The Highest Prize Awarded at the American Institute

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This prize, a gold medal of honor specially struck for the occasion, has been awarded to Mr. James Lyall, the inventor and exhibitor of the Positive Motion Loom at the recent National Exhibition of the American Institute. It is the first of this kind ever awarded. It can only be given in accordance with the following by-laws : The highest prize at any exhibition shall be the large Medal of Honor, which shall be given only for a new and useful invention, or for a new and highly valuable product of the soil never before exhibited. This prize shall be awarded only to the originator of such invention or product. The large Medal of Honor designating the highest prize shall not be awarded by the managers for any article, unless its practical value shall exceed that of any similar one in use known to the managers, or intended to accomplish the same purpose. It will be seen that to obtain this medal any invention must compete with all existing inventions designed to accomplish the same end, and that the prize awarded to this loom is one of no ordinary character. We are glad to see this invention fulfilling the predictions we male for it in our descriptive article in No. 2, current volume. It is doubtless desired to become historical among American inventions.

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