Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/524

 512 FEDERAL REPORTER. �Prary & Clark made the above-described change in their coffee-mills? It cannot be shown, and, indeed, it is not pretended, that the change is an improvement to the mill, or that thereby the cost of manufacture is lessened, or any other advantage is gained or useful purpose subserved. Manifestly the sole object is to produce a mill of which it can be affirmed that the hopper and grinding-shell are not cast integral, or formed m& single piece literally. But "the letter killeth;" and if the justice of the case is not to be sacrificed, regard must be had to the spirit rather than the phraseology of Strobridge's first claim. Truly the plaintifE's success was a barren victory, if by such an alteration as the one here adopted the injunction of this court can be evaded. But the expedient must fail of its purpose. The change is but colorable. Although cast in two pieces, yet when put together for use the hopper and grinding-shell are substantially and for ail practicable purposes "formed in a single piece." �If authority is needed for the proposition that a patent cannot be defeated by dividing the patented device into two parts, which, when combined, produce the same resuit in substantially the same way, it will be found in Wheeler v. Clipper Mower e Reaper Co. 6 Fisher, 2. �The affidavits on the part of the defendants, filed in answer to this rule, so often refer to the "Prenoh mill," that I have again given it the best and most careful examination and study of which I am capable. The resuit is that I am not only confirmed in the opinion that that mill did not antici- pate Strobridge's invention, but I am satisfied that it is not the prototype of the "Lloyd coffee-mill." �The following clear and, I think, exact statement in re- spect to the, "French mill" occurs in the affidavit of Mr. Eeese, the plaintifi's expert witness. He says: "In the ' French mill' the grinding-shell is not united or fastened in any way to the hopper ; but, on the oontrary, it is a loose and detached piece, which is held in its place and relation to the hopper by a metallic strap or step, bent to the shape of, and extending aoross and below, the said shell, and fastened ��� �