Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/730

 723 FEDERAL EBPOBTEB. �MoMiLLAN and others v. Eees and others. {Circuit Court, W. D. Peanaylvania. March 22, 1880.) �Two Patents fob Samb Ikvbntion. — Of two patents for the sama invention the one last granted is void, altliougli it may have been flrst applied for. �Same — How Identity of Invention is Dbtermined. — "Whether two patents cover the same invention must be determined by the tenor and Bcope of their claims, not by the description in the speciflcations. �Sbpabatb Patents fob Beverablb Parts of Same Invention. — Sep- arate patents for severable parts of the same invention may be pat- ented, although the whole invention is fully described in each of them, to explain the purpose and mode of operation of the parts covered by the claims in such patents. �CoMBiNATioN OF Patented Devicb -wiTH Otheb Deviœb. — The con- nection or combination of a patented device or improvement with other devices may be the subject of a valid subsequent patent. �In Equity. �Bakewell de Kerr, for complainanta. �Eowland Cox, for respondents. �McKennan, J. In McMillan v. Barclay the patent upon which the present bill is founded was contested upon various grounds, ail of whieh were fully considered by the court, and a decree was rendered in favor of the complainant. No question is now made touching any of the specifie defences set up in that case, but the patent is assaUed for a reason not before suggested. It is urged that the patent, No. 63,- 917, set up in this case, is a duplicate of patent 52,730, granted to the same persons and for the same invention. �On the twenty-third of July, 1855, the patent involved in this case was applied for, and was disallowed by the commis- sioner of patents on the twenty-fifth of August, 1866. After repeated efforts to obtain a rehearing, in the early part of 1867, the applicant amended bis specification, and again pressed his application for consideration. �This amendment consisted in a modification of the claim, the body of the specification and the drawings remaining unchanged. A re-examination was finally made, and a patent granted on the sixteenth of April, 1867, This patent is for "an improved application of steam power to the capstana of ��� �