Syllabus.

as to create an exception to the grant, notwithstanding the ignorance of the patentee. These suggestions indicated the difficulties of some of the questions which might arise in the application of the statute; but in the present case we think that difficulty does not exist. Where a location of a vein or lode has been made under the law, and its boundaries have been specifically marked on the surface, so as to be readily traced, and notice of the location is recorded in the usual books of record within the district, we think it may safely be said that the vein or lode is known to exist, although personal knowledge of the fact may not be possessed by the applicant for a patent of a placer claim. The information which the law requires the locator to give to the public must be deemed sufficient to acquaint the applicant with the existence of the vein or lode.

A copy of the patent is not in the record, so we cannot speak positively as to its contents; but it will be presumed to contain reservations of all veins or lodes known to exist, pursuant to the statute. At any rate, as already stated, it could not convey property which had already passed to others. A patent of the government cannot, any more than a deed of an individual, transfer what the grantor does not possess.

Judgment affirmed.

MOSLER SAFE AND LOCK COMPANY v. MOSLER.

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO.

No. 248. Argued April 24, 25, 1888. Decided May 14, 1888.

Claims 1 and 2 of letters patent No. 281,640 granted to Moses Mosler, July 17, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, namely, "1. An angle bar for safe-frames, consisting substantially as before set forth, of a right-angled iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, leaving a curve facing the uncut side, whereby said uncut side may be bent to bear upon said curve to form a rounded corner. 2. An angle bar for safeframes, consisting, substantially as before set forth, of a right-angled

66

Opinion of the Court.

iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, with curved cuts meeting a right-angled cut, whereby the uncut side may be bent to form rounded corners," and the claim of letters patent No. 283,136 granted to Moses Mosler, August 14, 1883, for an improvement in bending angle irons, namely, The herein described process of bending angle irons, which consists in cutting away a portion of one web by a cut which severs the two webs at their junction, for a distance equal to the arc of the corner to be bent, and removes sufficient of metal in front of the single part of the uncut web to permit the same to bend to the desired angle and to insure the edges of the opening meeting to form a close joint as the bar is bent, substantially as shown and described," are invalid.

After a patent is granted for an article described as made by causing it to pass through a certain method of operation to produce it, the inventor cannot afterwards, on an independent application, secure a patent for the method or process of producing the identical article covered by the previous patent, which article was described in that patent as produced by the method or process sought to be covered by taking out the second patent.

The claim of letters patent No. 273,585 granted to Moses Mosler, March 6, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, being for the combination, in a fire-proof safe, of the frames, the sheet metal cover, bent around the top sides and lower corners, with projecting metal bars, and removable bottom plate, substantially as described, and claim 3 of letters patent No. 281,640, granted to Moses Mosler, July 17, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, namely, " 3. In a safe, the combination of the front and back frames, formed of single bent angle bars, having one side cut away to leave curved ends, upon which the uncut side is bent to form rounded corners, and a metal sheet, E, bent around and secured to said frames to form the top end sides of the safe, substantially as described," are invalid.

BILL IN EQUITY for the infringement of letters patent. Decree dismissing the bill. Complainant appealed. The case is stated in the opinion.

Mr. George J. Murray for appellant.

Mr. James Moore for appellees.

MR. JUSTICE BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit in equity, brought in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio, by the Mosler Safe and Lock Company, an Ohio corporation, against Mosler,

Opinion of the Court.

Bahmann and Company, another Ohio corporation, for the infringement of three letters patent of the United States, each of them granted to Moses Mosler, namely, No. 273,585, March 6, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, on an application filed February 5, 1883; No. 281,640, July 17, 1883, for an improvement in fire-proof safes, on an application filed December 27, 1881; and No. 283,136, August 14, 1883, for an improvement in bending angle irons, on an application filed December 11, 1882.

The answer denies that any one of the three patents shows any invention, and also denies that Mosler was the first and original inventor, or an inventor at all, of the alleged inventions which the patents purport to secure, or of any of them, and also denies that any one of the inventions has any utility. It also denies infringement, and sets up various references on the question of novelty, in regard to all three of the patents.

A replication was put in, and proofs were taken by both parties, and, on a hearing, the court dismissed the bill on the merits; its opinion, which accompanies the record, being reported in 22 Fed. Rep. 901. That opinion sets forth sufficiently the nature of the inventions covered by the three patents, and the contents of the specifications and claims, and we adopt its statement, as follows:

"1. No. 273,585; application filed February 5, 1883; letters dated March 6, 1883. The object of this invention, as stated in the specification, is to provide an improved means of constructing the outer casing, so that the safe may be filled from the bottom. The front and back frames of the safe are formed from angle bars, which have one side cut away, where the bends of the corners are to be made, and the uncut side bent around to close the joint in the corner, and form a frame with its outer corners rounded. The meeting joint at the bottom of the frame is overlapped by a short angle piece, which is screwed or riveted to the frame, uniting the joint. A sheetmetal cover is bent around the top sides and around the lower rounded corners of the frames. Upon each edge of this cover, at the bottom of the safe and between the angle frames, are secured metal bars, which project beyond the edges of the

Opinion of the Court.

cover to form rests for the bottom plate. The safe is made with the customary sheet-metal box forming the interior receptacle and secured to the cast-metal door frame in the usual manner. The top of the caster frame conforms to the curve of the rounded corners, and, after the bottom plate is pushed into its place, the inner bolts which secure the caster frames pass through the bottom plate which they secure and the angle frames. The patentee does not claim the bent angle frames nor the safe composed of these frames and the sheetmetal cover bent around them, (the same being shown and claimed by him in an application then pending,) but limits his claim to the combination, in a fire-proof safe, of the frames, the sheet-metal cover, bent around the top sides, and lower corners, with projecting metal bars, and removable bottom plate, substantially as described.

"2. No. 281,640. This patent differs from No. 273,585 in that a particular description is given, in the specification, of the cuts in the side of the angle bar, where the bends are to be made; but the patentee specifies that the shape of the cut may be varied, it only being essential that sufficient metal be cut away on one side of the angle bar to permit the other or uncut side to be bent, the cut nearest the uncut side being in the form of a curve or curves, so that, when said uncut side is bent to form the corner, it will bear upon and be supported by the curved end or portion of the cut, and thus be rounded by a curve similar to the curve of the cut. The claims are as follows: 1. An angle bar for safe-frames, consisting, substantially as before set forth, of a right-angled iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, leaving a curve facing the uncut side, whereby said uncut side may be bent to bear upon said curve to form a rounded corner. 2. An angle bar for safe frames, consisting, substantially as before set forth, of a rightangled iron bar, one of the sides of which is cut away, with curved cuts meeting a right-angled cut, whereby the uncut side may be bent to form rounded corners. 3. In a safe, the combination of the front and back frames, formed of single bent angle bars, having one side cut away to leave curved ends, upon which the uncut side is bent to form rounded cor

Opinion of the Court.

ners, and a metal sheet, E, bent around and secured to said frames to form the top and sides of the safe, substantially as described.'

"3. No. 283,136, dated August 14, 1883, application filed' December 11, 1882. The claim is as follows: The herein described process of bending angle irons, which consists in cutting away a portion of one web by a cut which severs the two webs at their junction, for a distance equal to the arc of the corner to be bent, and removes sufficient of metal in front of the single part of the uncut web to permit the same to bend to the desired angle and to insure the edges of the opening meeting to form a close joint as the bar is bent, substantially as shown and described.' In the specification the sides of the angle bar are designated by the letters A and B. A represents the uncut web, and B the cut web. The outer opening of the cut, C, is made by lines at angles of forty-five degrees to the edge of the web, so that, when the bar is bent, the edges of this opening meet each other in a true mitre. The inner opening, D, which extends outward within converging curved lines from the angle of the bar to where it meets the opening C, extending inward from the edge of B, and within converging lines, (the letter X suggesting the shape of the entire opening, excepting that the outer opening extends nearly to the angle of the bar,) has a dovetailed shape, bounded by curved lines described from points upon the mitre line and the face of the uncut web A. The curved ends of the web B abut against the uncut side when the bar is bent, making a close joint. The patentee states, in the specification, that 'the shape of the opening or cut-away portions of web B may be varied at will, so long as the meeting line or lines be not extended beyond the space bounded by the rounded corner, and the edge lines extended to web A.' The angle bars cut out as described, it is stated in the specification, may be bent to the proper form by the machine represented by Fig. 6 in the accompanying drawings. In this, E represents a metal block having upwardly projecting sides screwtapped to receive clamping screw F. The opposite corners of the block are rounded to fit the inner curve of the desired