tradition of technologists, who learned of new technology in England, and then stole all the information they could in order to introduce the technology to the United States, often over the cry of fraud and dishonor by the British owners of patents and the royalties they produced. (For an early example, see the life of Samuel Slater, builder of the first textile mill in America). Early in 1911, Hyde left Minerals Separation, Ltd, to introduce the flotation process at a zinc mine in Butte, Montana, being considered for purchase by mining specialist Herbert Hoover, later the President of the United States, with the help of his brother Theodore J. Hoover, who had also left the London company. Although Hoover backed out of the purchase, Hyde was hired by the owners of the Butte and Superior Copper Company and built a successful, small test plant in 1911. In 1912, he designed and the company built the Butte & Superior works, Butte, Montana, the first great froth flotation mill in the United States. Some would claim that Hyde demonstrated great intuition and genius in his "Hyde process." The Minerals Separations, Ltd., company disagreed and declared an infringement of its flotation process patent and began a lawsuit that took five years and ended in the U. S. Supreme Court. Litigation Hyde had designed a unit with two sections, one of rougher cells and the other of cleaner cells. The rougher concentrate was cleaned in the cleaner cells and the cleaner tailings were returned to the rougher cells. This was the first time the "rougher-cleaner circuit" was employed and the procedure has never been disputed. He was awarded a patent on the process in 1911. Unfortunately for Hyde, at issue in the court's eyes was not how a box was shaped or a cell was devised but about the "process" of introducing air and limited amounts of oil to make the metals in the finely ground ore "float." Hyde lost his case in 1913, but a court of appeals decided in his favor in 1914, only to have the Supreme Court hold, in December 1916, that he had infringed on the Minerals Separation patent. In general, the American press and mining industry favored a decision for Hyde over the British patent holders. Mining engineer Daniel C. Jackling, who had purchased the Butte & Superior, funded Hyde's lawsuits while contesting the Minerals Separation company patents