Lentz

This proceeding is brought on behalf of the plaintiff, trustee in bankruptcy of the property of a co-partnership known as Everhot Heater Sales-Company, to recover possession of a certain lot of water heaters which, on the day the bankruptcy petition was filed and the adjudication made, were on the premises of the bankrupt. The defendant, by claim and delivery action in the state court, caused possession of the heaters to be taken by the sheriff. In that behalf he represented the manufacturer of the heaters, and the question hereto be determined is as to whether complete or qualified ownership in the water heaters had passed to the bankrupt firm, or whether, as claimed by the defendant, the transaction was- *562 one where the bankrupt partnership had rights of a bailee only.

It must be conceded under the law that property found in the hands of a bankrupt, as to which the latter possesses no ownership right of any quality whatsoever, does not become part of the bankrupt estate. At the time the evidence was taken- in this matter I indicated that my preliminary conclusion would be that, at least as between the manufacturer of the water heaters and the bankrupt partnership, title to…