Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/116

 ZANE V. PECK. 301 �Zane and another v. Peck Brothers & Co. {Circuit Court, D. Connecticttt. June 25, 1881.) �1. Lbttkrs Patent — Self-Olosino Faucets — iNPBmGEMBNT— Anticipation. �Letters patent for an improvement in self-closing faucets, granted June 27, 1865, to Nathaniel Jenkins, are infringed by a faucet diftering from the de- vice used by D'Este & Co. only in the particular that what was in that device a swivel, is in this an extension of the screw follower ; but not anticipated by the French patent granted to Samy and Lenormand, in 1861, in wliose device the valve can be aided in being drawn to its seat by turning the screw in the opposite direction from that required to throw the valve from its seat, while the complainant's patent has a loose joint, i. e., a joint in which the parts act upon each other'bya pushing motion, and not by pulling, between the swivel and the valve. �2. Evidence. �The proof must be clear to show that an old patent upon an article used in every-day life, and which has long been in demand by the public, was an- ticipated by an article made in the city of New York 23 years bef ore the knowl- edge of such anticipation was ascertained. �Thos. William Clarke, for plaintiff. �M. B. Philipp and Charles R. Ingersoll, for defendant. �Shipman, D. J. This is a bill in equity to restrain the defendant from the alleged infringement of two letters patent — one granted June 27, 1865, to Nathaniel Jenkins; and the other, reissue No. 7,571, granted March 27, 1877, to Francis Eoach, assigner to the plaintiffs. The original was dated September 8, 1868. Each patent is owned by the plaintiffs, and is for an improved self-closing faucet. �The validity of the Jenkins patent was sustained by Judge Shepley, in the district of Massachusetts, in the suit of the plaintiffs against D'Este, McKenzie & Bate. The plaintiffs then brqught a bill in equity in this district against the present defendants, alleging the use of the same device which had been held by Judge Shepley to be an infringement. The ' defendant was a licensee of D'Este & Co. In- fringement was here admitted, and the validity of the patent was again sustained. �The Jenkins invention was deacribed in the opinion, in the last- mentioned case, as follows : �" The invention consisted in opening a self-closing faucet by means of a quick-threaded screw follower, the threads of which are inclined at so great a pitch that when the power to turn the screw is reraoved, the pressure of the water, and of a spiral spring under the valve, forces the valve to its seat, where it is held by the pressure of the water. The speeiflcation says that another part of the invention consisted in combining with the valve and screw-fol- lower a swivel, so that the rotatory movement of the spindle shall not be ��� �