It was the
association which sought a monopoly under the patent. The situation was
this:
George B. Selden, a patent attorney, filed an application as far back as
1879 for a patent the object of which was stated to be "The production
of a safe, simple, and cheap road locomotive, light in weight, easy to
control, possessed of sufficient power to overcome an ordinary
inclination." This application was kept alive in the Patent Office, by
methods which are perfectly legal, until 1895, when the patent was
granted. In 1879, when the application was filed, the automobile was
practically unknown to the general public, but by the time the patent
was issued everybody was familiar with self-propelled vehicles, and most
of the men, including myself, who had been for years working on motor
propulsion, were surprised to learn that what we had made practicable
was covered by an application of years before, although the applicant
had kept his idea merely as an idea. He had done nothing to put it into
practice.
The specific claims under the patent were divided into six groups and I
think that not a single one of them was a really new idea even in 1879
when the application was filed.
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