A New Suit Under Electric Dynamo Construction Patents

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The initial proceedings in a suit brought by the Westinghouse Electric Company, through its lessee, the United States Electric Light Company, against the Manhattan Electric Light Company, were taken on April 18. The suit, presumably the first of an extensive series, is notable from the patents under which it was brought. These are two patents granted within a few days to Edward Veston, the well known inventor, after nearly seven years' delay caused by interference proceedings. If they prove to be valid, they will be among the most valuable patents extant in the class of dynamo-electric machinery, The feature of construction covered by them is the building up of an armature core from iron disks with interposed plates of insulating material. Four carefully worded claims, undoubtedly the broader from the early date of application, when the field was unnarrowed by similar inventions, cover as far as call he :o:een the whole system of disk-built armatures. As the vast majority of armatures of the well known Siemens type, both for dynamos and motors, are thus constructed, it will be evident that much litigation may be in prospect, and that these two Weston patents may yet figure in the annals of patent law proceedings with the Morse, Goodyear, and Bell patents.

SA Supplements Vol 27 Issue 695suppThis article was published with the title “Patents” in SA Supplements Vol. 27 No. 695supp (), p. 256
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican04271889-11110esupp

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