use by the Goodyear Company was abandoned, the machine discarded, and no other ever built. We further find that upon the application for the State patent Mr. Seiberling, familiar with everything which had been done on the Seiberling and Stevens machine, made an affidavit that State's machine "was the first to successfully make such tires on a commercial scale by machinery." This affidavit does not work any estoppel, but there is every reason why we should accept it as true in its necessarily implied reference to the Seiberling and Stevens machine, and decline to give that patent the breadth of construction, beyond its letter, which is appropriate only for a great practical success. Whether defendant employs any tension device "to simultaneously smooth and flatten strips of fabric," interposing, as it does, nothing between the feed roll and the means which throw the fabric out of flat, may be passed without consideration. For the reasons stated, it must be held that there is no infringement of claim 1. [3] The Seiberling and Stevens patent belonged to, or was practically under the control of, the Goodyear Company, one of the largest manufacturers of tires, and of which Mr. Seiberling was general manager. State was in the employment of the same company. After about five years, State filed his application for the second patent in suit. His machine was developed and his patent application prosecuted under the supervision of Mr. Seiberling. State's machine was of the same. general type as Seiberling and Stevens. His most substantial change or improvement was that he discarded the reciprocal in-and-out forming finger of Seiberling and Stevens and substituted a tool which he rightly calls a spinning roll. He provides, in the same general way, a core and a fabric reel and a retarding device, whereby he gets his strip of fabric attached to the core for the width of the tread portion, leaving the remaining wing portions projecting outwardly. Attached to the base of the frame which carried the revolving core was a standard, manually adjustable horizontally to and from the core; that is to say, it traveled in a horizontal track, which track was an integral part of the frame. At the upper end of this standard was a revolving head or table, called by State a turret, and so plainly the turret of the common turret lathe that his choice of name was most natural. Mounted at four equidistant points on the edge of this table are four tools, independent of each other, except for their common base. The first carries the tread roller, the second the spinning rolls, the third the stitching rolls, and the fourth the bead attaching rolls. The turret standard was fixed in the plane of the revolving core, beyond the periphery thereof, and State revolved his turret until the tread roller was in the same plane, with its axis at right angles thereto. He then moved the standard and turret forward so that the tread roller bore against the tread on the core, with such pressure as the operator chose to give it. When the tread was sufficiently smoothed down and attached, he moved the standard back, gave the turret a one-fourth revolution, bringing the spinning roll device to bear and moved that forward in the plane of the core until the operation of spinning down the side was complete. He then withdrew the standard, gave the turret (257 F.) another one-fourth revolution, and, in the same way, moved it forward again and used his creasing or stitching roll, if necessary. Then, again, by a similar operation, he brought into effect the fourth device on his turret, which was a bead-forming, or trimming roll, to be used in certain cases only. In each instance, the time during which and the pressure with which the tool was to be applied (except for certain spring pressure) was regulated by the operator's hand. In no instance did the machine do anything except to keep the core revolving. The fact that the tools were mounted on a revolving table, which table was mounted on the frame of the machine, cannot be important. From the standpoint of an interdependent combination, the situation is the same as if these four tools had been lying upon a work bench by the side of the operator and he had successively selected the ones he desired. While this is obvious, it is emphasized by the fact, clearly appearing, that operators using the State machine often discard the spinning tool mounted on the turret, and, after the tread is formed, spin the sides down by hand. In the form of spinning tool shown in the patent, there are two rolls pressed toward each other by springs and operating upon both sides of the tire at the same time. There is, thus, an automatic feature to the pressure with which the spinning rolls are applied; but this does not. show the existence of any combination with the remainder of the machine. A hand tool with two oppositely spring-pressed rolls would work in the same way if it were hung from any support, or held only by the workman; and there is no relation of dependency between the automatic action of the springs and the automatic action of the revolv ing core. They both affect the material at the same time, and that is the most that can be said. The fabric reel and the tension device have finished their function when the first revolution is completed and when the strip of fabric has passed once around the core and has been cut and the pasted-on joint made. They have no further office in the building of the tire than if they did not exist. The tread-forming roller then is brought into play and finishes its function and drops out of action. Then, and only then, the operator brings the spinning roll to bear. It performs its work precisely as it would if the fabric strip had been stretched and attached wholly by hand; and the sides of the tire, the tread of which has been formed by the aid of the machine, may be spun down and attached by hand operation just as they are by State's device. We do not intend to deny that a true combination may sometimes be found where the same underlying mechanism operates all parts of the machine and where different elements separately act in successive steps upon the raw material as it is being transformed into the ultimate product (though the latest decision of the Supreme Court, Grinnell Co. v. Johnson Co., 247 U. S 426, 38 Sup. Ct. 547, 62 L. Ed. 1196, perhaps tends to the contrary); but the trouble here is more vital. State's spinning tool has no operating connection whatever with the remainder of the mechanism. Each part performs its own work in its own way, and no new result flows from bringing the two into juxtaposition. We may find further illustration in the familiar turning lathe. If the cutting tool is carried in a holder which 257 F.-6 automatically travels along a line parallel to the axis of the revolving chucks which hold the material being shaped, we can see the combination between the chucks and the cutting tool; but not so, if the tool holder is moved along its path by the operator's hand-even though the path be upon a fixed guide. In Gas Co. v. United Co., 228 Fed. 684, 143 C. C. A. 206, we considered the distinctions between aggregation and combination. Applying to the present case the principles there developed and the authorities there cited, we are satisfied that there is no true combination between State's revolving core and his independent spinning tool, or bebetween such core and his independent tread-forming roller, or between such roller and such spinning tool. The Grinnell Case, supra, may involve the difference between that putting of old elements into a coacting relationship which is invention as distinguished from a similar putting together which is merely skill, rather than involve the distinction between elements which form a composite as distinguished from an aggregate; but, however that may be, that decision fortifies the result which we reach here. It is not easy to see any difference in principle between a device which first washes a garment, and then, by separate mechanism, dries it, and a device which first shapes and attaches the tread of the tire, and then, by separate mechanism, attaches the sides. This conclusion invalidates, because of mere aggregation, claim 41 and all the other claims of the State patent sued upon (except the fifteenth, seventeenth, and perhaps the eleventh). We might safely rest our decision thereon; but plaintiff really presents his case on the theory that State discovered a new method of making tire casings or a new set of functions to be performed by associated mechanism. Although a mechanical patent may not be granted for a function (Westinghouse v. Boyden Co., 170 U. S. 537, 18 Sup. Ct. 707, 42 L. Ed. 1136), yet it is now settled that a method patent may be granted for an association of successive mechanical steps (Expanded Metal Co. v. Bradford, 214 U. S. 366, 29 Sup. Ct. 652, 53 L. Ed. 1034), and to hold a mechanical patent void for aggregation, when the same monopoly sought by the patent might have been obtained through a method patent, seems somewhat artificial; hence, we prefer to point out also that State had nothing broadly new either in his method or in his selected tools; and that so far as some details may be new, they are not used by defend ant. [4] The art of shaping a flexible sheet of metal down over irregular forms or dies, circular in cross-section, was very old and was known as "spinning." This was done by clamping the metal sheet upon the form, revolving both together rapidly upon the axis of the circular cross-section, and then with a tool-which might be a narrow or sharp-edged roller or disc held in a yoked handle-pressing the metal 1 Claim 4. An open tire shoe making machine, comprising the combination of a sheet fabric supply, a power driven ring core, a radially moving support laterally spring-pressed toward the core, and a spinning roll mounted on the support, for passing radially along the sides of the tire shoe, to shape the sheeted fabric on the core, substantially as described. (257 F.) down against the form. The spinning disc, being held in a plane substantially tangential to the circumference of the form at the point of contact, would itself be caused to revolve; and, if it were slightly inclined inwardly from this tangential plane, it would gradually move down along the side of the form and its path thereon and upon the metal would be helical. The successive coils of this travel might be so close together that they practically touched each other, and so the whole surface of the sheet and of the form would be covered by this travel and the sheet would be stretched and shaped to the form. If State had been the first to observe that this spinning, process could be applied to shape a tire upon its core as well as to shape a bottle cap upon its core, the question of whether there was invention in the transfer would have required consideration; but he was not. The evidence that this identical spinning operation was performed upon tire casings by hand tools before State's invention is sufficiently satisfying to meet all the requirements of the situation. One witness testified that this spinning operation with a hand tool was common practice for smoothing down the sides of tires at a date three years earlier than the building of the first State machine; one told of the same practice in use at Detroit the same year State was constructing at Akron; and one seems to refer to it as a common practice in the Goodyear shop in 1903. Considered critically, all this testimony might not be sufficiently definite and positive to prevail by itself against circumstances tending to throw doubt upon it; but there are no such circumstances. When defendant's proofs closed, this proposition would ordinarily be taken as fairly established; Messrs. State and Seiberling were called as witnesses on the rebuttal; both were familiar with the history of the art; neither one denied or questioned this proposition; nor did any other witness for plaintiff. More than this, State, in his specification, speaks of this spinning operation as if it were well-known hand practice, and seems to rely upon the advantages of his tool over the existing hand method. This is not all: The Seiberling and Stevens patent shows what it calls creasing or stitching rollers. Each one is undoubtedly an effective spinning tool and capable of use as such; their edges, as shown, may be sharp enough to cause some danger of cutting the fabric, but the spinning would be done by the side bevels, not by the extreme edge; and plaintiff's theory that defendant's spinning roll is so far the equivalent of the Seiberling and Stevens stitching rolls as to make out infringement of the claim based thereon goes far to persuade that they are, in a broad sense, an anticipation of State's spinning roll. There seems no sufficient reason to doubt that Stevens used them for spinning in 1903 or 1904. The Moore patent shows what is, essentially, a spinning roll for operating against a revolving core in making a tire casing. It was intended to and did smooth down the Moore tire from the center of the tread only part way, and not much further than may be done by the typical treadforming roll; but the operation is substantially spinning, as far as it goes, and involves, in some degree, the characteristic relocation of the threads of the fabric, even though it may only put them back where they were before the casing was distorted by placing it on the core. In the Moore patent, the handle of the spinning roll was so attached to its frame that the roller could not effectively travel radially of its core down as far as the bead, but if its attaching staple is made larger, the whole tire can be formed thereby, as demonstrated. Further, there is no reason to doubt that State and Seiberling were familiar with the character of patent protection, and were advised by competent counsel. If they had thought that State was the first to shape the sides of the tire by the spinning operation, it is highly improbable that he would have omitted to apply for a method patent. Still further, it is conceded. that the Belgian patent is a complete anticipation of State as to the matter of employing a radially-moving spinning roll in this type of tiremaking machine for shaping the side of the tire, unless plaintiff is right in his contention that in the Belgian patent the fabric was first partially attached to the side by a device resembling Seiberling and Stevens' jigger fingers, that this operation left wrinkles and puckers, and that the spinning roll was used only to remove these wrinkles and perfect the attachment. We do not see that this alleged distinction is very important. No matter if the fabric has been already partially attached-as much as is consistent with any reasonable theory of operation-the tool of the Belgian patent is a spinning roll, and performs a spinning operation; and, if we are right in what we subsequently say regarding the "centrifugal force" theory, the Belgian tool in its radial progress was bound to stretch and reshape the fabric in substantially the same way. that is done by State. Putting all these things together, State cannot be considered as the inventor of the method; and hence there is no reason to hesitate at the result which was reached because of aggregation. One group of State's claims is distinguished by the call for shifting the revolution of the core from a slow speed while the fabric strip is being put on to a high speed while the spinning is to be done. Seiberling and Stevens did the same thing, so far as concerns any broad idea, and the particular devices by which alone State distinguishes this part of his action from Seiberling and Stevens are not employed by defendant. Another group of claims is characterized by the requirement that the spinning roller should be set in a plane at "a receding angle" to the plane of the core. It is not clear that this thought imparts any novelty to the claims. The same angle is shown by the Seiberling and Stevens stitching rollers, and it was certainly open to the user of any hand tool to apply it in this specified plane. However, the defendant does not do this; the claim of infringement in this is based upon a confusion of thought. If we picture the spinning roller as a disc-whereby its plane is more sharply conceived-and if we assume that the core is vertical and its axis horizontal, and that the disc is to be applied to the core midway from top to bottom, we observe that the plane of the core and the vertical plane of the axis are at right angles to each other, and that the relationship of the plane of the spinning roll to the plane of the core, and its relationship to the plane of the axis, are independent of each other. The plane of the spinning roll may be at right angles to the plane of the core and at the same time at any selected angle to |