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The Edison National Historical Park has seven bound volumes and one pamphlet of Patent Office proceedings relating to conflicting claims over who invented the telephone.
Four of these volumes contain the record of a group of interferences entitled Cases A through L and Case No. 1. The disputant parties were Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Gray, A. E. Dolbear, J. W. McDonough, George B. Richmond, William L. Voelker, J. H. Irwin, and Francis Blake, Jr. Although Edison's preliminary statements were filed in September 1878, testimony was not taken until 1880. This record was printed in 1881.
The first volume contains Edison's preliminary statements and the depositions of Edison and his witnesses. The second volume contains Edison's exhibits, including photo-lithographs of laboratory drawings, patents and patent applications, and newspaper and journal articles. The drawings have exhibit numbers corresponding to a page/volume numbering scheme used by Edison and his patent attorney Lemuel W. Serrell in 1880 when Edison's technical notes and drawings were numbered and examined for possible inclusion as exhibits in these interferences. Many of the documents in this numbered series were not selected as exhibits; they remain in the archives at the Edison National Historical Park. (See Unbound Notebooks, Volumes 8-18.)
In addition to the two volumes of testimony and exhibits for Edison, there is a third volume, containing preliminary statements, depositions, and exhibits for Bell, Voelker, Irwin, Gray, Dolbear, McDonough, and Blake; and a fourth volume, containing briefs for Bell and Blake by attorneys Chauncey Smith and James J. Storrow.
Only the two Edison volumes have been selected in their entirety. However, the tables of contents for the other two volumes have been selected, along with those portions of the briefs for Bell and Blake which summarize the issues and Edison's case from the viewpoint of the opposing attorneys.
Another volume entitled U.S. Patent Office, Miscellaneous Interferences of T. A. Edison contains four documents relating to appeals taken in 1883-1884. Three of these documents are briefs for Edison; the fourth is the decision of the Examiners-in-Chief in the appeal of Cases A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, J, L, and No.1.
Two additional volumes contain the records of interference cases 2 and 3 (involving Edison, Blake, and Charles E. Chinnock) and cases 4, 5, 6, and B3 (involving Edison, Blake, and Edward L. Wilson). Each volume contains the preliminary statements, interfering specifications, and evidence of the disputant parties. The table of contents, preliminary statements, and interfering specifications for each volume have been selected, as well as the evidence for Edison. The numbering system used in Cases A through L and Case No.1 was also employed for Edison's exhibits in these cases. Many of the exhibits were also used in the earlier volume of Edison's exhibits; these have not been selected. However, the complete list of Edison's exhibits for the later interferences can be found in the table of contents.
Finally, there is a printed argument for Edison in a telephone interference involving Edison, Amos E. Dolbear, and George L. Anders. This is the only documentation for this interference available at the Edison National Historical Park. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
