be so easily determined as to enable the feed-regulating device to be properly adjusted. The delivery of the oil in drips is better insured by the teat, a, formed around the lower orifice of the feed-tube, or, by what would be equivalent, by the making of the interior of the upper part of the chamber of convex form. This invention differs from all other lubricators, not in allowing the oil to be seen, but in feeding with a visible drip, the frequency or cessation of which can be at once ascertained."

The claims are as follows:

"(1) The open or transparent drip-chamber, arranged below the reservoir and feed-regulating device, and in combination with the contracted opening through which the oil or lubricating material escapes from the reservoir, substantially as herein described, to provide for the dripping of the said material, and the view of the drip. (2) In combination with the drip-chamber and reservoir, the teat, a, substantially as and for the purpose specified."

From the patent it appears that the invention consisted of an open or transparent standard or chamber, below the oil reservoir and the contracted lower orifice of the feed-regulating device, of such capacity that the oil visibly drops through, and does not trickle down the sides of the chamber. The reservoir and feed-tube are old, unless the teat, a, surrounds the lower orifice of the feed-tube. The standard is an open or transparent stem in these lubricators which have stems by which they are attached to the bearings.

The question at the foundation of the case is whether, in view of the state of the art at the date of the invention, the improvement was patentable. It is clearly proved that in 1863, upon the steamer Merrimac, a vessel in the service of the United States government, and in 1867 upon the United States steamer Ontario, drip feed lubricators, made by Richard Lavery, were used, which, operated solely by gravity, were regulated by an ordinary spindle, and were elevated above the bearing which received the dripping oil so that the drip and the frequency of the drip were visible, but without any chamber surrounding the feed. In like manner, in 1850, William Burnett, formerly supervising inspector general of steam-vessels, used oil-cups which were raised or elevated above the shaft-bearings of steam-engines, and from which the oil dropped in separate drops upon the bearing, so that the number of drops could be ascertained by the eye, and the quantity could be regulated by the cock which controlled the discharge of the oil from the cup. These cups had no chamber below the bottom of the cup. In the provisional English specification of William Brookes, dated May 22, 1867, his lubricator is described as follows:

"The object of this invention is to obtain a more certain and continuous supply of lubricating matter to those parts of machinery which are subject to friction. To attain this object the reservoir containing the oil or lubricating matter is formed of glass or other transparent material, and at the base thereof it is attached to glass (or other transparent) pipe, in which is placed a supply cock for the purpose of regulating the supply, and having a nut at one extremity for the purpose of permanently adjusting it when properly fixed. Below this regulating supply cock is placed another similar cock for the purpose of cutting off the supply when needed, and thus dispensing with the necessity of closing and readjusting the first-mentioned cock. The second one might be dispensed with if required. By making the reservoir of glass or other transparent material, the workman can at all times see when it requires replenishing, and the glass (or other transparent) pipe permits also of his observing any interruption in the continuousness of the supply to the machinery."

This description does not state that the lubricant dripped from the reservoir through the transparent pipe; it might have trickled down the sides of the pipe. I shall therefore assume that there was no drip-pipe which delivered the oil in separate drops into the transparent stem or chamber. I intentionally omit a discussion of the question whether John Absterdam used oil-cups, substantially like the patented invention, at No. 5 Haverhill street, and at the factory of J. J. Walworth & Co., in Boston, in 1853 and 1854, because upon this question there is the conflict of testimony which frequently arises in regard to the use of an inconspicuous object in a factory 20 or 30 years before the testimony was given, and I think that the case does not require a decision in regard to the correctness of Absterdam's recollection.

There were, then, prior to the date of Gee's invention, gravity lubricators which were elevated above the bearings to be oiled, and from which the oil dripped in separate drops upon the bearings, so that the quantity and frequency of the drip could be ascertained by inspection, but which had no chamber into or through which the oil dripped. The Brookes specification described a gravity lubricator which had a reservoir, and at its base a transparent chamber in which was a supply cock for the purpose of regulating the supply. The oil flowed into the transparent pipe, and was delivered to the journal or bearing to be lubricated; the chamber being for the purpose of enabling the engineer to observe and watch the flow of the oil. In my opinion there was no invention in making the Brookes supply cock discharge the oil through an orifice which should deliver a drip, and in thus producing the Gee lubricator. Neither would it require much if any more inventive genius to prevent the entrance of dirt into or the effect of wind upon the Lavery and Burnett lubricators by attaching to the bottom of each cup a transparent standard. After Lavery and Burnett had in a rough way shown the principle of a sight-feed oiler, it would not seem that invention was required to embody the principle in the neater form in which Gee presented it.

I place the decision especially upon the Brookes specification, and hold that, if it did not anticipate the Gee patent, it was so nearly like it that no invention was needed to make the simple alteration or addition which is said to distinguish the Gee device. The bill is dismissed.

BARNES v. RUTHENBURG.

(Circuit Court, S. D. Ohio. June 4, 1887.)

1. PATENTS FOR INVENTIONS-PATENTABILITY - NEW COMBINATION OF OLD DE VICES-FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS.

Letters patent No. 216,821 were granted June 24, 1879, to Charles Barnes for an apparatus for extinguishing fires, and letters patent No. 233,393 were also granted to him October 19, 1880, for an "automatic fire extinguisher." The patents describe a system of distributing pipes passing through the various rooms of a building at their ceilings, and fitted with a number of downward projecting sprinkling noz nozzles. A reservoir is placed in the lower story, above the supply pipe, leading to the street, filled with a fire-extinguishing liquid, which will be discharged upon the fire by force of water from the street main. A supply-valve has an actuating lever which is held up to keep the valve closed by a wire passing up to and united in each room by a fusible joint. The sprinkler consists of a perforated rose-head, with a cap soldered upon its neck with fusible metal, and certain other attachments. In case of fire the said fusible joints and caps are melted, the water rushes through the supply-valve, forcing and following the fire-extinguishing liquid. Until the occasion of fire the pipes are kept free from fluid. The details of combination in the two patents differ in some respects. The proof showed that the constituent parts were old, but that the combinations were new. Held, that the devices were patentable inventions.

2. SAME-IMFRINGEMENT.

The defendant manufactured and sold a device for extinguishing fires under letters patent No. 318,508, dated May 26, 1885. A reservoir was used in it charged with a fire-extinguishing liquid, which generates a gas, thus producing pressure. and the distributing pipes being thus at all times filled with liquid. A pipe connected the reservoir with the street main, cut off by a check-valve kept closed by the pressure from the reservoir. In case of fire, the pressure was relieved by the flow through the distributing pipes, and the valve opened, letting in the water. Held, that this device was not sufficiently similar to those above mentioned to constitute an infringement.

3. SAME-DOCTRINE OF EQUIVALENTS.

The sprinkler or distributer, manufactured by said defendant under said patent No. 318,508, is, by the doctrine of equivalents, an infringement upon the fourth, fifth, and sixth claims of the above-mentioned patent No. 233,393, but does not infringe the first claim of said patent No. 216,821.

In Equity.

Follett, Hyman & Kelley and George F. Murray, for complainants.
James Moore, for respondent.

SAGE, J. The complainants sue for infringement of letters patent No. 216,821, granted June 24, 1879, to Charles Barnes, for apparatus for extinguishing fires, and letters patent No. 233,393, granted October 19, 1880, for automatic fire extinguisher, alleging infringement of the two claims of No. 216,821 and of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth claims of No. 233,393. The drawings in No. 216,821 show a system of distributing pipes passing through the various rooms of a building at their ceilings, and fitted with a number of downward projecting sprinkling nozzles. In the lower story, and just above the supply-valve of a pipe leading from the street main up to and connecting with the distributing pipes, is a reservoir to be filled with some non-freezing and fireextinguishing liquid, which will be discharged upon the fire by the force of water from the street main when used in connection with water-works, or by the weight of water from a reservoir on top of the building in localities where there are no water-works. The supply valve has an actuating lever, which is held up to keep the valve closed by a wire passing up to and united in each room by a fusible joint formed by cutting the wire, and inserting the cut ends into the opposite ends of a metal tube, and making solder joints between the ends of the tube and the wire with fusible metal. The sprinkler consists of a screw-threaded shank or seatpiece, adapted to be screwed into the union of the distributing pipes, a perforated rose-head, secured to the shank and a valve within the rosehead, adapted to be adjusted and held against its seat by a screw-threaded stem tapped through a cap soldered with fusible metal upon the neck of the rose-head. This cap, it is stated in the specification, has, preferably, up-turned flanges which cap over the neck, to which the cap is secured by fusible solder run upon the top edge of the flange, and around and against the neck. The neck has a space between its shell and the valve stem, and perforations which allow the heated air, in case of fire, to enter and fuse the solder joint, and let the valve drop down and open the passage for the fire-extinguishing liquid and water into the rose-head. At the same time the heat fuses the soldered joint of the wire which holds up the actuating lever, and the water rushes through the supply-valve. forcing and following the fire-extinguishing liquid into the distributing pipes and rose-heads, the caps of which, the solder holding them in place, having been fused, are forced off, and a shower of water thrown upon the fire. There is also an arrangement for ringing an alarm bell, but, as it is not mentioned in the claims, it is not necessary to describe it.

The claims, both of which it is claimed are infringed, are as follows: (1) A nozzle for automatic fire extinguishers, constructed substantially as before set forth, namely, of a rose-head inclosing a valve controlling the water passage thereto, the stem of the valve projecting through a neck of said rosehead, and being screwed to a cap secured to said neck by fusible metal. (2) The combination, substantially as before set forth, of the water-pipes, the automatic valve, and the fire-extinguishing liquid-containing reservoir, connected with the water-pipes as described, so that its contents will be discharged with and by the flow of the water.

The object of patent No. 233,393, as set forth in the specifications, is fivefold, as follows:

(1) To provide a supply-valve more easily and securely forced and held to its seat, and more readily released therefrom; (2) to relieve the valve-sustaining devices from the strain consequent upon the expansion and contraction of the valve closing and releasing wires under varying temperatures; (3) to relieve the fusible solder joints from strain, so that they may be made more sensitive to heat, without liability to parting, excepting in case of fire; (4) to prevent the possibility of the discharge orifices becoming clogged by sediment, or by scales from the pipes; (5) to provide means to hold the valve seat within the distributer securely to its seat, without liability of fracturing the solder joint by which it is held, by expansion and contraction of the metal.

The drawings show the general system of distributing and supply pipes, supply-valve, and reservoir, as in No. 216,821. The case of the sup

ply-valve is cast in two sections, which are bolted together through outwardly projecting flanges, to receive the journal bearings of a shaft. The valve has a yoke cast with it, upon the under side, through which the shaft passes. An eccentric upon the shaft, and within the yoke, opens the valve when turned in one direction, and closes it when turned in the opposite direction. The valve is guided by rods which pass through transverse bars in the upper and lower parts of the case. The lower rod has a groove to receive a pin from one of the bars to prevent the valve and yoke from rotating, and the shaft, where it enters the valve case, is suitably packed to prevent leakage. Any desired number of flanges or disks may be secured upon the shaft, either separately or upon a common hub. The form of the shaft outside the case illustrated in the drawings is square, to enter corresponding perforations in the flange or disk hubs, but, the specifications state, any other mode of securing them rigidly to the shaft may be adopted. To each of the disks a lever is pivoted, with a weight suspended from outside the periphery of the disks. The free ends of the lever are held up by wires or cords which pass through the different stories of the building, and are united at different points of their length by a coupling device which is a joint of fusible solder. When in position or coupled, the wires or cords, by sustaining the lever, hold the supply-valve closed; and, as the valve opens against the pressure of water from the main, that pressure assists to hold it securely to its seat.

The patentee's intention was to have independent wires or cords from the different stories or divisions of the building, and as many independent levers. Thereby the contraction and expansion of the wires would be distributed between all the levers, and the friction caused by the pulleys or bell cranks required to change the direction of one wire throughout the entire building avoided. Whenever any lever is released by its retaining wire, the weight upon the lever brings it down upon its fulcrum pin, secured in the face of the disk, partially rotating the shaft, and, by the action of the eccentric, opening the valve, and turning a supply of water into the system of pipes. The coupling device consists of a metal lever through the eye of which one of the cut ends of the wire cord is passed and looped. A loop is made upon the end of the adjoining section of the wire. The bar of the lever is passed through this loop, and turned back parallel with the wire, which passes through the eye of the lever. A slide is passed over the end of the lever, and over the cord holding the lever in position parallel with the cord. The other wire, or part of the wire, is held by its loop around the enlarged portion of the lever containing the eye, and extends in the opposite direction. The slide is jointed together with fusible solder, and, as the strain is slight, the solder may be made very sensitive to heat, without liability to part excepting in case of fire. When it does part the lever is released, and flies back, the loop of the other part of the wire instantly slips off the lever, the part of the wire over which the slide passed is released, the lever of the supply-valve drops, the supply-valve is thrown open, the water is turned on, and the fire extinguished.