Joseph P. Bradley

“ Justice Grier, in a case decided at the circuit, 'It is true that, in England, the chancellor will generally not grant a final and perpetual injunction in patent cases, when the answer denies the validity of the patent, without sending the parties to law to have that question decided. But even there the rule is not universal: it is a practice founded more on convenience than necessity. ”

“ That patent is not at all for the process which Cochrane claims. If valid, and if, in using his process, Cochrane is obliged to use any device secured to Cogswell and McKiernan, it does not detract in the slightest degree from his own patent. One invention may include within it many others, and each and all may be valid at the same time. ”

“ The forcing of the air-currents upward through the screen and film of meal carried on it and against the downward fall of the meal, instead of forcing them through the bolting-cloth in the same direction with the meal, is also a mere matter of form, and does not belong to the substance of the process. The substantial operation of the currents of air in both cases is to take up the light impurities and bear them away on the aggregate current through the open fiue, and thus to separate them from the middlings. This, too, may be an improvement on Cochrane's method; but it is only an improvement. ”

“ The bolting-chest is made tight and close on all sides except the opening at the top, so that the currents of air may be forced to escape by that exit.
Now, except in the use of a flat sieve or screen in place of reels, it is difficult to see any substantial difference between these two methods. The defendants use, in addition, brushes, which revolve on the under side of the screen, so as to keep the meshes thereof constantly clean and free ”

“ As to the patent next in order, namely, the original patent number 37,319, which relates specially to the use of what the patentee calls the pump for introducing the meal into the chest and reels, whilst the valve arrangement used by the defendants may be an equivalent in the general combination with the said pump described by Cochrane, yet, taken by themselves, as separate pieces of machinery, they are not the same, and the use of the one is not an infringement of a patent for the other. ”

“ The reissue, number 6,594, contains three claims, and number 6,595, one claim.
The first claim of reissue number 6,594 is for the collecting chamber (used for the purpose aforesaid) in combination with the bolter, air-pipes, and valves for feeding and delivering the meal without allowing the air to pass therewith. Now, although the defendants use a flat bolter instead of a reel, and use different kinds of valves for feeding and delivering the meal without allowingt he air to pass, yet they employ the combination of devices described in this claim. ”

“ Decree reversed, and cause remanded with directions to enter a decree for the complainants, and to proceed therein in conformity with this opinion.
MR. JUSTICE CLIFFORD, with whom concurred MR. JUSTICE STRONG, dissenting. ”