In 1885, William Lyon patented a saw swaging machine whose major innovation was a moving arm that held the anvil and tooth support. We have not found any articles or advertisements suggesting that Lyon manufactured his swager, but a lawsuit reveals that he did, in fact, manufacture and sell his machine.

In the lawsuit, one David Donaldson of Rock Island, Illinois, was sued by Lyon. Lyon and Donaldson had each patented a machine for swaging circular saw teeth, but the evidence showed that Donaldson had purchased a swager from Lyon and then applied for a patent, claiming, among other things, Lyon's innovation of a moving arm with anvil and tooth support. Lyon was slow to apply for a patent but when he eventually did, the patent examiner noticed the interference between the two applications. On reviewing the evidence the examiner ruled in favor of Lyon in having invented the key moving-arm idea. Lyon's patent was issued substantially as applied for, and Donaldson was granted a patent covering only some relatively inconsequential improvements. Meanwhile, Donaldson was manufacturing and selling his swaging machine. When Lyon's patent was issued Donaldson had already made 13 machines and sold 6 of them. After the patent was issued Donaldson sold the remaining 7, making a profit of about $10 each on them. The court found that Donaldson flagrantly infringed Lyon's patent by selling those 7 machines and awarded Lyon treble damages of $30 each, for a total of $210.

The evidence showed that Lyon was himself manufacturing his swaging and filing machines, which he sold for $150 including a profit of $50. There is no information on how many machines he sold.

Information Sources

• See the Lyon and Donaldson patents plus the lawsuit.