Syllabus.

actions were brought against the receivership generally or against the corporation by name, "in the hands of," or "in the possession of," a receiver without stating the name of the individual, it would more accurately represent the character or status of the defendant. So long as the property of the corporation remains in the custody of the court and is administered through the agency of a receiver, such receivership is continuous and uninterrupted until the court relinquishes its hold upon the property, though its personnel may be subject to repeated changes. Actions against the receiver are in law actions against the receivership, or the funds in the hands of the receiver, and his contracts, misfeasances, negligences and liabilities are official and not personal, and judgments against him as receiver are payable only from the funds in his hands. As the right given by the statute to sue for the acts and transactions of the receivership is unlimited, we cannot say that it should be restricted to causes of action arising from the conduct of the receiver against whom the suit is brought, or his agents.

The defence is frivolous, and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Illinois must be

Affirmed.

The CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE GRAY, having been absent when this case was submitted, took no part in its decision.

MAGOWAN v. NEW YORK BELTING AND PACKING COMPANY.

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.

No. 30. Argued October 14, 15, 1891. - Decided October 26, 1891.

Letters patent No. 86,296, granted to the New York Belting and Packing Company, as assignee of Dennis C. Gately, the inventor, January 26, 1869, for "improvements in vulcanized india-rubber packing," involved invention, and were valid.

Opinion of the Court.

The Gately packing explained in view of prior packings. The fact considered, that that packing went at once into such an extensive public use, as almost to supersede all packings made under other methods, and that it was put upon the market at a price from 15 to 20 per cent higher than the old packings, although it cost 10 per cent less to produce it.

IN EQUITY. To restrain the infringement of letters patent, nd for an account. Decree in complainant's favor, from vhich respondent appealed. The case is stated in the opinion.

Mr. F. C. Lowthorp for appellant.

Mr. B. F. Lee for appellee. Mr. W. H. L. Lee was with him on the brief.

MR. JUSTICE BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit in equity, brought in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey, by the New York Belting and Packing Company, a Connecticut corporation, against Allen Magowan, Spencer M. Alpaugh and Frank A. Magowan, to recover for the infringement of letters patent No. 86,296, granted January 26, 1869, to the plaintiff, as assignee of Dennis C. Gately, the inventor, for "improvements in vulcanized india-rubber packing."

The specification says:

"My invention relates to packing of the kind for which letters patent were issued to Charles McBurney on the 28th of June, 1859. This packing, which is usually employed in the stuffing-boxes of pistons, is composed of piles of cloth or canvas, cut bias, coated with rubber, and pressed together and vulcanized. When thus made, the packing is very solid, and possesses but little elastic property, so that, as it wears, there is some difficulty in maintaining a tight joiz between it and the piston. To obviate this disadvantage is the object of my invention, which consists in forming the packing with a backing of pure vulcanized rubber, or rubber of sufficient elasticity for the purpose desired, which may be covered and protected by a strip of canvas or other suitable fabric.

Opinion of the Court.

"In the drawing a represents the ordinary packing-band, which is backed by the rubber strip b, the whole being vulcanized together, so as to be solidly united; and the rubber may be covered, if desired, by the canvas strip c, to protect it from injury.

"When the packing is placed in the stuffing-box and around the piston, and the follower is screwed down, so as to compress the packing, the rubber strip will also be compressed, and forced against the sides of the stuffing-box, and, as it cannot expand in the direction of the follower, it acts as a spring to hold the packing against the piston-rod, and to prevent leakage, compensating for any slight wear in the packing, and making a tight joint between the rod and the packing.

"It would be manifestly impracticable to impart this quality of elasticity to the body of the packing, or that part which is in contact with, or bears against the rod, but by backing it with an elastic cushion, which, upon being compressed between the follower and the sides of the stuffing-box, acts as above described, the packing is possessed of every qualification required for its successful use, and a tighter and better joint is made than has heretofore been practicable."

Opinion of the Court.

The claim of the patent is as follows:

"The combination, with the packing, such as herein specified, of an elastic backing or cushion of vulcanized india-rubber, substantially as and for the purposes set forth."

The patent so referred to, issued to McBurney June 28, 1859, was No. 24,569, and was granted for an "improvement in packing for stuffing-boxes of pistons." The specification and drawings of the McBurney patent were as follows:

"Fig. 1 is a plan of the packing in the sheet; Fig. 2, a strip is it is bent into a circle when it is in use. Fig. 3, a section through a stuffing-box with the packing inserted. The hempen packing heretofore employed in stuffing-boxes is not easily adjusted so as to produce a uniform pressure upon all sides of the rod, and an elastic, durable, and substitute for it has long been a desideratum. In experimenting for this purpose I have laid together a suitable number of plies of canvas or cotton cloth with india-rubber between them, forming a cake of packing, which was afterward cut into strips. This was found to be objectionable for three reasons: 1st, the longitudinal threads of the canvas rendered the strips of packing very difficult to bend so as to insert it into the stuffing-box; 2d, the short transverse threads prevented the packing from yielding with a sufficient ease when the follower was brought upon it; 3d, the longitudinal threads of the strips were drawn out of place by the motion of the rod, leaving the packing with an uneven surface. The same packing was then cut into rings, the inner circle of which was of the diameter of the rod and the other circle of a diameter just sufficient to fill the stuffingbox; but it is obvious that this method of cutting the packing is very wasteful of material, as each stuffing-box requires a ring of a particular size both upon its inner and outer circle, and, as the ends of the threads are exposed to wear at four points around the circle, while at the four intermediate points the sides of the threads are exposed, these rings wear very irregularly, and when worn they become useless. To remove all these objections is the object of my present invention, the nature of which I will now proceed to describe. I take 25 pounds of india-rubber, 2 pounds of sulphur, and 4 to 8 pounds

Opinion of the Court.

P

of silica or plumbago. With this compound, after it is suitably ground and mixed, canvas or other suitable fabric of cotton, linen or hemp is coated upon each side and a sufficient number of plies of such fabric are united by a heavy pressure or by rolling. The packing is then vulcanized, and to prepare it for use it is cut diagonally into strips (as seen in Fig. 1). These strips are then cut of the right length and are bent into rings (Fig. 2), which are inserted into the stuffing-box, as seen in Fig. 3, in which A is the box, B the follower, C' the packing, D the valve or piston-rod. In lieu of cutting the packing into short strips and bending it into rings, as above described, a longer strip may be wound spirally around the rod, the pressure of the follower bringing it to a uniform bearing upon the rod. It will be observed that, when cut diagonally, as above described, the ends only of all the threads are exposed to wear, by which it is caused to wear slowly and uniformly, whilst there are no longitudinal threads to resist the action of bending the strips, and they are consequently easily coiled within the stuffing-box; also, as there are no threads running transversely of the packing, it is easily caused to expand against the rod by pressure, and thus, as the packing wears, it may be again and again tightened up by bringing down the follower. In lieu of making the packing of continuous strips of canvas the latter may be cut into lozenge-shaped pieces, Fig. 4, which when matched together (Fig. 5) may be cut longitudinally, as upon the line y y, and produce the same effect.

"The compound which I have given above is that which I prefer for the manufacture of the packing, but both the ingredients and the proportions in which they are used may be variously modified without altering the spirit of my invention. Even the vulcanizing process may be dispensed with, and I do not, therefore, restrict myself thereto, but what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by letters patent is a packing for stuffing-boxes composed of canvas and india-rubber, as set forth, and cut diagonally, as described."

The answer to the bill denied infringement, and alleged that Gately was not the first and original inventor of the thing patented, referring to various prior patents, and setting up that,