Reporter's Statement of the Case various ways to form a more or less flexible blanket, which was placed upon the portion of the bank to be protected. Once such a blanket was properly placed over the subaqueous bank to be protected there would be no difference in the action of such prior art blanket and that of the patent in suit so far as protection of the bank is concerned. The difficulties of handling and properly placing such a structure, which is necessarily heavy and bulky, are considerable even in shallow and quiet water, and are increased by increases in depth of water and disturbances thereof, such as strong currents. 39. Plaintiff's revetment differs from the prior art in that the mat is formed in sections spaced apart to form parallel longitudinal channels extending through the mat, each section being made up of a number of similarly spaced flexibly connected blocks with the reinforcing extending throughout the entire section, and with the outer reinforcing wires or border strands of the reinforcing fabric of each section extending into the longitudinal channels between sections, where they are rigidly secured or tied at each block to the parallel launching cables which extend through each longitudinal channel. This construction was of real practical importance because it made it possible to launch the mat over ways having sheaves thereon at the outer ends to carry the launching cables, and which cables in turn carry the weight of the individual blocks individually in their journey from the ways to their resting place on the bottom, thus preventing dangerous accumulation of stresses in the concrete or reinforcing members of single blocks; i. e., the weight of each block of the mat in transit from the ways to the bottom is sustained directly by the launching cables and not by other blocks, whereby each block and its reinforcement are required to sustain only their own weight. This construction, while no more efficient or effective in its protective action than the prior art flexible concrete mattresses once properly placed on the bottom, was capable of being launched in an inexpensive, relatively quick, and completely reliable manner, even in strong currents and deep water, whereas those of the prior art were not. Reporter's Statement of the Case 40. There is no disclosure in the prior art of a flexible concrete mattress having the structure defined in claims 3 and 6 of the patent in suit. This structure was not obvious and arose above mere mechanical skill. The prior art shows that those skilled in the art who were attempting to solve the problem of using concrete in reveting subaqueous banks failed to perceive its value and the advantages it afforded. 41. Claims 3 and 6 of patent No. 1173879 define a new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or a new and useful improvement thereof, not known or used by others in this country, and not patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country before plaintiff's invention or discovery thereof, or more than two years prior to his application, and not in public use or on sale in this country for more than two years prior to his application, and of which the plaintiff was in fact the original, first, and sole inventor. 42. The revetments launched by defendant during January and February, 1917, at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the structure of which is stated in finding 8, employed the sub stance of plaintiff's contribution to the art in patent No. 1173879, and claims 3 and 6 of said patent in terminology fairly define said structure. Patent No. 1173880 (The Mold Patent) 43. For the purpose of this suit plaintiff relies on claims 2 and 7 of patent No. 1173880. These claims read as follows: 2. A revetment mold comprising a frame, including spaced longitudinal and transverse members having recesses in the bottoms thereof, a detachable device for supporting bonding wires carried by each of said transverse members and including a substantially Lshaped body, one edge of said device being provided with a plurality of lugs forming slots for the reception of certain of said wires. 7. A revetment mold comprising a frame including longitudinal and transverse members having notches in Reporter's Statement of the Case the bottom thereof, and means detachably connected to certain of the members of said frame and movable longitudinally thereof and adapted to detachably support a fabric reinforcement in said notches. 44. Prior to the filing date of the application which matured into patent No. 1173880 there were available to the public the following patents relied upon by defendant as showing the prior art: Larsen, No. 940935. Finger, No. 782230. Hitpas, No. 688949. Snow, No. 1179673. White, No. 833814. Twichell, No. 400521. McCall, No. 657827. Roberts et al., No. 1037662. 45. None of these patents were cited by the Patent Office. Of these patents only those to Larsen, Finger, and Snow relate to molds for the casting of concrete blocks, and of these latter the patent to Larsen is the closest approximation in the prior art to the structure of the patent in suit. The Larsen patent, Fig. 2 of which is reproduced herewith, discloses a collapsible mold for casting two-part concrete blocks, the two parts of the block being held together by reinforcing wires cast in the concrete. These wires have to be supported at the proper height while the concrete is setting, just as do plaintiff's wires. The Larsen mold comprises a frame, including spaced longitudinal and transverse members 4, 6, and 10, having slots or notches 20 in the bottom of transverse members 10 to accommodate the bonding wires. So-called latches 16 slidable horizontally in slots 17 extend through the top 11 of the core, and have their bottom ends bent horizontally to pass under and support the bonding wires 19 in slots 20. In order to disengage the latches 16 from the bonding wires, they were separately moved in opposite directions in the slots 20. Reporter's Statement of the Case Claim 7 fails to distinguish structurally from the apparatus disclosed by the Larsen patent and is anticipated thereby. The structure defined by claim 2 differs from that disclosed in Larsen in that the supporting lugs for the bonding wires are grouped together in pluralities on each supporting bracket, so that a number of lugs may be disengaged from their wires simultaneously by sliding movement of a single bracket, whereas in Larsen individual sliding movement of each bracket in an opposite direction is required. To provide a plurality of lugs instead of one lug on each slidable supporting bracket so that they may be operated in groups instead of singly, is a matter within the skill of one skilled in the art. An increase in the size of the mold and the number of wires to be supported, which would render individual operation of the lugs inconvenient or time-consuming, would immediately suggest the desirability of operating the lugs in groups. Claim 2 fails to distinguish over Larsen by any structural differences involving invention, but distinguishes only by differences within the skill of one skilled in the art. 46. Claims 2 and 7 of patent No. 1173880 fail to define any invention or discovery of any new and useful art, Reporter's Statement of the Case machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvements thereof, patentable under R. S. sec. 4886 (U. S. C., Title 35, sec. 31). Patent No. 1229152 (The Launching Patent) 47. For the purpose of this suit plaintiff relies upon claims 2, 6, 8, and 9 of the patent No. 1229152. These claims read as follows: 2. An apparatus for laying revetment mats comprising a plurality of mooring barges, a launching barge connected thereto, a material barge associated with said launching barge, means for transferring the mats from the material barge to said launching barge, means for controlling delivery of said mat from said launching barge, means for moving said launching barge longitudinally of said mooring barges, as the mat is being launched, and means for guiding said launching barge during its longitudinal movement. 6. A launching barge for revetment mats comprising launching ways terminating at the delivery ends in downwardly curved inclines, sheave supporting frames associated with said curved portions, sheaves mounted in said frames in close proximity to each other, cable carrying devices mounted in said barge, launching cables carried by said devices and to which the mats are to be secured at opposite sides, mechanism for moving the barge to feed the mat therefrom, a friction device associated with each of said cable carrying devices and including friction sheaves over which said cable passes, and an adjustable brake band for controlling the speed with which the cable is fed from said devices. 8. In an apparatus for laying revetment mats, a barge having transversely extending roller ways and sheaves between the rollers, a cable carrying drum mounted on the barge, a friction device on the barge adjacent the drum, a launching cable to which mats are to be secured. at opposite sides, said cable passing from the drum to the friction device and from said friction device over the sheaves between the ways, and means for operating the friction device to feed the cable and mats from the barge. 9. In an apparatus for laying revetment mats, a barge having transversely extending ways, sheaves be |