"Within the last week. Wait. I"ll show you."
Anderson went over to his own desk at the end of the shop. In the few minutes he was gone, Walter and Bauer exchanged questions.
"Do you suppose that"s true?"
"Doesn"t seem possible, does it? If it is, our cake is dough."
"Anderson seemed pleased when he announced the fact, if it is one," said Walter bitterly.
"It may not be true, you know," said Bauer hopefully.
Anderson had come back in time to hear the last sentence.
"It is true, though, young man. See."
He had the last copy of the _Electrical News_, and it was open at an ill.u.s.trated page.
He laid it down on Walter"s bench and he and Bauer eagerly bent over it.
Almost the first glance revealed the fact that the lamp described in the paper was identical with their own and application for a patent had been made within ten days. The account of the discovery, moreover, made the date earlier than the discovery made by Walter.
"You see, don"t you," said Anderson. "Gambrich has exactly the same device of metal teeth coupled to one electrode. It"s an ingenious device and you fellows have certainly great credit for thinking it out almost simultaneously with Gambrich."
"According to this account, our lamp was made before Gambrich"s. Does that give him priority of invention?" asked Walter eagerly.
Anderson shrugged his shoulders.
"Priority of manufacture does not legally cut any figure by the side of priority of invention. You might be able to prove that you had made the lamp before Gambrich made his, but that would not help you any if he invented his arrangement first, long before you made your lamp."
"Is that really strict justice?" said Bauer slowly.
"It is law," said Anderson grimly, "and you must remember that law and justice are not in every case synonymous. I"m sorry for you fellows.
There"s a lot of money in that invention for the manufacturers of the lamp, and considerable for the inventor if he knows how to make terms."
"Do you mean," asked Walter gloomily, "that really we have no right at all with what we have made?"
"Don"t you see you haven"t? What can you do? Ask any lawyer, if you don"t believe me."
Anderson spoke somewhat testily as he started to go away.
"I believe you"re glad we missed this opportunity," said Walter angrily.
He was tremendously discouraged over the event and could not control his feelings.
Anderson grew very red and turned on Walter in a rage.
"I don"t mind saying I am glad your pride has had a tumble. You have been unbearable for some time. Maybe this will teach you a lesson. There are people in the world who know a little about electricity as well as yourself."
All of which was not calculated to sweeten Walter"s sense of defeat or make him more friendly to Anderson, who, after glaring at Bauer, who had not said a word, abruptly went out of the shop.
The lamp was working all this time, with an exasperating smoothness and precision that spoke eloquently of its financial possibilities. There were a few workers in the other parts of the shop who, realising that some unusual event was on, began to gather around Walter and Bauer and ask questions. Among the group was Van Shaw.
In a few moments everyone knew the story of the lamp, and Walter and Bauer came in for congratulations over the invention and sympathy for its uselessness to them.
"I could have told everybody about that lamp two months ago," said Van Shaw, speaking with an indirect manner peculiarly offensive to Walter.
"I have had advices from a near friend in New York that Gambrich was at work on this device. It"s a pity some Burrton man can"t have the credit and the cash that are going to Gambrich."
Walter"s fingers closed around one of the tools on his bench and he felt mad enough at that moment to throw it either at Van Shaw or the lamp. He did not do either, but when the crowd had finally gone away, he sat down at his bench and said to Bauer: "What chumps we were not to apply for a patent weeks ago. We might have contested it. We have let a fortune slip out of our hands through our stupidity."
"It"s because we did not take anyone into confidence. I never thought of a patent. I was too much absorbed in the lamp itself to think anything about anything else."
"Whom could we have taken into confidence? Van Shaw or Anderson? But I don"t feel like giving up. Why can"t we contest our rights? There are cases in the courts every day over patents and inventions."
"But it takes a lot of money to hire a lawyer and go to law," said Bauer with real Teutonic caution. "And I haven"t a dollar to spare. According to Anderson, it"s as good as settled that Gambrich has the legal right to the lamps."
Walter stared at the arc gloomily. He felt the disappointment with deep bitterness. Not only was his pride smitten at the thought of others who were working out his ideas, but the thought of the money he might have made, and the relief that money might have brought him, rankled deepest in his mind.
Bauer took the affair more philosophically. He went over to Walter and put a hand on his shoulder.
"When we are beaten we might as well accept it and make something else.
I don"t like to see you take the thing so hard."
"What else can we make?" Walter said after a moment. "I"ve lost my ambition."
"Oh, no you haven"t; not for good and all. Why, we might invent a typewriter telegraph."
"It"s too late, that"s already been done."
"I"ll tell you what would bring us fame and money," said Bauer with his usual slow manner and his friendly smile. "What the world needs is a letter writer that will take letters at dictation, first hand."
Walter stared at Bauer gloomily. "What"s that?"
"A direct letter writer," said Bauer. "A machine that the business man and the minister and the college professor and the politician and the railroad man and the lover could talk into. As fast as he talked, it would make a visible mark on the paper and when the person was through dictating his letter he could pull it out all typewritten ready to send.
Just think what a blessing this would be to the busy letter writer."
Walter stared at Bauer as if his friend was crazy. Then, after a moment of doubt, he burst into a great laugh.
"Well, of all the--It"s the first time I ever knew a German could be out and out funny. Do you know what your letter writing machine would have to do? It would have to know how to spell right."
"No, it wouldn"t. All it would have to do would be to spell phonetically. Every machine would spell and print just as the person talked."
"Yes, and what will become of the great army of stenographers and typewriter girls who make their living now at taking dictation? I don"t want to invent something that is going to deprive thousands of people of a living."
"You could marry one of them and I would marry another. That would take care of two of "em," said Bauer solemnly.
Walter looked up at him a moment, and then he roared. It was what Bauer wanted him to do. And when they finally went to their rooms Walter was feeling somewhat better, although he did not get a good night"s sleep.
His dreams had in them fitful glimpses of Van Shaw and Anderson and a red hot arc lamp that glared and flamed at him with a diabolical grin that rejoiced in his defeat.
It was two days before he could bring himself to write home a full account of the matter. Both his father and his mother replied to this and each wrote in full sympathy with him and a knowledge of what his disappointment would be to him.