The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-12-14
HOTAT|ON DECISION
COURT UPHOLDs PATENT
RULING MAY HAVE A DIRECT
BEARING ON MANY MIN
ING COMPANIES.


supreme court in the case of the Min
erals Separation company against
flames M. Hyde may have far reach
ing effect upon the mining operations
in the west The flotation process
has been adopted in the recovery of
copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold, and
its use has become general through
out the west. 1t is possible that when
the full text of the decision is known
it will be found many mining compa-
MES are infringing upon the Minerals
Separation company's patent. In the
Occur d'Alene district every mill is
provided with a flotation plant of
some description. The summary of
the decision is contained in the fol-
lowing dispatch from Washington I'M
der date of December IL:
The supreme court today reversed
the United States circuit court of ap-
peals for the Ninth circuit in the case
of the Minerals Separation Company,
Limited, and the Minerals Separation
American Syndicate against James M.
HYDE and in effect sustained the de-
cision of Judge Bourquin of July 2S,
1918, holding that petitioners patent
for process of oil ore concentration
was valid and had been infringed. The
supreme court sustains Judge Bour-
quin only to the extent that 1t holds
Separation Syndieate's claims l, 2, 8,
S, 6, and IL are valid and holds that
claims 8, 10 and II are invalid, the
other claims being held to be not in
volved. Judge Bourquin had held all
claims valid
The circuit court of appeals had
reversed Judge Bourquin and held
that the patented process, while new
and useful, was unpatentable. The
process in question, covered by patent
S35,120, of July 6, 1906, employs air
bubbles In connection with specified
amount of oil in the mixture of ground
ore and water so as to produce on the
surface of the water froth contain
ing substantially all metallic parti-
cles which can be easily flowed off or
removed The process is claimed by
its patentees to be new and was so
held by the United States patent office
and by the British patent office and the
British courts.
The supreme court, while announc-
ing the effect of it's decision, withheld
he text of it's decree until later.
The original suit in equity was
brought in Montana for an injunction
and damages for infringement of pat
ent rights and an injunction was is
gued to restrain further infringements
and an accounting ordered by Judge
Bourquin. He was reversed at San
Francisco May IA, 1914.
James NJ Hyde, defendant, is a
former employe of the separation COM
pany and was trained by it in the use
of it's patented process. He under
took, it is charged, to use it's process
without permission at concentration
works at Basin, near Butte.
The patentees of the patent in the
suit are pioneers in the successful use
of air, or aeration, in the concentra-
ton of ores and showed they have
been able to save many tons of valu-
able metal previously wasted Their
process is used extensively in Aus
tralia, Chile and other countries and
is covered by foreign patents.
Hyde, it appears from the record,
was employed by them and sent to
this country to introduce and install
their concentration process. He left
their employ and without their sane
ton, installed their process for the
Butte & Superior company, and it was
for this that suit was brought, as ex-
planned.