Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/232

 220 FEDBnXlIiT BEPOBTBB. �patent is an ibiprovemeut.iii bueiboard wagons, whereby a sustainiiig spring or springs are employed to supplement the functions of the buokboafdj'bracingit at its center of press- ure, and yieldmg with if uat its lends, in response to the pressureiat the center. SHortly ^priorto the complainant's invention,' George; E, Norris -introduoed a iceintral supporting spring in the construction of;|spriug-board wagons, and ob- tained a patent for; his improvement September 8, 1874. Siaderice was a C-shaped spring, to the endsoif.-whichlongi' tudinally conneoting braceixodsiiw'ere; fettached, which ex- tended ithe wholef^ength of tae'-Bpring-board, and were fast- ened at one end in the hind akle of the wagon,, and at the other to the: head block, in front, by nuts, which rendercd the brace-rods adoustable whea it might be desirable to reg- ulate' the tension of th^c apring. The spring^board at its cen- ter rested upon the steel spring so that the spring formed a support for the board, and measurably strengthened and steadied it. �The complainant's improvement presents a radical depart- ure from that of Norris in tharthis spring is rigidly fastened to the spring-board at the center, while the ends are allowed free play to elongate or retraot in response to pressure at the center. His specification ,describes a curved metallic spring of Wch length that when it is rigidly secured at the middle of its length to a batten oros&ing the buckboard at its center, or to the buckboard itSelf at its center, the ends' extend neariy tp the, ends.of the buckboard. , ,The end^ pif the spring are provided with a hook» wbich is received in a swinging link which is secured' to the buckboard by a hook or staple. Thus the ends pf the' 'spring are fpee to expand or retract, according to the mpvement of ,the buckboard at. the cwter; and, while in Norris' construction the spring and spring- board are independent of emh. other, in the complainant's they constitute practically a single device for the purpose of regulatihg the elasticityof 'the wagon. �The defendants have appropriated the complainant's im- provement, unless they have dispensed with that element of his combination which consists of the device for holding the ��� �