Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/861

 DELAWARB COAL iSî ICB 00. V. PACKES. 853 �îs for a combination. Looking for the combination, we find three elements: (1) a funnel-shaped or inclined mouth, at- taciied to the rear or side of the wagon ; (2) a valve, at the end of the mouth or in the chute; and (3) hinged or sliding chutes, when attachod to an open mouth, or to the side of the cart or wagon. It was not claimed on the argument that either of these elements is new. The fiirst, standing alone, is clearly anticipated by the English letters patent, No. 2,909, and dated December 21, 1859, granted to Samuel Plimpsol, for "facilitating the unloading and transferring from railway wagons into carts, etc., coal and other matters, with whieh they may be loaded." The second is found in the letters patent. No. 14,301, issued to William Bell, on the twenty- ninth of February, 1866, where it is called a slide, and is used for the same purpose, and performs the same functions, as in the complainant's patent. �Indeed, it may be observed that, unless a very limited con- struction is given to the patent of the complainant, it is dif- ficult to see how it can be allowed to stand at ail, in view of the quite similar inetrumentalities patented by Bell to ao- complish the same results. He states that he has invented a new and improved method of depositing anthracite and bituminous coal in cellars, from carts and other vehicles, through Bcuttles in sidewalks, and that it consists in provid- ing a conductor, and attaching the same to a hole in the bot- tom of a cart or other vehicle, of sufficient diameter to allow coal to pass through the same, through the coal scuttle and sidewalk, without dropping it upon the sidewalk, as before practiced, to the great annoyance of pedestrians, etc., and he claims, "a bed-plate, (attached to the under side of the tail end of the wagon,) conductor and slide, with the tube attach- ments, in connection with the hole in the cart or the vehicle, as set forth." �The third claim is for hinged or sliding chutes, when at- tached to an open mouth, or to the end or side of the cart or wagon. The proof is that hinged chutes, attached to an open mouth, had been used for several years anterior to the date of the application for the patent, at the trestle works of the Bel- ��� �