Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of California.

In Equity. Bill by the Pacific Cable Bailway Company against the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company for infringements of letters patent No. 189,201, issued April 3,1877, to William Eppelsbeimer, for an “improved clamp apparatus for tramways or street railways.” The circuit court entered a decree sustaining the validity of the third claim, finding infringement thereof by defendant, perpetually enjoining the same in future, and referring the cause to a master to take an account of profits and damages. From this decree, defendant appeals.

The patent contains seven claims, hut at the trial the issues were confined to the third claim, which reads as follows:

“The combination with the shank. E, as described, of the hinged clamping jaws, e3, together with the operating slide, F, its crossbar, f2, and bearing rollers, f, as and for the purpose specified. ”

In the specifications the gripping device is thus described:

“In an aperture extending longitudinally through, the shank, E, is arranged the slide bar or rod, F. Upon the lower end of the shank, E, are hinged the jaws, e3, between which, in suitable semicircular recesses or channels, b', on their inner faces, the cable is grasped. The outer faces of these jaws are inclined outwardly from the hinge joint to their lower edges, as shown at e4. Fig. 3, and upon these faces are arranged to bear-friction rollers, f, which are mounted on axles, f', arranged above the jaws, and fixed in, and carried bj', a crosspiece, f2, which is fixed on the lower end of the slide, F. e6 is a pin set in one of the eve pieces of the hinge joint of the jaws, and projecting "above one of the said friction rollers, f.

“G, G, are frames hinged to the lower end of the shank, E, and carrying upon one or both ends the guide rollers, g, each pair being- arranged to engage between them the cable, D, and to support it and guide it to the jaws, e3. These frames are pressed downward, and their rollers thus held upon the cable by a spring, g', while an angle arm of stud, g2, fixed in one of them, as seen in Fig. 2, and extending up and over the crosspiece, f2, on the slide, f, operates to swing the frame, and, consequently, to part, the rollers; g, when the slide is raised, and it is desired to disengage the gripping device from the cable. Two half rollers, H, (carried by spring arms, h, which extend downward from the shank, E. and pass under the friction rollers, f, carried by the slide, F, and which said rollers are brought side by side to form one roller to support and guide the cable to the jaws, e8, by the downward movement of the slide, the rollers, f, pressing upon the curves, h', in the arms, h,) may be employed, instead of the rollers, g, or they may be employed at one end of the jaws in connection with a single pair of the rollers, g, ini frames, G, at the other end of the jaws, as shown in the drawings, (sheet 1.) The rollers, H, are operated to release the cable when the gripping device is disengaged therefrom by the raising of the slide, F, when, the spring arms, h, being relieved from pressure by the rollers, f, the two half rollers will separate from each other, and the cable may pass between them. The slide and its shank piece, E. may be conveniently raised or lowered by means of a lever, as shown at I, Figs. 4 and 5.

“The operation of my invention is as follows: ® * * The shank is lowered until the rollers or pulleys, e2, rest upon the cable, and the rollers or wheels, e, rest on the track or rail, c' The slide, F, is now forced downward in the shank, B, and, by means of the pressure of the rollers, f, on the outer faces of the jaws, e3, the jaws are closed upon the cable, and grip it tightly, while the rollers, g, or, H, support and guide the cable to the jaws. The truck or car is thus set in motion, and, as the gripping device moves along with the cable, it encounters in its progress the lower pulleys, d, and the upper pulleys, d'. ”