The Court quoted Justice Story, sitting on circuit, in Bean v. Smallwood,2 Story Rep. 408. 2 F. Cas. 1142 (C.C.D. Mass. 1843). for the proposition that "Now I take it to be clear that a machine or apparatus or other mechanical contrivance, in order to give the party a claim to a patent therefor, must in itself be substantially new. If it is old and well known, and applied only to a new purpose, that does not make it patentable."See 55 U.S. at 177. The instruction was wrong, so the judgment had to be reversed.
