subjected to a high de- 
 gree of heat, he saw, what it may be safely affirmed would have 
 escaped the notice of all others — that a complete transformation 
 had taken place, and that an entirely new product — since so felici- 
 tously termed " elastic metal" — was the consequence. When sub- 
 jected to further tests, the thrilling conviction burst upon him that 
 success had at length crowned his etforts, and that the mystery he 
 had so long wooed, now stood unveiled before him. His history in 
 this respect is altogether jiarallel with that of the greatest inventors 
 and discoverers who have preceded him. The lamp had swung 
 for centuries in the Cathedral of Pisa, but of the thronging multi- 
 tudes who worshipped there, none had heeded the lessons which 
 it taught. It was reserved for the profound and observant intel- 
 lect of young Galileo to extract from its oscillations the true laws 
 of the pendulum, which led to the creation of an infallible meas- 
 ure of time. The theory of universal gravitation loses nothing of 
 its grandeur or value because suggested by the fixlling of an apple 
 from the tree. In all lands, by teeming millions, this phenomenon 
 had been observed, but to none had it imparted instruction — to 
 none had it spoken of that wonderful secret which lurked beneath 
 its simple features. At length its " still small voice" fell upon the 
 delicate and appreciative ear of one whom it startled into inquiry. 
 The light thus afforded, to which all had been blind, was indeed 
 dim and twinkling ; but, following its guidance, as one who traces 
 back the dawn, the great Newton soon plunged into the full-orbed 
 splendors of a discovery confessedl}^ the most brilliant which has 
 gilded and ennobled the annals of science. On all the hearth- 
 stones of the civilized world, for thousands of years, the kettle had 
 boiled and lifted its lid by the expansive power of its steam ; yet 
 for none had this seemingly trite and ever-recurring incident been 
 significant — to none had it announced that measureless power of 
 which it was the humble but distinct exponent. At length the 
 movement cauglit the eye of a lonely student of nature, then a 
 prisoner in the Tower of London, and in the soil of his prolific 
 mind it proved the rapidly-expanding germ of that steam-engine 
 whose triumphs have changed the social, political and commercial 
 aspects of the globe. So, India-rubber in combination witli sul- 
 
30 
 
 phur may by accident have been exposed to a high degree of heat 
 often before without attracting the attention of any ; and it is safe 
 to allege that it might have been thus exjiosed a thousand times 
 afterwards without the world's having been the wiser or wealthier 
 for it. The thorough self-culture and training of the applicant 
 and his unwearied researches prepared hira at once to seize upon, 
 to comprehend and embody in a practical form, the truth he 
 sought, the moment it presented itself, no matter how dimly, to 
 him. This was his merit — the same in kind with that of the most 
 illustrious inventors who have appeared in the world, and by that 
 of but a few of them surpassed in degree. It is a figure of speech 
 — but an exalted mode of expression — which assigns to man any 
 part in the work of creation. In his very best estate, he is but a 
 ministering priest at her altar, and when he has reached the high- 
 est walk in the drama of intellectual power to which his feeble 
 steps can ascend, he is still but an humble translator of the lan- 
 guages of nature. It is a fact which singularly increases the 
 credit due to this inventor, that the very path in which he finally 
 achieved success was the one which the experience of the past 
 had taught him to shun. A low degree of heat had been applied 
 to a combination of India-rubber and sulphur, and it had melted 
 nnder it, so that heat — the increased intensity of which consum- 
 mated the discovery — -was the very element which he had felt 
 himself admonished to avoid. The discovery being made, the 
 applicant soon thereafter added white lead to the combination, 
 which rendered it complete, and, assuming that his mission was 
 but begun, he bravely bent himself to the task of surmounting the 
 obstacles which still frowned upon him on every side. These ob- 
 stacles, so graphically sketched in the testimony, seem to have 
 been almost unprecedented. Capitalists shrunk away from the 
 discovery, so confidently announced, as a chimera, and manufac- 
 turers, who had suffered so deeply by the India-rubber business, 
 denied it their confidence. Its practicability had to be demon- 
 strated by a long series of illustrations, which the total want of 
 experience rendered protracted and often ruinously expensive. 
 Every inch occupied in the enlarging field of its usefulness had to 
 be conquered by many sacrifices, while, of the Protean-formed 
 applications to which it was destined to attain, there was not one 
 that did not involve an outlay of treasure, of toil, and high artistic 
 skill. All these, from the beginning to the present hour, have 
 been bestowed — unceasingly bestowed — upon it, and as the fruits 
 of all these have been and are still being reaped by the public, 
 the applicant is entitled to remuneration for them. 
 
 Has the applicant been remunerated for the time which he 
 has devoted to this invention, and to its introduction into use ? 
 
 It is extremely diflicult to estimate in the coin of dollars and 
 cents the worth of eighteen years of the prime of human life — 
 
31 
 
 especially so, wlien that life is one of lofty genius, of indomitable 
 enterprise, and of stainless virtues. It is, however, about that 
 period of precisely such a life, that has been consecrated to the 
 pursuit and development of this discovery — nor would a shorter 
 pei'iod of time have sufficed for the arduous and perplexing task. 
 This declaration may be made with the more emphasis, because, 
 in all the volumes of testimony filed, there is not one word found 
 tending to its contradiction. Throughout those long and toilsome 
 years it is apparent that there has been no compromise with the 
 suggestions of avarice or with the claims to self-indulgence and ease. 
 It has already been fully shown that the applicant's fortune, his 
 health, the comforts of his family, the freshness of his early and 
 the patient energies of his later manhood, have all been unhesitat- 
 ingly melted down in the crucible of this inquiry, and he is now 
 seen tottering toward that grave which miist soon open in his 
 path, with nothing left of the lieroic and athletic man but what 
 remains of the maimed and scarred soldier on the battlefield — a 
 wreck which every great and generous people have taken fondly 
 to their bosom. The time of the indolent, the selfish, the dissolute 
 and the dull is little worth to a world which they rather cumber 
 than bless by their presence, but the time of the gifted, the brave, 
 the philanthropic and unconquerable sons of genius, has for man- 
 kind a value which we should but feebly express in the arithmetic 
 of dollars. But while we may have no means by which to measure 
 with unerring accuracy the intrinsic worth of the ingenuity and 
 time which have been expended, and cannot by any analysis 
 weigh or compute their ingredients, there remains to us one 
 standard by which a proximate estimate at least may be reached 
 • — that is, the results which have been produced. What that time 
 and ingenuity have yielded to the public is the true test of their 
 value, alike to that public and to the inventor ; for, what the 
 former have received the latter must, upon every principle of 
 sound logic, be held to have parted with. What, then, have been 
 the results of the discovery and introduction into use of the 
 vulcanizing process ? The testimony is very full upon this point. 
 We learn that through this instrumentality a laige foreign com- 
 merce has been created in the raw material, and an inland trade 
 in the India-rubber fidjrics amounting to between four and five 
 million of dollars annually ; that extensive India-rubber manu- 
 factories have grown up, giving profitable investment to some 
 seven million of dollars of capital, and active employment to 
 .some ten thousand operatives ; and that a large portion of these 
 fabrics is intimately connected with human comfort and the pre- 
 servation of human life. Not to enumerate more of the articles 
 produced by this process, it W'ould be hazarding nothing to say 
 that the shoes and wearing apparel perfected b}' it and now 
 cheaply and abundantly made, and almost universally in use, 
 
32 
 
 have saved thousands from a premature death, and may save mil- 
 lions in the ages which are to come. In the presence of these vast 
 and still expanding achievements of this invention, the criticisms 
 which have been made upon the applicant's accounts, as though 
 they were some petty grocer's bill, shrink into insignificance, and 
 indeed can scarcely be listened to without a blush. We have, 
 however, a yet more definite basis on which to rest our judgment 
 — the testimony of Hayward and llaskins. Both have long been 
 India-rubber manufacturers under the vulcanizing process, and 
 the former made the valuable discovery of combining surphur 
 with the gum, for which a patent was granted to him. Their 
 depositions are marked by frankness, and leave no doubt of 
 their perfect acquaintance with this great interest in all its ramifi- 
 cations and aspects. Hayward says that the vulcanizing process 
 for the next seven years would be worth to the public one 
 million of dollars ; if so, it should have been worth two millions 
 for the last fourteen years. Haskins does not hesitate to estimate 
 the process at " many millions of dollars." It should be observed 
 that the evidence of the contestants does not reduce these estimates. 
 It is not possible to escape from the conclusion to which state- 
 ments so emphatic, and coming from sources so fully entitled to 
 credit, lead us. If, then, this process is worth two million of 
 dollars, the applicant has received but a little more than one- 
 fortieth part of the remuneration which he was entitled to claim. 
 
 It has been assumed, as a means of avoiding the force of these 
 estimates, that the applicant is entitled to receive from the public, 
 not what the invention is now worth, developed and established 
 as it is, but what it was worth when the patent issued. '^Fhis view 
 has been urged with much persistence and plausibility, but it has 
 not impressed me as liberal or sound. When the invention came 
 timid and struggling into existence, meeting in every quarter with 
 scoffs and distrust, had it been offered for sale in the market, it 
 would probably have commanded a few thousand dollars — possibly 
 less. But to say that its value is to be measured by what it was then 
 considered to be worth, would be to determine that the character 
 of the tree is to be judged rather by the green than by the ripe 
 fruit found upon its branches. The present expanded and pros- 
 perous condition of the invention is mainly owing to the genius 
 and unceasing struggles of the applicant, and he muy justly reap 
 what he has sown and so diligently cultivated. In the adjustment 
 of machinery to accomplish the ends so distinctly pointed out 
 by the inventor, and in the manipulations of the gum and treat- 
 ment of the fabrics in the various stages of their manufacture, it 
 is admitted that many improvements have been made by skilful 
 mechanics and operatives, and these have their utility and import- 
 ance; but to allow such labors to rival or depreciate the clnims of 
 the applicant, would be to rank the simple ploughman of the fields 
 
33 
 
 with that sublime and beneficent Providence which creates alike 
 the soil out of which the harvest springs and the sunshine and 
 the showers by which it is nurtured and matured. 
 
 Another and most jiotent reason why this patent should be ex- 
 tended is found in the acknowledged fact that the public have 
 not kept the faith which they plighted with the applicant when 
 he covenanted to surrender to them a produce which was, in effect, 
 the concentrated essence of the physical and intellectual energies 
 of his entire life. The public stipulated with him that he should 
 peacefully enjoy for fourteen years the monopoly created by his 
 patent, and, had he been permitted to do so, he would no doubt long 
 since have realized an ample remuneration ; but, so far from this 
 having been the case, no inventor probably has ever been so harassed, 
 so trampled upon, so plundered by that sordid and licentious class 
 of infringers known in the parlance of the world, with no 
 exaggeration of phrase, as "pirates." The spoliation of their 
 incessant guerilla warfare upon his defenceless rights have un- 
 questionably amovinted to millions. In the very front rank of this 
 predatory band stands one who sustains in this case the double and 
 most convenient character of contestant and witness ; and it is but a 
 subdued expression of my estimate of the deposition he has 
 lodged, to say, that this Parthian shaft — the last that he could 
 hurl at an invention which he has so long and so remorselessly 
 pursued — is a fitting finale to that career which the public justice 
 of the country has so signally rebuked. 
 
 Important as are, to the parties to this issue, the immediate 
 consequences bound up with it, they are insignificant indeed as 
 compared with the value to the public of the principle involved. 
 From the very foundation of this government, it has been its 
 settled policy to secure a just reward to all inventors, and it is to 
 the inflexible maintenance of this policy that we are indebted for 
 the unparalleled advancement which, as a people, we have made in 
 the useful arts. All that is glorious in our past or hopeful in our 
 future, is indissolubly linked with that cause of human progress 
 of which inventors are the ])reu:c chevaliers. It is no poetic trans- 
 lation of the abiding sentiment of the country to say, that they 
 are the true jewels of the nation to which they belong, and that a 
 solicitude for the protection of their rights and interests should 
 find a place in every throb of the national heart. Sadly helpless 
 as a class, and offering, in the glittering creations of their own 
 genius, the strongest temptations to unscrupulous cupidity, they, 
 of all men, have most need of the shelter of the public law, 
 while, in view of their philanthi-opic labors, they are, of all men, 
 most entitled to claim it. The schemes of the politician and of 
 the statesman may subserve the purposes of the hour, and the 
 teachings of the moralist may I'cmain with the generation to 
 which they are addressed; but all these must pass away, while the 
 5 
 
34 
 
 fruits of the inventor's genius will endure as imperishable memo- 
 rials, and, surviving the wreck of creeds and systems, alike of 
 politics, religion and philosophy, will diffuse their blessings to all 
 lands and throughout all ages. 
 
 However much the seeming ]>erplexity in the applicant's account 
 may expose him to cavil, and to that vituperation which is so ready a 
 coinage of professional zeal, and however short some of the points 
 in the case may fall of that complete elucidation which could have 
 been desired, there is one fact established beyond all controversy, 
 and which stands out from this record with painful prominence. At 
 the close of all his toils and sacrifices, and of the humiliations he 
 has been called on to endure, this public-spirited inventor, whose 
 life has been worn away in advancing the best interests of man- 
 kind, is found to be still poor, oppressed with debt, and with the 
 winter of age creeping upon his shattered constitution. It is 
 perfectly manifest tliat this is in no degree the result of vice or 
 improvidence on his part, but is an inexorable consequence of the 
 impoverishing experiments inseparable from the prosecution of his 
 great enterj^rise, and of that prolonged and exhausting strife in which 
 unscrupulous men have involved him. He now begs of that 
 country to which the energies of his manhood have been so 
 freely and faithfullygiven that he may be allowed to enjoy for a 
 few years longer that precarious protection which our most feeble 
 and imperfect laws extend to the fruits of intellectual labor ; and, 
 were the appeal deni(.d, I feel that I should be false to the 
 generous spirit of the patent laws, and forgetful of the exalted 
 ends which it must ever be the crowning glory of those laws to 
 accompiisl). 
 
 The patent will, therefore, be extended for seven years from the 
 15th June, 1858. 
 
 J. HOLT, Commissioner. 
 

 
 
 
 

 
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