This is a bill in equity, filed in the circuit court for the northern district of California, charging infringement of letters patent No. 216,506, for an improvement in oil cars, granted to M. Campbell Brown, June 17, 1879, and assigned to complainant. The original bill was filed November 4, 1889, against the Southern Pacific Company alone. The purpose of the bill was to restrain the railroad company from using or transferring in any way any railroad cars embracing the improvement described in complainant’s patent. On filing the bill, a bond in the sum of ?5,00G was given by the complainant, as required by the court, and thereupon a preliminary injunction was issued. November 26, 1889, *522 the complainant proceeded to take testimony in support of the bill. *On the 2d day of December, 1889, the Southern Pacific Company filed an answer admitting the averments of the bill, and alleging, among other things, as follows:

December 5, 1889, WMttier, Puller & Co. filed a petition entitled “Petition for Interpleader,” in wbicb it is alleged, among other things:

To tliis petition the defendant filed an answer December 7, 1889, admitting’ that it had no interest in the patent in. question, or in the cars of either the Standard Oil Company or Whittier, Fuller & Co., and consenting that the petitioners might defend the suit in their own names, with their own counsel, and at their own expense, and that the prayer of the petitioners to interplead might be granted. December 9, 1889, the complainant interposed a demurrer to the petition; and on that day the court ordered that complainant should within 10 days file an amended bill of complaint, making Whittier, Puller & Co. parties respondent, and that complainant should thereupon file a bond in the sum of $20,000 to indemnify the respondents, or either of them, for all damages they, or either of them, might sustain by reason of the preliminary injunction. Pursuant to this order the complainant, on the J9L!i day of December, 1889, filed an amended bill, which it ax>pears did not comply with the order of the court, and on motion it was struck from the files; and on December 31, 1889, the court made the further order that the complainant, on or before Friday, the 3d day of January, 1890, should file a second amended bill oí complaint, making respondents "Whittier, Fuller & Co. respondents in fact, and charging said Whittier, Fuller & Co., jointly with the Southern Pacific Company, with having infringed upon the letters patent sued on, and demanding an injunction against; all of said respondents. It was further ordered that a new Injunction should be issued, running against both of said respondents, and that upon the filing of the new injunction the injunction theretofore issued against the Southern Pacific Company should be dissolved. It was further ordered that a bond in the sum of 820,000, to be approved by the judge of the court, should be filed by said complainant on or before said Friday, the 3d day o-f January, 1890, indemnifying both of said respondents against the effect of said injunction, in case the same should have been wrongfully issued. Ihirsuant to this last order the complainant, on January 3, 1890, filed a second amended complaint, and a bond on injunction in the sum of $20,000. It is claimed by counsel, in their brief, that the court erred iu making the orders of December 9, 1889, and December 31, 1889, whereby it was ordered that complainant file an amended bill of complaint, making Whittier, Fuller & Co. parties respondent, and compelling complainant to take out an injunction against Whittier, Fuller & Co., and to execute a bond *524 in the sum of $20,000 to indemnify the respondents from all damages they might sustain. by reason of the injunction. To the second amended bill, Whittier, Fuller & Oo. interposed a demurrer, which was overruled. Standard Oil Co. v. Southern Pac. Co., 42 Fed. Rep. 295. Thereafter, the case being at issue upon the answers of the defendants and the replications of the complainant, testimony was taken, and upon the final hearing a decree was entered, dismissing the bill, on the grounds that the patent sued on was a mere aggregation of devices, and not a patentable combination. Standard Oil Co. v. Southern Pac. R. Co., 48 Fed. Rep. 109. From this decree the complainant appealed.

We would perhaps be justified, under rule 11 of this court, in disregarding the claim of error, as it is not contained in the assignment of error in the transcript of' record, but it will probably assist to a better understanding of the case to notice the contention of the complainant in this behalf.

It is said by counsel for appellant, in support of this claim of error, that the original bill was brought against the Southern Pacific Company alone, to restrain it from using, as a common carrier, upon the railroads operated by it, any and all cars which infringed upon complainant’s patent. It was not aimed against Whittier, Fuller & Co., or against any particular owner or patentee of cars. Its object and scope were simply to enjoin the railroad company from using cars which would amount to an infringement of complainant’s patent. It may be admitted that the complainant had a right of action against the Southern Pacific Company, upon the facts stated in the bill, but does it follow that Whittier, Fuller & Co. were not also proper parties to the action? The Southern Pacific Company, in its answer, disclaimed all ownership or interest in the cars alleged to be an infringement of complainant’s patent, and even denied that the cars were in its possession, or under its control; but it averred that its relation to the cars was that of a common carrier for hire, required by the laws of the United States to receive all cars, without discrimination, and transport the same; that it did not have the means for discovering or ascertaining whether cars offered it for transportation were infringements or riot, but it had notified the owners of the cars of complainant’s request to desist from the use of the invention. By this answer the railroad company disclaimed any interest in the controversy as to whether the cars received by it for transportation infringed upon complainant’s patent or not, but it pointed to the owners of the cars as the real parties in interest. Whittier, Fuller & Co., in their petition, alleged that they were engaged in conducting and carrying on a large wholesale and retail business in paints and oils in the city and county of San Francisco; that the magnitude of their business rendered it necessary for them to ship to California, from the eastern states, large quantities of petroleum and other oils; that in order to make such shipments, and to supply their trade with oils, they had constructed, at a large expense, several cars especially adapted for containing, storing, and transporting petroleum and other oils in bulk; that these cars belonged to them, and were their property, and were the cars claimed to be infringements upon complainant’s patent; and accordingly they *525 asked permission to defend the action. Clearly, they had a beneficial interest in the suit. The cars had been constructed, and were being used, by them, for transporting oil to California over at least a portion of the railway owned and controlled by the Southern Pacific Company. A decree in favor of the complainant, and against the railroad company, would necessarily affect that use, and perhaps destroy the value of the cars altogether. They were therefore entitled to be made defendants in the suit, whatever might be the title of their petition.

In the case of Supply Co. v. McCready, 17 Blatchf. 291 , the bill alleged that cotton ties made in infringement of patents owned by the plaintiff were being shipped from Hew York to ports in the southern part of the United States, by steamers belonging to a corporation of which the defendants were the managing officers, for persons whose names they refused to disclose to the plaintiff; the ties being shipped to be sold at such ports for use. It was held that carrying of such ties by the steamer' was an infringement of the patente, and that such officers would be restrained by an injunction from so doing, but the court found as a fact that the officers of the steamship company were acting as the agents and servante of the owners of the infringing cotton ties, in promoting and effecting such sale and use. The defendants had not confined themselves to the business of a carrier, but had actually engaged in promoting the sale and use of the infringing article. The case is, however, of interest upon another xioint. The court, in answering a suggestion that the injunction would be a hardship upon the steamship company, observed:

The action was therefore sustained against the defendants, as officers of the common carrier — First, because they acted as the agent and servant of the shipper of the infringing cotton ties; and, second, because they refused to disclose the name of such shipper. Had the name of the shipper been known, he would undoubtedly have been made a party defendant. In the present case the shipper is not only known, but he asks to be made a defendant upon a showing that he owns and uses the cars alleged to be infringements of complainant’s patent. We find no difficulty, under these circumstances, in determining that Whittier, Fuller & Go. were properly admitted as defendants in the action, and that the court had authority, under its equitable jurisdiction, to require a new bond of the complainant, to meet the new conditions of the case.

In the transcript of record a number of errors are assigned, stating in different forms the claims that the court erred in decreeing that the claim of the patent sued on was a mere aggregation of devices, and not a patentable combination. The patent is for an “improvement in oil cars.” The specification and claim are as follows:

The claim is as follows:

In discussing the question of difference between a mere aggregation and a patentable combination, Judge Hawley, in the circuit court, applies the principles declared by the supreme court to the present case in the following language;

In support of this doctrine of aggregation, as distinguished from a patentable combination, the case of Hailes v. Van Wormer, 20 Wall. 853 , is cited, as follows;

Also, the following from Beckendorfer v. Faber, 92 U. S. 357 :

And the following from Pickering v. McCullough, 104 U. S. 318 :

The opinion proceeds:-

After referring to the case of Beckendorfer v. Faber, and the illustrations there given of articles in combination which produce new results, and amount to patentable combinations, the opinion concludes, upon this feature of the case, as follows:

We have carefully examined the authorities cited upon this question, and, applying the principles as determined by. the courts, we find that Judge Hawley has correctly interpreted the law applicable to the facts in this case. Decree affirmed.