A United States patent was granted May 23, 1854, to John Myers and
Robert G. Eunson for a wood-sawing machine for cutting boards into
thin stuff for making picture frame and mirror backs. One of the
principal claims was for the employment of two deflecting plates, one
on each side of the circular saw, by which both sides of the sawed
stuff, as fast as it was cut, was slightly deflected so as not to bind
upon the saw. Suit was brought by the patentee against Dunbar and
Hopper for infringement, and judgment was given in favor of the
patentees, in the United States Circuit Court, this city, the damages
awarded being $9,121. The defendants thereupon took an appeal to the
Supreme Court of the United States, which tribunal has reversed the
finding of the Circuit Court and dismissed the complaint. It was held
by the Supreme Court that, inasmuch as the use of a single deflecting
plate was old, well known, and in common use, it was simply an
exercise of ordinary mechanical skill, and not a patentable invention,
to employ a second deflecting plate, although the superiority of the
double deflectors, for certain kinds of work, appears to be conceded.
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