Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/878

 E0BERT8 t?, BCHREIBER. 871 �place, and the top of the cover, adjacent to the perforation, is made an anvil. The rina of the cap which contains the fulminate rests on that anvil. Thus, the shoulder on whioh the rim rests becomes a nipple, answering ail its purposes. A patented mechanical arrangement cannot be thns evaded ■without liability to the charge of infringement. �Only two things have been urged in support of the def enco that Eoberts was not the first inventer of his apparatus. One of these is the Crocker torpedo. We have already observed that the Eoberts invention is a device for exploding from the top of a shell or flask placed vertically in an artesian well. Crock- er's was a device for exploding it at the bottom or lower end. The torpedo had a pistol cartridge in its bottom, and a rod beneath it, varying in length. The torpedo was lowered into the well and allowed to drop to the bottom. By this means, when the end of the rod struck the bottom it discharged a hammer, which struck the head of the pistol cartridge and eaused the cap to explode. There was no plug. Mr. Crocker himself testifies that the buUet was taken out of the cartridge, and as the cartridge was placed in an upright position, with the mouth upwards, a plug or buUet was not needed to keep the powder from falling out of the chamber, the purpose it subserved in the Eoberts combination. Besides, the device was an experimental one, immediately abandoned, and Mr. Crocker afterwards employed Eoberts for torpedoing his wells. The other alleged anticipation is the Plant torpedo. It is described in the Plant patent, dated November 18, 1862, It is a submarine torpedo, intended for a purpose entirely dif- ferent from what is sought to be secured by that of Eoberts. It is fired horizbntally from a war vessel or a fort, arranged Bo as to explode when it strikes a hard opposing object, such as the huU of a ship, and it is protected by a spring in front against the resistance of the water through which it passes in its rapid flight. This spring is an element not found in the Eoberts device. If used in that device it would im ede the operation, if not prevent it entirely. It would ofifer re- sistance to the drop weight, and tend to prevent driving the boit upon the cap. The purpose was to secure an easy and ����