An invention or contrivance; any result of design; as in the phrase “gambling device,” which means a machine or contrivance of any kind for the playing of an unlawful game of chance or hazard. State v. Blackstone, 115 Mo. 424, 22 S. W. 370. Also, a plan 6r project; a scheme to trick or deceive; a stratagem or artifice; as in the laws relating to fraud and cheating. State v. Smith, 82 Minn. 342, 85 N. W. 12. Also an emblem, pictorial representation, or distinguishing mark or sign of any kind; as in the laws prohibiting the marking of ballots used In public elections with “any device.” In a statute against gaming devices, this term is to be understood as meaning something formed by design, a contrivance, an invention. It M,to be distinguished from “substitute,” which means something put in the place of another thing, of used instead of something else. Henderson v. State, 59 Ala. 91.
In patent law. A plan or contrivance, or an application, adjustment, shaping, or combination of materials or members, for the purpose of accomplishing a particular result or serving a particular use, chiefly by mechanical means and usually simple in character or not highly complex, but involving the exercise of the inventive faculty.