Defendant
1 case as defendant.
Barnard & Leas Manufacturing Company (often written "Barnard and Leas Mfg. Co.") was a Moline, Illinois manufacturer of flour-milling and grain-handling machinery. It was established in 1860 in a small two-story frame building and incorporated in 1872, with authorized capital of $120,000; principals were H. A. Barnard (president, and an inventor), J. Silas Leas (vice president) and W. C. Bennett (secretary-treasurer). It was privately held. Size figures vary by source and date: a Rock Island County history reports about 60 employees, while an 1880s Moline booster volume claims roughly 200 skilled mechanics and about $500,000 in annual business. No modern revenue, headcount, ticker or parent-company data is verifiable; the firm appears to have ended independent existence long ago, but I could not confirm a date, successor or acquirer.
Products / operations. The company built complete flour- and feed-mill equipment: roller mills, plansifters, centrifugal reels, middlings purifiers, smutters and brush scourers, wheat and corn separators/cleaners, corn shellers, flour packers, purifiers and rollers. It also supplied prepared lumber, belting and power equipment and contracted to outfit mills and elevators, with agents in London, Rio de Janeiro and South America.
Patent-litigation posture. An operating manufacturer defending a patent suit — consistent with the case data (1 tracked case, 0 as plaintiff, 1 as defendant). The sole tracked matter, Consolidated Roller-Mill Co. v. Barnard & Leas Mfg. Co., 156 U.S. 261 (1895) ("The Roller Mill Patent"), was a bill in equity for infringement of four roller-mill patents. Plaintiff Consolidated Roller-Mill Company was a patent-pooling vehicle that several leading manufacturers formed and that sued multiple millers and manufacturers. Venue was the Northern District of Illinois, not a modern plaintiff-friendly district; the case predates modern NPE/PAE practice.
Outcome / context. The circuit court dismissed the bill, and the Supreme Court affirmed on February 4, 1895, holding Gray patent No. 222,895 not infringed and patent No. 238,677 void for want of novelty. The litigation reflects 1880s–90s consolidation and patent pooling in the roller-milling industry. No current corporate activity, litigation funding, portfolio acquisitions or pending assertions by this entity could be verified.
Supreme Court appeal from the Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois in the roller-mill patent equity suit. The Court affirmed the dismissal and held US 238,677 void for want of novelty as to claims 2 and 3, while companion patent US 222,895 was not infringed.