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working faces doubly inclined, as at k k', Fig. 3. Both the breast-beam H and stretcher-bar K are so arranged as to be easily inserted in their respective mortises, where they are confined in proper longitudinal position by the standard A' at one end, and a button, as at L, at the other end. The said beam and. bar are capable also of lateral movement, to enable them to be, moved backward to give room for a larger hide being wound upon the rollers, and also to facilitate their entire removal from

the machine after the hide has been stretched and is to be removed to give place for another.

"The methods of treating the hides and the operation of the mechanism above described are substantially as follows: A hide, as it comes from the vat, wrinkled and fulled, and with its various parts of unequal thickness, is placed over the table or breast-beam H, and one of its ends carried under the stretcher-bar K, and secured to the roller E by the clamp e,

Opinion of the Court.

the other end hanging free in front of the machine, as shown in Fig. 2. The operator now connects the roller E to the continuously revolving gear D by means of the handle G and clutch F, and the roller E slowly revolves, winding the hide around its surface, and drawing the said hide over the friction table or beam H, and around the stretcher-bar K. When any part of the hide whose thickness should be reduced, or whose wrinkled or fulled-up portion is to be smoothed out, passes over the table or beam H, the operator, who stands in front of said beam, applies pressure by hand to the proper portions, thereby increasing the friction between the under surface of the hide and the surface of the bar H, and causing the onward movement of such portions of the hide to be retarded. The portions thus pressed upon, therefore, are more severely stretched than other parts of the hide, and by proper manipulation by the attendant its thickness is rendered uniform, and it passes to the stretching-bar K in a smooth condition, having been longitudinally stretched upon the beam H.

"In passing over the bar K the hide is transversely stretched by the doubly inclined sides k k', from which it passes onward to the roller E, winding about the said roller uniformly and smoothly. The machine is now stopped, the hide removed, another secured to the roller E, and the operations above described are repeated.

"From the foregoing description my improved machine will be readily understood; and it will be seen that my improvement in the method of stretching hides results from the combination of the mechanical agencies mentioned, coupled with the manipulation of the hide as it passes over the friction table or beam, at which time it is smoothed from wrinkles and reduced to a uniform thickness."

The patent has three claims, in these words: "1. The combination of a friction table or beam, over which the hide is drawn, a stretcher, substantially as described, and a revolving roller, to which the hide is secured and around which it is wound as the hide is drawn over the friction-beam and stretcher, substantially as set forth. 2. The combination of a revolving roller, to which the hide is secured and around

Opinion of the Court.

which it is wound, a laterally yielding stretcher and a laterally yielding friction table or beam, substantially as described. 3. The improvement in the method of stretching hides, which consists in dragging the hide over a stretcher, and also over a friction table or beam, by means of a revolving roller, to which the hide is secured, as described, whereby as the hide is passed over the table or beam, the thicker portions of the hide are detained or made to lag by pressure applied to such thicker portions, to increase at such points the friction between the hide and the table, substantially as specified."

The master states correctly, in his report, that Coupe, being engaged in the manufacture of rawhide leather, was experimenting on methods of stretching it, and finally perfected the method and invented the machine for which he obtained the patent; that the defendant Weatherhead, contemplating for the first time the manufacture of rawhide leather in the fall of 1879, desiring to have a stretching machine, and hearing that Coupe had invented one, and having seen Coupe's patent, applied to him, on January 5, 1880, for a license to use it or for the sale of one of the machines; that Weatherhead, not being able to effect that object, got up a machine of his own, which Coupe notified him was an infringement on the patent; and that, the defendants persisting in using their machine, notwithstanding such notice, the present suit was begun.

Judge Lowell, in his opinion, says that rawhide leather is a hide which has been stripped of its hair, and softened, and brought to a state in which it is very soft, flabby and much wrinkled, but has not been tanned. He then proceeds: "The specification describes a table or beam, over which the hide is to pass, and which is breast high, in order that the workmen may conveniently use it; then the hide passes over a bar or stretcher, which is somewhat arched or crowned, in order to stretch the hide transversely; it then goes to a roller, to which it is clamped and over which it is slowly wound.

"The workman accelerates or retards the passage of the hide by lifting it up or pressing it down, and in this way the thicker parts secure a greater longitudinal pull from the roller than do the thinner parts, and the bar, by its shape, tends to

Opinion of the Court.

stretch the hide laterally as it passes from the table to the roller. The table and the bar have a lateral yield or adjustment to accommodate hides of different sizes.

"The first claim is for the combination of the table, the stretcher, and the roller; the second for the lateral yield in the table and stretcher; the third for 'the improvement in the method of stretching hides, which consists in dragging the hide over a stretcher, and also over a friction table or beam, by means of a revolving roller, to which the hide is secured, as described, whereby, as the hide is passed over the table or beam, the thicker portions of the hide are detained or made to lag by pressure applied to such thicker portions, to increase at such points the friction between the hide and the table, substantially as specified.'

"There was a machine for stretching leather for belts well known to the patentee and to some others in the trade, which was made by modifying a splitting machine. Mr. Coupe did not, in fact, make his improvement upon this stretcher, but it is much more like his machine than anything else which preceded it.

"This old machine was used upon hard-tanned leather to adapt it to be made into belts for machinery, for which purpose it must be stretched with great power, eighteen or twenty thousand pounds to the square inch, in order to take out of it all possibility of further stretching. This was done by passing the leather through a trough which was brought up against the stretcher-bar with the force we have mentioned. Since the plaintiffs' method and machine have become known, Mr. Davis, an accomplished worker in leather, has tried with some success an enlarged copy of the old belt-leather stretcher, to do the work of the plaintiffs' machine. He is obliged to use a greater number of men or boys to tend the machine and prevent the pressure from ruining the hide, which, of itself, tends to prove that the machines are not alike; and we have no doubt that, if the plaintiffs' devices are considered an improvement upon this old machine, they embody a patentable improvement. They omit the means for producing the pres sure, and add a table not useful in the old machine, but which

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in the new machine, enables the workmen to exert sufficient pressure.

"The defendants at one time used a machine which closely resembles that of the plaintiffs. At present they have one which works with a trough and bar, like the old belt-stretcher, with the addition of a table over which the leather passes, and which enables the workmen to spread out and manipulate the hide; upon the edge of this table is a piece of metal with grooves spreading outward, and these grooves have a tendency to stretch the hide laterally, or at least to prevent it from wrinkling; that is, to keep it to its lateral stretch, which seems to be much the same thing. The slot and bar are so placed in relation to each other that a hide is not squeezed between them, as in the old belt-stretcher; but, in the legitimate attempt to avoid infringement of the plaintiffs' invention, which the defendants intended to copy as far as they lawfully might, because they had failed to come to terms with the plaintiffs for a license, they now put into the trough a piece of board, supported at either end upon blocks, about one-third the width of the trough. The operation of the machine as thus modified is known only to the defendants themselves, and Mr. Weatherhead testifies that it exerts a pressure upon the hide, how great in pounds we do not know. We understand him to say that, by passing the hide through the machine several times, all parts come sooner or later under the board, and thus substantially all the stretching is done by its aid.

"Infringement of the plaintiffs' first claim is not escaped by the use of this piece of board, for, although it causes the defendants' machine to approach more nearly the old beltstretcher, still the operation must remain to some extent at least like that of the patent. The manipulation with the table and grooves must enable the operator to use all the elements of the first claim upon two-thirds of the width of the hide each time it passes through the machine, and it depends altogether on the thickness and stability of the board whether the whole operation is or is not copied. The very presence of this removable board is evidence that the old machine is not satisfactory for the new use.