Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/928

This page needs to be proofread.

914 FEDERAL.. EEPOBTKE. �the wirea, was that of Glidden's earlier patent; and by group- ing ail these devices into one finished wire a resuit is ob- tained substantially like that shown in the final Glidden patent of November, 1874. There was nothing new in Glid- den's last patent, and no room for the claim of invention in the wire therein provided: �In the suits brought by the Washbum & Moen Manufac- turing Company and Isaac L. Elwood against Haish, the defendant is charged with infringement of the Hunt patent, the Smith patent, and the two Glidden patents. As already said, we consider the Smith patent and the last Glidden patent as unworthy of further consideration in connection with this case. �The proof shows that the defendant Haish manufactured a twisted fence wire, armed with a wire barb eut diagonally, so as to leave the points sharp, and which is bent in the form of an S, so as to clasp both wires and extend the sharp points in opposite directions from the wire. �Defendant claims that even if the Hunt, Kelly, and Glid- den patents are valid, he does not infringe, because his barb dififers easentially from the barb of either of the complain- ants' patents mainly in the fact that it cannot be used except in combination with a wire of at least two strands. Assum- ing the validity of the re-issue of Hunt, Kelly, and Glidden, there can be no doubt that Haish infringes Hunt's claim for "a fence wire provided with spurs" or barbs. It also in- fringes Kelly's idea of a rigid or fixed barb, held in place by the twisting of two wires together ; and Glidden's barb, made by bending a short piece of wire around the fence wire so as to leave the two sharp ends projecting to form the spurs or barbs i �Glidden's device for forming the barb is undoubtedly a very simple one, and rests very close to the border line be- tween mechanical skill and invention. After Hunt had made barbs by cutting sheet meta! into stars, or spur-pcrinted wheels, to be strung upon the wire by a hole through the'mid- dle, the points of the spurs boing neoessarily obtained by cut- ting the metal diagonally at the periphery of his wheel, and ����