Opinion of the Court. Bahmann and Company, another Ohio corporation, for the infringement of three letters patent of the United States, each of them granted to Moses Mosler, namely, No. 273,585, March 6, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, on an application filed February 5, 1883; No. 281,640, July 17, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, on an application filed December 27, 1881; and No. 283,136, August 14, 1883, for an improvement in bending angle irons, on an application filed December 11, 1882. The answer denies that any one of the three patents shows any invention, and also denies that Mosler was the first and original inventor, or an inventor at all, of the alleged inventions which the patents purport to secure, or of any of them, and also denies that any one of the inventions has any utility. It also denies infringement, and sets up various references on the question of novelty, in regard to all three of the patents. A replication was put in, and proofs were taken by both parties, and, on a hearing, the court dismissed the bill on the merits; its opinion, which accompanies the record, being reported in 22 Fed. Rep. 901. That opinion sets forth sufficiently the nature of the inventions covered by the three patents, and the contents of the specifications and claims, and we adopt its statement, as follows: "1. No. 273,585; application filed February 5, 1883; letters dated March 6, 1883. The object of this invention, as stated in the specification, is to provide an improved means of constructing the outer casing, so that the safe may be filled from the bottom. The front and back frames of the safe are formed from angle bars, which have one side cut away, where the bends of the corners are to be made, and the uncut side bent around to close the joint in the corner, and form a frame with its outer corners rounded. The meeting joint at the bottom of the frame is overlapped by a short angle piece, which is screwed or riveted to the frame, uniting the joint. A sheetmetal cover is bent around the top sides and around the lower rounded corners of the frames. Upon each edge of this cover, at the bottom of the safe and between the angle frames, are secured metal bars, which project beyond the edges of the Opinion of the Court. cover to form rests for the bottom plate. The safe is made with the customary sheet-metal box forming the interior receptacle and secured to the cast-metal door frame in the usual manner. The top of the caster frame conforms to the curve of the rounded corners, and, after the bottom plate is pushed into its place, the inner bolts which secure the caster frames pass through the bottom plate which they secure and the angle frames. The patentee does not claim the bent angle frames nor the safe composed of these frames and the sheetmetal cover bent around them, (the same being shown and claimed by him in an application then pending,) but limits his claim to the combination, in a fire-proof safe, of the frames, the sheet-metal cover, bent around the top sides, and lower corners, with projecting metal bars, and removable bottom plate, substantially as described. "2. No. 281,640. This patent differs from No. 273,585 in that a particular description is given, in the specification, of the cuts in the side of the angle bar, where the bends are to be made; but the patentee specifies that the shape of the cut may be varied, it only being essential that sufficient metal be cut away on one side of the angle bar to permit the other or uncut side to be bent, the cut nearest the uncut side being in the form of a curve or curves, so that, when said uncut side is bent to form the corner, it will bear upon and be supported by the curved end or portion of the cut, and thus be rounded by a curve similar to the curve of the cut. The claims are as follows: 1. An angle bar for safe-frames, consisting, substantially as before set forth, of a right-angled iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, leaving a curve facing the uncut side, whereby said uncut side may be bent to bear upon said. curve to form a rounded corner. 2. An angle bar for safe frames, consisting, substantially as before set forth, of a rightangled iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, with curved cuts meeting a right-angled cut, whereby the uncut side may be bent to form rounded corners. 3. In a safe, the combination of the front and back frames, formed of single bent angle bars, having one side cut away to leave curved ends, upon which the uncut side is bent to form rounded cor Opinion of the Court. ners, and a metal sheet, E, bent around and secured to said frames to form the top and sides of the safe, substantially as described.' "3. No. 283,136, dated August 14, 1883, application filed December 11, 1882. The claim is as follows: The herein described process of bending angle irons, which consists in cutting away a portion of one web by a cut which severs the two webs at their junction, for a distance equal to the arc of the corner to be bent, and removes sufficient of metal in front of the single part of the uncut web to permit the same to bend to the desired angle and to insure the edges of the opening meeting to form a close joint as the bar is bent, substantially as shown and described.' In the specification the sides of the angle bar are designated by the letters A and B. A represents the uncut web, and B the cut web. The outer opening of the cut, C, is made by lines at angles of forty-five degrees to the edge of the web, so that, when the bar is bent, the edges of this opening meet each other in a true mitre. The inner opening, D, which extends outward within converging curved lines from the angle of the bar to where it meets the opening C, extending inward from the edge of B, and within converging lines, (the letter X suggesting the shape of the entire opening, excepting that the outer opening extends nearly to the angle of the bar,) has a dovetailed shape, bounded by curved lines described from points upon the mitre line and the face of the uncut web A. The curved ends of the web B abut against the uncut side when the bar is bent, making a close joint. The patentee states, in the specification, that 'the shape of the opening or cut-away portions of web B may be varied at will, so long as the meeting line or lines be not extended beyond the space bounded by the rounded corner, and the edge lines extended to web A.' The angle bars cut out as described, it is stated in the specification, may be bent to the proper form by the machine represented by Fig. 6 in the accompanying drawings. In this, E represents a metal block having upwardly projecting sides screwtapped to receive clamping screw F. The opposite corners of the block are rounded to fit the inner curve of the desired Opinion of the Court. corner. G is a loose block of iron, between which and the side of block E the uncut web A is clamped by screw F, the other web, B, resting on the block, the cut-away part over the rounded corner; by force applied to the projecting end of the bar it is bent around until the severed edges meet in a close joint. The angle bar herein shown is not claimed here, as it is the subject of a pending application.' "The safes described in these patents are filled through the bottom opening with fire-proof cement. The bottom is then secured in place and the casters attached. The patentee states, in the specification forming part of letters No. 281,640, that before his invention safes were filled from the back, and that his safe can be completely finished before the filling is put in. The filling adds greatly to the weight. Much labor in handling is therefore saved.'" The opinion of the Circuit Court then proceeds to say: "For the purposes of this suit these three patents may be considered as one, containing all the claims involved. As counsel for complainant suggests, the claims are for separate and distinct but not for independent inventions, at least so far as the manufacture of safes is concerned. They might have been all included in one application had the patentee chosen to so present them. . "The first and second claims in letters patent No. 281,640 are for an angle bar for safe-frames, consisting of a rightangled iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, (the cuts being curved and meeting a right-angled cut,) leaving a curve facing the uncut side, whereby said uncut side may be bent to form a rounded corner. The patentee states, in the specification, that he is aware that it has been proposed to make protecting corner pieces for safes from angle iron, from one side of which a triangular piece was cut out to permit the opposite side to bend.' He also states that 'the shape of the cut to permit the angle bar to be bent to form rounded. corners may be varied without departing from the principle of my invention,' etc. "In the drawings accompanying the specification forming part of letters patent No. 283,126, Figure.5 represents a templet Opinion of the Court. of card-board or thin sheet metal, which the patentee states he uses to determine about the shape and size of the notch or cut which it is necessary to make to admit of the bar being bent to any desired angle and to make a corner of any desired curve. The templet is of the shape and size of a section of the angle bar. One web is severed by a cut at right angles to its edge; the two webs are then severed at their junction for some distance upon each side of the cut; then, by bending the web so that the cut edges will pass each other, the templet may be bent to any curve or angle desired, and the lines of the cuts required to make the proper shape of opening in angle bars to be bent to the same curve or angle, marked and fixed upon. Such use of the templet as a pattern is nothing new. It is clearly shown by the testimony, that cutting an opening in one web of an angle bar to permit the bending of the bar to an angle or curve, was known and used before the date claimed by complainant's assignor for his invention. Different shapes of cuts and openings are shown in exhibits put in evidence by respondents. Unless the precise cuts and shape of opening shown in the drawing attached to the specification forming part of the letters patent are patentable, the claims are worthless. But the patentee shows how, by the use of a pattern of flexible material- an old method, and familiar as the use of the carpenter's mitre box-he determines the lines of the cuts and the shape of opening. In this there is no exercise of the inventive faculty; it is only what would occur to a mechanic of ordinary skill. Moreover, if the precise lines of cuts and shape of opening shown in the drawings were patentable, the patentee does not, as we have seen, so limit his claim, but seeks to cover variations, which he says may be made without departing from the principle of his invention. Claims 1 and 2 in letters patent No. 281,640, and the claim in letters patent No. 283,136, are, therefore, adjudged to be invalid. "As to the combination claim, being the only claim in letters patent No. 273,585, and claim 3 in letters patent No. 281,640, they are old, excepting only—and this is not material -that the precise lines of cuts and the shape of the opening |