Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/890

 878 FEDERAL REFOBTEB. �question in the case of Matthews v. Shoenherger, 4 Fed. Eep. 635. In that case, Judge Blatchford, speaking of the first patent, says : "The first claim is not a claim to any mechan- ism; but, if not a claim to a function, is a claim to a mode of operation. It amounts to a claim to inserting a stopper through the mouth of a bottle, and then pressing it upwards till it is closed tight against a seat inside. It seems to be intended to cover every form of stopper, and any form of mouth, and any means of pressure, and any arrangement of seat. As a claim thus broad it cannot be sustained. It must be limited to the mechanism described, having the mode of operation described. The stopper, to infringe, must be in- serted through the mouth of the finished bottle substantially as the plaintiff's is, and the pressure upwards must be made by mechanism and not by the gas in the liqnid. • • • As to the second claim the specification says : ' I am aware that an internai flap, valve, or door, acted upon by a spring, fioat, 01 counterweight, bas been used to close the orifice of vessels, as an ink holder or oil vessel, to keep out dust, etc., but intended to give way on a very slight pressure. Such arraiigement, however, could not make a stopper which would be Air-tight.' This statement shows that it was not new to prfcss from without an internai valve closing the orifice of a vessel, such closing taking place by the action of a spring, and such pressure being made against the outer surface of the valve to open the orifice. This being so, the second claim of the re-issue must be limited to substantially such a form of stopper as the specification shows, with substantially such a prolongation or extension in an outward direction, if, indeed, the claim can be made at ail, in respect to the facil- ity afforded for opening the stopper, in view of the admitted prior arrangement." �Speaking of the first claim of the second patent, Judge Blatchford says: "The claim is to a mechanism, to a phys- ical structure, to the combination of a bottle which bas a neck, and h as the interior of its neck suitably formed to receive the stopper, with a stopper constructed as stated in the claim. This means a stopper «onstructed as described. ��� �