1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



What strikes us as peculiai-ly i-emaikable in this 

 regard is tlie fact, that after having incurred the 

 trouble and expense of procuring three patents, Mr. 

 King should successively abandon them all. condemn- 

 ing and rejecting his own devices. Certainly, if ac- 

 tions speak louder than words, hi^ has done this very 

 thing. In his circulars for 1871, he exhibits as his 

 own, a style of hive in whicli, with two exceptions, 

 (and the things excepted can have sul^stituted for 

 them unpatented devices, which are superior in effect- 

 ing the purpose desired,) he leaves out everi/thinij 

 which he claims to have invented and patented in his three 

 patents. The cross-bar, with all its patented appen- 

 dages, disappears, and the frame is made as simple as 

 possible. This is the style of hive he is now making 

 and selling; and it can be easily shown that (with 

 the two exceptions alluded to), if this hive is not cov- 

 ered by the Langstroth patent, as we believe it to be, 

 it is public property. The assertion has often been 

 made, by intelligent practical bee-keejiers, that a hive 

 can be made almost exactlyresembling the King hive 

 in external appearance, and so made that when i)i>ened 

 it shall be found to contain not a single featuie [lat- 

 euted by King, which, nevertheless, when examined 

 by experts, shall be pronounced to be a much bettek 

 hive tha7i the King hive, precisely because it has none 

 of his patented features. But who could have thought 

 that Mr. King himself would do this very tiling ; as 

 he has done, according to his own circulars? Thus 

 demonstrating by his own act and the hives he is now 

 making and selling, not only that he has made no 

 invention of any special importance ; but that, to 

 keep his hive in the market, he has found it neces- 

 sary to disuse and thereby discredit his own patents. 



Our object iu this article has been simply and 

 plainly to expose what we believe to be false preten- 

 sions and baseless claims. In doing so we have re- 

 stricted ourselves closely to this, allowing nothing 

 personal to divert us therefrom. And now, to avert 

 all misconception or misconstruction, we here offer 

 the columns of the American Bee Journal to the ex- 

 tent of two pages monthly for three months to come, 

 to Mr. Kmg", for anything he may have to say in refu- 

 tation of our remarks, or in explanation, exculpa- 

 tion or vindication of his course as a patentee, in- 

 ventor or dealer in bee-hives, or articles in connection 

 therewith. And, should Mr. King fail to avail him- 

 self of this offer, we extend it to any purchaser of 

 territori il rights under him, who may feel disposed to 

 undertake the task. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



H. A. Kind's and L. L. Langstroth's Patents. 



In the spring of 1867, Mr. H. A. Kiuir entered into 

 an arrangement with L. L. Langstroth &, Son, by 

 ■which he agreed to pay a certain sum on all sales of 

 liives, rights and territory subject to his patents, 

 when such sales were made in territory still owned 

 by Langstroth. '1 he agreement confined him to the 

 use of certain slots in the topbars of his frames, for 

 admitting bees to top boxes, as shown iu a model 

 deposited with Langstroth & Son— that is, he was 

 allowed to use the Langstroth frames with tops par- 

 tially separated, and no other patented feature of 

 that invention. On September 8th, 1868, Mr. King 

 took out a patent under which he no longer uses the 

 slots or notches by which the tops of his frames were 

 partially separated ; but substitutes mortices for them 

 in the tops of the frames, thus allowing those tops 

 -to fit closely together throughout all their length. To 

 yjquiries frequently made whether we considered 



those mortices an infrinirement of our patent, if used 

 without proper license, we replied in substance that 

 we did not. It was ol)vious to us that this mortice 

 enabled .Mr. King to use an important feature in my 

 invention, and one very fully set forth, both in the 

 original patent and the re-issue, viz., the allowing 

 bees to pass above the frames, into sujiers, so tliat 

 the honey might be obtained iu the most beautiful 

 and salable form, and be safely removed f*oiu the 

 hive even by timid and inexperienced persons — a 

 thing never even contemplated in any movable frame 

 hive before mine. Still it seemed to me that it did 

 not conflict with the wordiiig of my claims, and that 

 therefore I coula not prevent its use without another 

 re-issue and better wording of my claims ; and as 



I such re-issue would have relieved all parties from 



I liability for any previous infringeiueut, we thought 



I it best to acquiesce in its use. 



In the spring of 1870, only a few days before the 

 death of my son, .Mr. King notified us that as he had 



I not for some time used the notches or sloes for which 

 he agreed to pay us a percentage on all his sales in 



; our territory, he must decline paying us anything 

 more under that agreement. Having now recovered 

 my health so much as to be able to examine his 

 patent more thoroughly, and iiaving taken the ablest 

 [I'.ifal advice to be procured, I am satisfied that Mr. 

 King's mortices will be pronounced by the Courts to 

 be "a mere colorable evasion," and therefore a sub- 

 stantial infringement on my rights. Having already, 

 in a personal interview, informed Mr. King of the 

 view I now take of this matter, justice to him, aud 

 to those parties intending to purchase under him, 

 supposing that his hive is confessedly no infringe- 

 ment upon mine, renders it proper that I should 

 make this public statement. Those parties also, 

 who have purchased under my patent, and who have 

 been damaged in their pecuniary interests by an 

 opinion given by me without proper legal advice, 

 have the right to demand that I should take the 

 earliest opportunity to state that I regard the use of 

 .Mr. King's mortices, or any equivalent device for 

 the purpose of passing bees above the frames into 

 boxes, to be an infringement upou my patent, unl ss 

 licensed to be used by the owners of said patent ; 

 and that the earliest possible steps will be taken to 

 have the matter decided by the Uuited states Courts. 

 L. L. Langstkoth. 

 Oxford, Ohio, March, 1871. 



To the Bee-keepers of the United States. 



It is well known that L. L. Langstroth's Patent of 

 October 5th, 185-.i, was re-issued May 36th, 1863. 

 Though satisfied that the original patent would be 

 held by the Courts to cover all that I wished to claim, 

 the re-issue was asked for to enable me more fully 

 and clearly to show exactly what I had done and 

 claimed ; so that, iu case of litigatiou, uo time need 

 be lost in ascertaining those all-important points. 

 When making my application, I carried to the office 

 every book, iu English, German, and French, which 

 I could procure from Mr. S. Wagmr's library and my 

 own — the former containing probably the largest col- 

 lection of German, and the latter of English works 

 pertaining to bee culture, to be tound in this country. 

 Prof. C. G. Page and Mr. Addison .M. Siuith were at 

 that time the Exaiuiners iu charge, before whom my 

 application properly came. There being then very 

 few works on bee culture in the library of the Patent 

 Office, they were thus enabled to examine my case 

 with all the information whicli I had been able to 

 procure from any source, having any bearing on the 



