Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/35

 2S FEDERAL REPORTER. �•which is an old deviee, makes a mere aggregation of parts, in ■which each deviee performs its separate function, without pro- ducing anything new in operation or resuit by the combina- tion. In other wordg, the bail ear performs the same func- tion without the washer as -with it. �The point is well put in Gidden v. Copeland, 15 0. G. 921, where it is said: "The fact that the knives, the rake, and th& binder are respectivel^^ subordinate combinations, performing distinct operations, is net fatal to the patentability of a com- bination of these deviees in a harvester, for they ail co-operate to produce one definite resuit. But the combination of a tool chest or feed box with these other elements would not be a patentable combination, because, whatever these append- ages may contribute to the production of a convenient or use- ful harvester, they would not co-operate with the other devices in the production of any one precise resuit." �Plainly, no invention was necessary to combine the washer with the bail ear, and I regard complainant's patent as to the second claim void, because it is for a mere aggregation of parts which have no common function. In passing upon the first claim in complainant's patent it is essential that we ascertain precisely what the patented invention is. The proofs clearly show that prior to complainant's patent wire fltaples were employed for the purpose of attaching the handles to pails, and that the use of such staples for that and other purposes was old. In view of the state of the art it is imçLuestionably necessary, in order to support complainant's patent, that it be shown that his deviee presents a feature not before in existence, and which it required invention to produce. As showing the state of the art defendants have introduced in evidence numerous samples of staples and vari- ons patents granted both before and subsequent to complain- ant's patent. The Walton patent, granted in 1868,' shows a bail ear constructed of wire, bent so as to have an eye, in which the bail is fastened, and two prongs of equal length. This deviee is unlike complainant's, as plainly appears on the face of the specifications and claim, because the prongs are intended to be inserted in holes in the aides of the pail, pass- ����