March 22, 1890
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Supreme Court of the United States. EVOEY V. BURT. Letters Patent No. 59,375, issued to Alexander F. Evory and Alonzo Heston, November 6, 1866, for an improvement in boots and shoes, Held to be for the manufactured article and not for the mode of producing it, and declared to be invalid for want of patent-able novelty. A mere carrying forward or more extended application of an original idea--a mere improvement in degree--is not invention. Where certain parts of a water-tight shoe were old, a simple change in the form and arrangement of such parts, subserving the same purpose as like parts of shoes constructed under earlier patents and without causing any new function to be performed, does not constitute invention.
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