The second point may be dismissed without discussion. Undoubtedly the spinning and the roving operations were essentially the same; the application of the rollers to carded cotton to produce roving was a repetition of their application to roving to produce yarn. Moreover, the question whether the new application was sufficient to justify an extension of the patent was secondary to the question whether Arkwright could be regarded as the inventor of the rollers. As regards the carding machinery part of the patent, damaging evidence was given by the widow and son of Hargreaves, and by a workman formerly employed by him, who stated emphatically that Hargreaves was the inventor of the crank and comb device, which was an immensely important part of the carding machinery, while others claimed either to have invented or used this, and other parts of the carding machinery, before Arkwright obtained his patent.[341] [Footnote 341: _Trial_, 25th June 1785. Evidence of Elizabeth Hargreaves, George Hargreaves, and others regarding the crank and comb. On other points John Lees, Henry Marsland, Thomas Hall, and the partners Pilkington and Wood.] At the trial Arkwright was unable to produce much evidence to rebut that given against him, though he claimed to be able to do so shortly afterwards, particularly as regards his invention of the crank and comb,[342] and apparently in this matter he had a strong case. Before Baines finished his _History of the Cotton Manufacture_ he was quite convinced, by information obtained from the son of Hargreaves’ partner at Nottingham, that, though Hargreaves’ relatives might have spoken in good faith at the trial, instead of the crank and comb having reached Arkwright from Hargreaves, as was implied, the case was exactly the opposite.[343] Assuming that the information obtained by Baines was correct, it must be recognised that Arkwright was unfortunate, as there can be little doubt that the evidence given regarding the crank and comb must have influenced the view taken of his claim to have been the inventor of the spinning rollers.[344] [Footnote 342: Espinasse, _ibid._, p. 447.] [Footnote 343: Baines, _ibid._, pp. 177-179.] [Footnote 344: Actually the leading counsel against Arkwright in the third trial asserted that the crank and comb device so impressed the jury in the second trial as to gain Arkwright the verdict on that occasion (_Trial_, 25th June 1785, p. 19).]