from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
INVENTOR. One who invents or finds out something.
2. The patent laws of the United States authorize a patent to be issued
to the original inventor; if the invention is suggested by another, he is
not the inventor within the meaning of those laws; but in that case the
suggestion must be of the specific process or machine; for a general
theoretical suggestion, as that steam might be applied to the navigation of
the air or water, without pointing out by what specific process or machine
that could be accomplished, would not be such a suggestion as to deprive the
person to whom it had been made from being considered as the inventor. Dav.
Pat. Cas. 429; 1 C. & P. 558; 1 Russ. & M. 187; 4 Taunt. 770; B ut see 1 M.
G. & S. 551; 3 Man. Gr. & Sc. 97.
3. The applicant for a patent must be both the first and original
inventor. 4 Law Report. 342.