Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/825

 KNOX V. QCICKSILVEB MINING 00. 811 �bottorn of the furnace in combination with one or more in- clined planes, substantially as described. (3) An automatic- ally feeding furnace, in which the ore is carried by the super- incumbent weight in position to be acted upou by the beat, substantially as described. �The second patent of the complainants is for an improve- ment in the furnace, by substituting for the pigeon-hole par- titions a series of vertical arches, each lower arch receding from the one above, so that the angle would be greater than the slope at which the ore would lie, thus preventing the filling up of the passages. With the pigeon-hole partitions, the finer portions of the ore •would gradually work into the holes and fill them up. The receding arches obviate this diflBculty. This second patent also embraces a new device for feeding the fire with the brush used for fuel; but as no infringement of this invention is alleged, it need not be fur- ther referred to. �The second claim mentioned, relating to the contraction of the furnace at the bottom in combination with inclined planes, was not pressed on the argument. It was substan- tially conceded that it could not be sustained. The case of the complainants must rest, therefore, upon the claim for thô cross draft with the pigeon-hole partitions, or the receding arches, and the claim for an automatically-feeding furnace in which the ore is constantly carried by the superincumbent weight into a position to be acted upon by the beat. �This last claim cannot be sustained. There is no auto- matically-feeding furnace in the case. The furnace described is fed by hand at the top of the ore chamber, and no con- trivance is shown for feeding it in any other way. The claim does not correspond with or cover the specifications, and in such cases the patentees are confined to what is expressed in their claim. Merrill v. Yeomans, 9e U. S. 568. �But, assuming that the claim could be extended so as to cover a continuously-working furnace, the position of the pat- entees with reference to it would not be improved. The mode _of operation by which ore is constantly subjected to beat was not discovered or invented by them, It had been ����