KENNEDY VALVE MANUF'G CO. v. CHAPMAN VALVE MANUF'G CO.

KENNEDY VALVE MANUF’G CO. v. CHAPMAN VALVE MANUF’G CO. (Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit. April 29, 1897.) No. 208. Patents—Limitation by Prtor Art—Valve Indicators. The Kennedy patent, No. 404.844, for a valve indicator, if valid at air,. must be limited, in view of the prior state of the art, to the specific structure shown and described; and is narrow. 75 Fed. 277, affirmed. Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts. This was a bill in equity by the Kennedy Valve Manufacturing Company against the Chapman Valve Manufacturing Company for alleged infringement of the first claim of letters patent Ho. 404,844, issued June 11, 1889, to Daniel Kennedy, for a valve indicator. The circuit court was inclined to the opinion that the claim was valid, but was limited to the specific structure shown and described, and, being so construed, was not infringed by defendant’s valve indicator. 75 Fed. 277. From this decree the complainant has appealed. William P. Preble, Jr., for appellant. William H. Chapman, for appellee. Before PUTNAM, Circuit Judge, and WEBB and ALDRICH, District Judges. [MAJORITY — PER CURIAM.] PER CURIAM. Assuming that the device of the complainant below covers a patentable invention, which, however, we do not determine, we agree with the circuit court, for the reasons stated by it, that the patent is so narrow that the respondent below did not infringe it. The decree of the circuit court is affirmed, and the costs of appeal are adjudged to the appellee.