Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/238

 22e FSDBBÀIi BEPOBTEIt. �Nat. Cab-Bbaee Shob Co. v. D., L. & N. E. Co. �{Oireuit Court, E. D. Michigan. , 1880.) �1. Patent No. 40,156, issued October 6, 1863, to James Bing, for an im- �provement in carrbrake shoes for railway cars, held, not infringed Tinder the circumstancea of tliU case. �2. Same— iNFKraGEMENT — EVIDENCE. — Where a device was not intended �as an evasion of a patent, but was intended for an entirely different purpose, and the infringement, if any, was purely accidentai, the evidence of such infringement must be so clear as tO' admit of no other reasonable construction. �, for complainant. �, for defendant. ���Brown, d. J. This is a bill in equity for the alleged infringe- ment by the defendant of patent No. 40,156, issued October 6, 1863, to James Bing, for an improvement in car-brake shoes for railway cars. The case was submitted upon the pleadings and stipulation of the parties as to the facts. �The validity of the patent is, for the purposes of this suit, admitted, but the defendant denies the infringement, and this is the only issue in the case. It seems that in the construc- tion of car-wheels the tires or peripheries are slightly bevelled outward from the flanges, in order to secure a slight outward pressure upon the rails and to relieve the flanges of some portion of the strain put upon them in holding the wheels upon the track; and that in stopping the cars it is desirable that the brakes should be bevelled in an opposite direction, to correspond and fit closely to the bevel of the wheels, although this is not always done. �Varions patents, English and American, were introduced by the defendant, to exhibit the state of the art prior to the issue of complainant's patent. It appears from them that car brakes were originally constructed in a single piece, attached to the end of a beam running across the car. This method of construction, however, was open to the objection, that when that portion of the shoe (technically called the sole) applied to the flanges was worn out, the whole shoe ����