THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



105 



laughed outright at the idea of this 

 invention, or the character of the 

 invention, either one anticipating 

 my American patent. Tiiis Carr- 

 Stewarton hive never will be whqxX 

 by Americans nor any other nation 

 of advanced beekeepers under any 

 modilications that will not infringe 

 my late invention. One of the 

 important functions of my hive is 

 produced through a combination of 

 i nvertible and divisil)le brood-cham- 

 bers. No matter how old either 

 one of these might have been, the 

 combinations for the production 

 of the new functions is now patent- 

 able and patented. 1 do not claim 

 a divisible brood-chamber unless 

 used in a hive which contains two 

 distinct depai'tments,one for brood 

 and one for surplus. Many of my 

 friends have written me that I 

 should say something upon this 

 subject as it seemed to them that 

 this "Amateur Expert" seems to 

 be at all times aiming to belittle 

 my invention. I never heard any- 

 thing of, nor did I ever read any- 

 thing concerning, a divisible brood- 

 chamber ; although, as you are well 

 aware, the best iipicultural brains 

 of the world were pouring forth 

 their thoughts, and these thouohts 

 were printed and laid before us 

 every month and week. It is hard 

 to prove what has been done by 

 some person somewhere, and very 

 difficult to know what to believe 

 regarding these statements ; but 

 the printed records cannot be de- 

 stroyed and cannot be guilty of 

 falsehood. I ask the reader to con- 

 sider candidly which is more likely ; 

 First, that such valuable functions 

 as are produced in ni}' new hive, 

 as admitted and claimed by many 

 of our leading beekeepers, were 

 well known before my book was 

 published, and never written up? 

 or, second, tliat the claims which 

 noio appeal- are falsehoods or mis- 

 takes : It might, no doubt, be ti»ie 

 that some arrangements nearly like 



mine, but not enough like them to 

 produce any valuable function, were 

 known but of course, not given to 

 the public because tiiey died with 

 their conccj)tion, and for no other 

 re;)s()u than that they lacked prac- 

 ticability and usefulness. Please let 

 me quote a few sections of })atent 

 Invv which I have before quoted in 

 other places, and it seems to me 

 ai'o jirima facie evidence of my 

 statements above. 



"Novelty of a thing is not neg- 

 atived by any other thing funda- 

 mentally inculpable of the functions 

 of the first." 



"•Kovelty and patentabilit}' are 

 not negatived by tlie fact that every 

 part of the thing is old." 



"Novelty of anything is not neg- 

 atived by another thing which was 

 not designed nor used to perform 

 the functions of the first." Ever^^- 

 thing favors the patentee on ac- 

 count of perjury. "Infringement 

 or desire to infringe, is either or 

 both, prima facie evidence of util- 

 ity." "The state of the art to 

 which an invention belongs at the 

 time tiiatinvention was made, must 

 be considered in construing any 

 claim for that invention." And 

 now, the following answers every 

 pietence of anticipating inventions. 

 "Patent law declares that the fact 

 of abandonment and subsequent 

 adoption of things claimed to be 

 alike, are evidence sufficient to neg- 

 ative that claim." 



If I err in regard to the intent 

 of "Amateur Expert," I beg his par- 

 don, and if I do not, I sincerely 

 regret his ignorance of American 

 patent laws. 



Doivagiac, Mich., Dec. 5, 1887. 



[In justice to Mr. Hedrton the foregoing 

 should have appeared in the Api some time 

 pgo. Yet it has been crowded out by the 

 great amount ol' <;opy sent us for publifation. 



We never doubted tlie facttliat ]Mr. Heddon 

 had a clean title to a patent on his hive. Yet 

 we do not tliink patent claims should be dis- 

 cussed in any bee-pai)er. It was quite natural 

 for Mr. llcdcion to think "Amateur Expert's" 

 article was an attack upon his hive ; neverthe- 

 less, in our opinion it was not so intended.] 



