tent.

[Sidenote: Neither Brilliant nor Extraordinary]

The value of the second patent that of 1845, may be gathered from the
words of the Commissioner of Patents: "The invention of 1845, considered
in itself, and examined in presence of the reaping machine as then in
successful operation, both in Europe and America, can scarcely be
regarded as brilliant or in any degree extraordinary."

The Commissioner further said:

[Sidenote: An Efficient Machine]

"It was a conviction of the inefficiency of the machine that led the
applicant to make his invention of 1847, which, by a modification of
pre-existing elements, provided an advantageous location for the raker's
seat. Upon this his fame as an inventor rests, and to this is his reaper
indebted for the triumphs it has achieved. This seat had been previously
known in at least nine patented reapers; but it had not been well
placed, and an appropriate location for it was, up to 1847, an
acknowledged desideratum. Whatever, however, may have been the value or
the success of the reaper as improved in 1847, such value or success can
exert no influence in determining the issue under discussion."

The Commissioner further said, referring to the 1847 patent:

[Sidenote: McCormick's "Invention" Valueless]

"Without the parts thus slowly accumulated and combined, and which have
been so unhesitatingly appropriated by himself, _his own invention
would have been as valueless as would be a shingle to him who could find
no house-top on which to nail it_. The construction insisted on would
compel the public to pay again, and pay extravagantly, for that which is
already its own, alike by purchase and by long uninterrupted
possession."

The authorities cited make it clear the Hussey reaper was successful,
from the start, but _the Patent Office did not seem to think that the
machine of his opponent for honors was so_.

The Commissioner in his decision refers to the testimony of William S.
McCormick, who, at that time, was a partner of Cyrus McCormick as a
manufacturer and seller of the McCormick reaper:

[Sidenote: A Worthless Machine]

"As a farmer I used the reaper without a seat, before a good one was
invented, and am perfectly certain that it was so nearly worthless that
a machine without one could not be sold at any price that would pay in
competition with one having a raker's seat; this is my experience from
my intimate connection with the business for many years."
(Commissi