Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/920

 ^08 FEDERAL BBPOBTEB. �X Samb— Abandonment undek Section 4894, Bbv. St. �Section 4894, Rev. St., which provides that upon failure to prosecnte an ap- plication witliin two years after action Is had thereon by the patent-office, it shall be regarded as abandoned, refers to the application, not the invention, and does not prevent a subsequent application for the same invention. 8. Samb — Same — Dbpences. �Such subsequent application can derive no aid as to time from the prier abandoned application. The applicant must stand, as to defences in suits on the patent, as if the new application were the first application. 4. Same — Patbntability — Recognition bt Public. �Where an article is of great utility, has superseded older articles, and islargely recognized by the public and licensees as a useful invention, there is a stiong presumption in favor of its patentability. �In Equity. �Munson e Phillips, for plaintiff. �J. B. Staples, for defendant. �Blatchford, g. J. This suit is brought on lettera patent No. 202,735, granted to the plaintiff April 23, 1878, for an "improvement in sleeve supporters." Some time in 1873 the plaintiff invented a clasp. He applied for a patent for it on the thirty-first of August, 1874, and obtained a patent for it, (No. 156,429,) November 3, 1874. The specification of that patent speaks of the clasp as one "for stocking supporters or varioua other articles of wearing apparel." The clasp is composed of two jawed levers, pivoted together, and a spring arranged between them. The tail of each jaw-lever is made concavo-convex in transverse section, the lower lever, with its jaw, being extended within the upper lever and its jaw. At the place of connection of the two levers the lower one is puncbed inward on its flanks, so as to form two concavo-convex teats or projections. The epring is shaped or made of wire, and has an eye which is slipped upon the two teats, after which the upper jaw-lever is arranged with respect to the spring and the lower jaw-lever in proper position, and then is puncbed inward on its flanks, so as to enter the two teats, and thus the two levers are connected and pivoted together. �The levers cover and protect the spring, and, as the specification says, prevent it "from being caught in the stocking or clothing," and from moving laterally or getting out of place. The specification says that each of the jaws may be notched or provided with teeth in its opposite edges, and that by having the jaws of the lower lever close into the concavity of the jaw of the upper lever a much better hold of the "material or stocking" will be secured than when the jaws abut together at their edges. The tail of the upper lever bas a slot- ��� �