Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/930

 9 IS FEDESAIi BEPdBtSB. �means subfltafitiallj the same. There is lio difference in prin. «ijile between them. The form of hinge employed in the de- fendant's olasp can be no more than the mechanical equivalent for the hinge employed in the Mosser olasp; but I incline to the opinion that all that bas been effected by the defendant is a oolorable change in form. �But it is said the defendant has been awarded a patent, No. 221,377, by virtue of which he makes the clasps com- plained of, and therefore has the determination of the patent- office that the change he has introduoed is substantial, and he is therefore entitled to go to final hearing before being subjected to an injunction. Bnt no such patent is set up in the answer, and therefore no question as to the effect of the patent referred to can arise uponthis motion. �Upon the papers as they stand, showing, as theydo, among other thinga, a general acquiesoence m the plaintiff's claim nnder these patents, I see no reason for doubt upon the question of infringement of the Messer patents, and must grant an injunction, provided the Messer patents are valid. But the validity of the Messer patents is denied for want of novelty. The only evidence in support of this charge relates to clasps made and sold by one Eohlman more than two years prior to the Louis Messer application. The Eohlman clasp consists of— �A base plate, a box extending over a considerable part of the base plate and fastcned thereto, a cap extending over the rest of the base plate and hinged to the front edge of the box br means of two ears fonned on the cap, on which the cap swings. The inner end of the cap has a tail-piece bent down under the box, so as to rest upon the free end of a spring, which is secured at the other end upon the bottomof the base plate. The base plate has a stud whereon the cap resta when shut, over which an eyelet in the article intended to be clasped slips, and so is held. �The differences between the Kohlman olasp and the Messer clasp are these: The Messer clasp dispenses with the box fastened upon and covering half of the base, to which the cap is attached by means of the ears, dispenses with the ears upon which the cap tums, and makes the tail-piece of the cap to engage directly with the base plate, without the em- ployaient of either pintle or ears, and to rest upon the spring ��� �