tion of combinations of similar devices amounted to an unlawful infringement entitling the owner of the patent to redress at the hands of the court, the decision of this case would certainly have to be adverse to the defendants. But there is no patent covering the Jensen can crimping and capping machine as an entirety. The patent protects only the particular combinations referred to in each of its several claims, and to convict the defendants of infringement it is necessary for the court to find in the defendants' machine the same combination of devices and elements comprised in one or more of said claims, or equivalents for each element of a combination claimed. In this case it is not asserted that all of the 16 claims of the patent sued on have been infringed by the defendants. According to the evidence and arguments, the controversy relates only to claims numbered 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, and 11, which read as follows: "(1) An endless traveling carrying belt, a stop, E, extending across it to change the direction of the cans, and arms swinging over the belt, whereby the delivery of the cans from the belt to the feeder is rendered exact, substantially as herein described." "(3) In combination with a transverse belt, the feeder having the projecting arms between which the cans are received from the belt and the actuating devices by which the motions of the feeder are produced, substantially as herein described." "(5) The inclined chute into which the caps are placed, and a stop extending across said chute, so as to prevent the caps from moving downward, in combination with a trigger extending across the path of the cans as they are moved toward the capping table, said trigger being connected with the stop, so that as it is moved backward by the passage of the can it withdraws the stop to allow a cap to move down the chute, substantially as herein described." "(9) The vertically moving plunger upon which the cans are delivered by the feeder, in combination with the conical guide situated above the cans, and the transversely moving slides upon which the caps are received and held, with a mechanism by which the slides are withdrawn as the can enters the cap, substantially as herein described. "(10) The vertically moving plunger by which the can is raised to receive the cap, and the guide into which the upper end of the can enters the transversely moving cap-holding slides, in combination with the second plunger moving vertically above the cap and following it down by gravitation or otherwise, so as to steady the can in its descent after the cap has been applied, substantially as herein described. "(11) The vertically moving plunger upon which the can is received, a carrier for placing the can upon the plunger, and a mechanism by which this plunger is reciprocated vertically in combination with a second plunger, which rests upon the top of the cap and steadies it while descending, and a mechanism for raising the second plunger before the arrival of the next cap, substantially as rein described." Neither of the claims comprise the particular mechanism of the Jensen machine, by which the can heads are transferred from the delivery chute and introduced with rapidity and precision into the countersunk ledge above the conical guide and under the upper plunger. The subjoined drawings fairly represent the important parts of the two machines. The first sheet is a sectional view taken from a Jensen machine, which was exhibited in operation upon the trial. It is intended especially to show the form, location, and use of the stop-bar, E. The machine from which the drawing was made differs from the specifications in the Jensen patent in this particular: that sprockets and a chain are used to move the cans upon a track in the operation of feeding the cans to the machine in place of the traveling belt described in the specifications. Cuts II, III, and IV are taken from drawings of parts of the Jensen machine by Mr. Monteverde, a witness for the complainant. Cuts V and VII are from drawings of the Letson and Burpee machine, by the same expert witness. |