the working art. No one made any practical use of it. No one in the art selected D.P.G. from the several accelerators named in its tables, and used it in the vulcanization of rubber." The decision illustrates again the difficulty of using papers read before a technical society as anticipations of a workable practical process patent, especially when the author of the paper, even in such ambiguous language as was used on the witness stand in this instance, belittles the worth of the disclosure.

But they have a distinct place within the Patent Office as limiting the breadth of the claims. Their exact disclosure should be delineated by the Examiner, and only claims allowed which denote an inventive advance.

W. B. JOHNSON.

STAR CAN OPENER CO. v. OWEN DYNETO CO., C. C. A. 2d, Dec. 24, 1926. Hugh, Cir. J.

The two patents to Anderson 1,360,256, Nov. 30, 1920, and 1,528,178, March 3, 1925, were both for scissors-like levers, upon one end of one of which is mounted a rotary cutter, and upon the opposed end of the other of which a roller, the axes of the roller and cutter being parallel and each of such a length as to permit the cutter to operate on the outside of the can just below the level of its lid, while the roller rests upon the lid and bears upon the inside of the flange of the can.

In one patent the roller is knurled and manually driven by a crank, in the other it is smooth and in this latter patent a knurled roller is mounted upon the same axis as the rotary cutter, but of a smaller diameter than it. and manually driven. The commercial form, however, seems to have been that of the first patent with the knurled roller also attached to the rotary cutter.

The infringing device was a copy of the commercial form, except that the levers were of the nut cracker type, which the Court held to be the equivalent of the scissors

type. In operation the plane of the rotary cutter edge was normal to the side of the can.

The domestic prior art was disclosed by Wolfer 1,024,543, April 30, 1912, and comprises scissors-like levers with a rotary cutter having a rigidly attached friction wheel upon the end of one arm, and manually driven, while the corresponding end of the second arm carries a friction wheel adapted to mesh against the edge of the first friction wheel, when the arms close, off the can. The cutting wheel is designed to operate upon the can top, the friction wheels, respectively above and below the flange, the plane of the cutting edge being parallel to the side of the can.

A German patent to Weifel 282,768, very closely resembles Wolfer, and one to Janzon, 186,518, as also a British patent 1318 of 1916, was very similar to Anderson, except that they were designed to be clamped to a table and held inoperative.

Moreover, both Wolfer and Wiegel "cut out" the top of the can, while Anderson cut it off.

The Anderson patents were held valid and infringed. A careful study of the art cited by the defense, shows that the patent is upheld by a very narrow margin of invention over the prior art.

W. B. JOHNSON.

OF GENERAL AND PERSONAL INTEREST

Mr. Louis Berkowitz, an assistant examiner of Division 44, resigned March 31, 1927. Mr. Berkowitz was appointed December 31, 1927, from Delaware, and has been examining Class 62, Refrigeration, and Class 221, Dispensing. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with the degree of B. S. in Chemical Engineering, and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, having taken a law course at George Washington University.

Mr. Charles W. Levinson, an associate examiner in Division 31, resigned April 11, 1927. Mr. Levinson was appointed March 7, 1917, from Maryland, and had been examining Class 196, Mineral Oil. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins with the degree of B. A. in Chemistry, and of George Washington University with the degree of LL.B. He is also a member of the District of Columbia Bar. It is understood that he is going with the American Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co., of New York City.

Mr. Harold B. Hood, a junior examiner appointed January 5, 1925, from Indiana, resigned April 25, 1927. Mr. Hood, who has been examining Classes 277, 251 and 137, in Division 39, has taken the degrees of B. S. from the Rose Polytechnic Institute, of Terre Haute, Indiana, and LL. B. from George Washington University. He is going with Fay, Oberlin & Fay, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Frank Wilen, an assistant examiner of Division 43, resigned April 23, 1927. Mr. Wilen, who was appointed September 1, 1923, from Maryland, had been examining Classes 128 and 167, Surgery and Medicines. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with the degree of B. S., and of Georgetown University with the degree of LL. B.

Mr. Stanley Bialos, an assistant examiner in Division 50, resigned April 30. Mr. Bialos, who was appointed July 2, 1923, from Ohio, had been examining Class 134, Paints and Varnishes and Lacquers. He has taken the degree of B. S. in Chemical Engineering from the Case School of Applied Sciences, and the degree of LL. B. from Georgetown University. He is going with Mr. Charles S. Evans, of San Francisco, California.

Mr. George J. Schottler, an assistant examiner of Division 51, resigned May 4, 1927. Mr. Schottler was appointed August 1, 1923, from Minnesota, and had been examining Classes 179 and 250, Telephony and Radiant Energy, respectively. He has taken the degrees of B. S. and E. E. from the University of Minn, and the degree of LL. B. from George Washington. He is going to be associated with General Motors in their Washington office.

GOLF

The regular spring handicap golf tournament was started April 24, 1927. In the first round Erickson won from Quiggle, Tarlton from Bryant, Buchanan from Whalen, Seymour from Alexander (default), Ralston from Dew, Gregg from Whitman, and Stringham from Clark. This accounts for all matches in the first round except the one between Merchant and Heath.

In the ladder match games the most striking feature during the month of April has been the rapid rise through the ranks of primary examiner Giles. A secondary feature has been the descent through the ranks of the Chairman of the Golf Committee.

An inter-departmental league was organized with the adoption of a constitution on April 4th. Representation in the tournament to be played at the Manor Club in June will be on a departmental basis. The intention is to have a preliminary round robin tournament during May for the purpose of selecting the players to represent the Department of Commerce and if the Department of Commerce enters two or three teams (as they are entitled to do) the Patent Office will probably be represented by about three players. In the round robin games six or eight players will be entered from the Patent Office.

EMERSON STRINGHAM, Chairman, Golf Committee.