a? 
‘Yersely, By these rollers, the fibres are separated from the seeds 
Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney. 233 
Holmes’s iron plate. But certainly Mr. Holmes’s improvement does 
not destroy Mr. Whitney’s patent right. Let the decree for a per- 
petual injunction be entered.” | 
This favorable decision, however, did not put a final stop to ag- 
gression. At the next session of the United States court, two other 
actions were brought, and verdicts for damages gained of two thou- 
sand dollars in one case, and one thousand and five hundred dollars 
inthe other. The history of these suits, as reported for one of the 
journals of the day, appears to us to be a document worth preserving, 
on aceount of the light it throws on the subject of patent rights in 
general, as well as in relation to the subject before us. 
Law case.—At a circuit court of the United States, for the dis- 
trict of Georgia, lately holden in this city, [Savannah] was tried the 
ease of Eli Whitney vs. Isaiah Carter, for infringing a right vested 
by patent, “ for a new and useful improvement in the mode of ginning 
cotton.” The plaintiff supported his declaration by proving the pat- 
ent, model, and specification, and proving the use of the machine in 
question by the defendant. He also introduced the testimony of sev- 
eral witnesses residing in New Haven, to prove the origin and prog- 
tess of his invention. 
The defendant rested his defence on two grounds—First: That 
the machine was not originally invented by Whitney.—Second : That 
the specification does not contain the whole truth, relative to the 
iscovery, 
General Mitchell of counsel for the defendant, produced a model 
which was intended to represent a machine used in Great Britain for 
Cleaning cotton, denominated the “ Teazer or Devil.” —A witness 
Was produced, who testified that he had seen in England, about 
Seventeen years ago, a machine for separating cotton from the seed, 
Which resembled in principle the model now exhibited by defendant. 
other witness testified, that he had seen a machine in Ireland, 
"pon the same principle, which was used for separating the motes 
from the cotton before going to the carding machine. 
y the machine, of which a model was exhibited, the = is 
applied in the first instance to rollers made of iron, revolving con- 
and protruded within the sweep of certain straight pieces of wire, 
"evolving on a cylinder, which tear and loosen the cotton as th 
Volve..- It was contended by the defendant's counsel, that th 
Conforms in principle to Mr. Whitney’s machine, and that 
Vou. XXI.—No. 2. 30 
