Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/583

 576 FEDEBA.Ii EEPORTBR. �backing for the same and adapt it to enter the corners of the sash." �Now, the question is does the construction of this device involve invention within the meaning of the patent law? That it may and does produce a useful resuit is undoubtedly true, l>ut does its construction involve anything more than mechanical skill ? In the case of Reckendorfer v. Faber, 9 Otto, 347, it was settled by the supreme court that the granting of letters patent and the decision of the commissioner on the ques- tion of invention, its utility and importance, is not conclu- sive; that his decision in the allowance and issue of a patent creates a prima facie right only, and upon ail the questions involved therein the validity of the patent is subject to an examination by the courts. �The erasive and cleaning qualities of rubbcr bave been long known. Its use in cleaning mndow-glass is but a new use of an old and -well-known article. Long used for erasing pencil marks upon paper, there is nothing new or in the nature of discovery in the application or use of this article in cleaning window-glass. The idea of the patentee in putting rubber to such a use may be, and undoubtedly was, an excel- lent one ; but the question is, is his device in its construction, and with reference to its own use in connection with an old and well-known material, of such character as to entitle him, under his patent, to protection as an inventor ? �As was said by the supreme court in Reckendorfer v. Faber, supra, "this device is for the performance of a mechanical operation to produce mechanical results, and is a mechanical instrument as much as a brush, a pen, a stamp, a knife, a rule, or a screw. Whether it is styled a manufacture, a tool, or a machine, it is an instrument intended to produce a useful mechanical resuit, * * • Does it embody any new device or any combination of new devices producing a new resuit ?" �The combination consists only in the adjustment of the rubbing strip, and the supporting tubular cushion, in such manner as will bring the edge of the strip in contact with the glass. Now, "the law requires more than a mere juxta- ����