Invention

In patent law. The act or operation of finding out something new; the contrivance of that which did not before exist. The word is also used to denote the thing itself which has been so contrived, and which is the subject matter of a patent. The test of novelty to determine whether a given contrivance is an "invention" is whether an ordinary mechanic would, without other suggestion than his knowledge of the art, make such a contrivance. If so, it is not an invention.

3 Fish. Pat. Cas. (U. S.) 98; 27 Fed. 219.

An invention differs from a "discovery," inasmuch as this latter term is used to signify the finding out of something which existed before. Thus, we speak of the discovery of the properties of steam, or of electricity; but the first contrivance of any machinery by which those discoveries were applied to practical use was an invention; the former always existed, though not before known; the latter did not previously exist.