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of the contract as written and executed. As stated in the instructions to bidders, this estimate was only for information, and no obligation was imposed thereby.

I am of the opinion, therefore, that the R. P. Clarke Company is bound by its contract to furnish to the Department of Agriculture any amount of either of the varieties of cloth described in the contract as may be ordered by said department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, notwithstanding the fact that it was not estimated by the general supply committee that any such cloth would be required by said department.

Other questions presented are, whether the Clarke Company failed to deliver promptly certain articles of cloth ordered by the Department of Agriculture, and whether that department had a right in consequence of delay in delivery to purchase such articles in the open market and charge the difference in price to the Clarke Company. The contract specifies that the delivery of articles shall be made "promptly, in accordance with the requirements of the instructions to bidders, and upon the terms specified therein and in the advertisement relating thereto," and in the instructions to bidders it was said: "Articles must be furnished promptly as ordered. On the failure of the contractor to deliver an article of the proper quality within a reasonable time after it is ordered, the right is reserved to purchase such article in open market if the exigencies of the service require it, and if a greater price than that of the contract be paid for such article, the difference in the total amount of the purchase will be charged to the contractor and sureties on the bond, and the contract may be declared forfeited." This provision speaks clearly for itself, so far as the question of law is concerned; but what constitutes a prompt delivery is a question of fact, for the determination of which, ordinarily, a number of elements must be considered. There is no evidence before me by which I could determine with any degree of certainty whether the delivery in question was unreasonably delayed; and if there were, it would not be in accord with the custom of this department for me to consider this question, as under section 356, Revised Statutes, the heads of departments

can require my opinion only upon questions of law arising in the administration of their departments, and not upon questions of fact.

Very respectfully,

GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM,

The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

PATENTS- INFRINGEMENT-CARTRIDGE-CASE

EXTRACTOR.

A cartridge-case extractor manufactured in accordance with Letters Patent No. 625326, known as the Driggs and Tasker patent, would not be an infringement upon Letters Patent No. 599482, or Tasker patent. Considering the specifications and first claim of the Tasker patent together, the curvature of the wall of the slot against which the face of the extractor works must be considered as an ingredient part of the combination claimed. The shape of the wall of this slot, and the removable means for normally blocking the openings into the guidegrooves mentioned in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth claims were new ingredients and patentable, but neither of these claims is present in the Driggs-Tasker extractor.

It is elementary patent law that to constitute an infringement of a combination claim, every element of the combination must be present in the infringing patent.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
November 8, 1909.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 18th ultimo, in which you request my opinion as to whether a cartridge-case extractor manufactured in accordance with Letters Patent No. 625326 would be an infringement upon Letters Patent No. 599482.

A proper determination of the question will require a careful consideration of the mechanism of the two extractors in question.

Letters Patent No. 599482 was issued to V. C. Tasker on February 22, 1898, and the extractor embraced in said. patent and the principles upon which it is operated are illustrated in figures 1, 4, and 9 of the drawings accompanying the application therefor, which are here inserted:

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FIG. 9.

Figure 1 represents a horizontal section of the breech of the gun and of the mechanism in the closed position; figure 4 represents a similar section with the breech open, and figure 9 represents the principle of the extraction. A represents the gun, B the breechblock, which is connected with the handle H as indicated; and by means of this handle after the gun is fired the whole system is swung outward and around the pivot U. The extractor and the manner in which it is operated are thus described in the specifications:

"The cartridge-case extractor E, figs. 1, 4, and 6, is situated in a slot X through the breech-wall, said slot having a curved front surface Y, the center of curvature being approximately in a line extending rearward from the inner extremity E of the extractor. The latter is adapted to roll on this curved surface, its front surface having a curve whose radius is about one-half that of the curved wall of the slot and is caused to engage this curved wall by a camsurface C on the carrier. The principle embodied is a geometrical property of the hypocycloid curve or a curve generated by any point on the periphery of a circle which rolls within the periphery of a larger circle. As is well known, in the special case in which the radius of the rolling circle is one-half that of the one on which it rolls the hypocycloid takes the form of a straight line, passing through the center of the larger circle, as illustrated in the diagram

fig. 11, in which b represents the fixed circle and a the one which rolls therein, the successive positions of the point ao being indicated at a1, a2, a3, etc., the corresponding positions of the rolling circle being shown in dotted lines.

"The extractor is so proportioned that the claw or nib. E on its inner end, which engages the head of the cartridge case, is about in line with the curved front surface, and said claw is thus constrained to move in a straight line when the extractor rolls without sliding. Sliding is prevented to any desirable extent and the extractor is retained in the slot X by a lug or lugs E3 E3 on the opposite sliding surfaces of the extractor near the outer extremity of its curved front face, freely moving in grooves X' in the gun, as shown in figs. 1 and 4. Said grooves should preferably be straight and lying radially to the center of curvature of the front of the slot in the gun, for the lugs E3 E3 being nearly in the circumference of the rolling circle they practically have the property of any point therein of moving in a line through said center. The extractor having rolled to the end of the curved surface in the gun may, if further movement is desired, pivot about its lugs in the guide-grooves in the position shown in fig. 4, the claw E then moving slightly out of a straight line, but only due to the difference in direction of the arc subtending a small angle and the tangent thereto. On account of its rolling action, beginning near the cartridge-head and acting against a succession of fulcrums more and more remote therefrom, this extractor has great power to loosen the cartridge-case and a constant increment of velocity is given thereto, thus economizing the strain on the extractor and enabling it with a minimum amount of such strain and without shock to eject the cartridge-case with a low initial and a high final velocity. The extractor is provided near its outer end with a forwardly-projecting arm E, lying within the slot in the gun or in cheeks Z3, which arm is adapted to close the space between the rolling surfaces when the mechanism is in the closed position. This is for the purpose of excluding dirt, etc., and also serves to steady and guide the extractor.

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