INVENTOR’S CLAIM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16580, 22 February 1928, Page 12

INVENTOR’S CLAIM

DISPUTE OVER CLOTHES PEGS (Special to the Hcrald.l AUCKLAND, this day. A heap of small pieces of wire twisted into curious shapes played nu important part in a case heard in the Magistrate’s Court before Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M. The attention of counsel ;md the •- magistrate was concentrated on the scraps of metal for nearly three hours, and one might have been excused for assuming that they had been baffled by one of the old familiar Chinese puzzles. The explanation, however,"was that a married woman, the inventor and patentee of a spring wire clothes peg, had come to court to recover £73 from a local plumber who she alleged had failed in his guarantee to supply' rustless material for the pegs. “I expected to make my fortune, but 1 have had to withdraw the pegs from the market,” said the plaintiff, Catherine Mary Jamieson (Mr. Leahy). She added that she had told the defendant, E. J. Brittain (Mr. Rice) that, she had not been satisfied with the quality of the pegs previously' manufactured by another wireworker, and Brittain had promised that pegs made from the best galvanised wire would be rustless. Witness had seen rusty pegs of her design in a shop window, and had received a complaint to the effect that the defect in them resulted in o clothing. A woman who used the patent pegs came to witness and said: ‘‘Look at my silk stockings; you will have to buy me another pair.” The defence was that galvanised wire lmd been used without a guarantee that the finished product would be r list-proof. The magistrate said lie was satisfied that some of the pegs supplied by the defendant had rusted. The hearing was adjourned,