281 FEDEaAL BKPOBTEB. �brakes. The original patent expired in 1865, and was ex- tended for seven years, terminating the twenty-fifth of No- vember, 1872. At the November term, 1872, this court, {Oilcs, 1.,) sustained the validity of the patent, and decided that the defendant had infringed, and these cases went to the master, (Eobert Lyon Eogers, Esq.,) to state an account of gains and profits, and to assess damages. On this account- ing the parties have examined witnesses at great length during a period of some six years, and the master, in Novem- ber, 1880, filed his reports in ail three cases, together with thetestimony (which is contained in two large printed books) on which he based his findings. �The master reports the number of cars on which, in each year, the defendant used the complainants' patent, commonly known as the "Stevens" brake, and reports that hefindsfrom the testimony that 'the defendant did derive savings and ad- vantages in the use of the "Stevens" brake over what it would have derived from the use of any other similar device open to the public. �The master further reports that he finds that the savings and advantages which so accrued to the defendant from such use, amounted to $30 per car per year and at that rate he finds the gains and profits which the complainants are enti- tled to recover, amounting in the aggregate to $102,480. He further reports that during the period covered by two of the suits, viz., from 1857 to the expiration of the patent, he finds that the complainants had established a license fee of $25 per year per car for the use of the patent, and, assum- ing the license fee as the measure of complainants' damage, he assesses the damages at that rate in those two cases. But he reports that he finds no satisfactory evidence that any license fee was established during the period covered by one of the suits, viz., from 1853 to 1857, and, findingno evidence from which he can eompute the damages, he finds none for that period. �The "Stevens" brake was used by the defendant onits pas- senger cars, and the number on which it was bo used, as reported by the master is not disputed; but exceptions have ��� �