Burt v. Evory

Citations

• 133 U.S. 349
• 10 S. Ct. 394
• 33 L. Ed. 647
• 1890 U.S. LEXIS 1916

Syllabus

<p>The claim in letters patent No. 59,375, granted to Alexander F. EVory and Alonzo Heston, November .6, 1866, for an “ improvement in boots' and shoes ” was for a manufactured article, and not for the mode of. producing it; and, as it was merely a carrying forward of the original' idea of the earlier patents on the same subject — simply a change in form and arrangement of the constituent parts of the shoe, or an improvement in' degree only — it was not a patentable.invention.</p> <p>• Not every improvement in an article is patentable, but the improvement must be the product of an. original- conception; and if it is a mere carrying forward, or more extended application of, an original idea, an improvement in degree only, it is not an invention.</p> <p>The combination of old devices into a new article, without producing any new mode of operation, is not invention.</p>