American Pin Co. v. Oakville Co.

1 F. Cas. 712, 3 Blatchf. 190
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut
DecidedSeptember 15, 1854
StatusPublished

This text of 1 F. Cas. 712 (American Pin Co. v. Oakville Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Pin Co. v. Oakville Co., 1 F. Cas. 712, 3 Blatchf. 190 (circtdct 1854).

Opinion

INGERSOLL, District Judge.

The plaintiffs, by their bill, seek to enjoin the defendants from using a machine to paper pins, the right to use which they claim to be exclusively vested in them. The foundation of their claim rests upon two certain patents, the right to which patents, with the privileges by such patents granted, they now have by virtue of assignments from the patentees. One of these patents was issued to Samuel Slocum, and bears date the 30th of September, 1841, and was to run for fourteen years from the last-mentioned date. The other patent was issued to John J. Howe, and bears-date the 24th of February, 1843-, and was to run fourteen years from the 5th of December, 1852. The validity of these patents is not contested by the'defendants. They admit that the plaintiffs have all the rights which these patents purport to grant. They admit further, that they are using a machine for papering pins; but they deny that, by such use, they have infringed upon any of the rights so granted by such patents.

The defendants claim a right to use the machine for the papering of pins which they are operating, upon the ground that, by such use, they do not infringe upon any rights granted by such patents, or either of them. They claim, also, that the right to use such machine, so operated by them, is exclusively vested in them, by virtue of a patent granted to Chauncey O. Crosby, and which last-mentioned patent they own, by virtue of an assignment from the patentee.

There has been heretofore, at times, some diversity of opinion as to the extent of the rights seemed to an inventor or discoverer by the patent issued in his favor. The supreme court of the United States has, however, settled and determined what rights are so secured to the patentee; so, that now, there can be no diversity of opinion on the subject In the case of O’Reilly v. Morse, 15 How. [56 U. S.] 62, the rule, as laid down by the chief justice, in giving the opinion of the court, is, in substance, as follows: “He who discovers that a certain useful result will be produced in any art, machine; manufacture, or composition of matter, by the use of certain means, is entitled to a patent for such discovery, provided he sets forth, in his specification, the means he uses to procure such useful result, in a manner so full and exact, that any one skilled in the art or business to which it appertains, can, by using the means he specifies, without any addition to or subtraction from them, produce precisely the result he describes. And, if this cannot be done by the means he describes, the patent is void. And, if this can be done, then the patent confers on him the exclusive right to use the means he specifies, to produce the result or effect he describes, and nothing more. And it makes no difference, in this respect, whether the effect is produced by chemical agency or combination, or by the application of discoveries or principles in natural philosophy, known or unknown before his invention, or by machinery acting together upon mechanical principles. In either case, he must describe the manner and process, as above mentioned, and the end it accomplishes. And every one may lawfully accomplish the same end, and without infringing the patent, if he uses means substantially different from those described. But. if the means used to accomplish the same end, are [713]*713substantially like those which the patentee describes, the patent has been infringed, and the one using Them must be responsible for such infringement.”

The rules thus laid down must govern this case. The patent does not secure to the pat-entee the result or effect produced, but only the means described, by which such result or effect is produced. The means which he specifies, to produce the result or effect, are secured, and nothing more. And all other means to produce the same result or effect, and not patented to any one, are open to the public. A mere change in the form of the machinery, however, or the means specified, by which the result or effect described is produced, or an alteration in some of the unessential parts, or a substitution or use of known equivalent mechanical powers, not varying essentially the machine, or its mode of operation or organization, will not make the new machine a new invention. The pat-entee may, however, limit his claim, in his specification, to one particular form of machine, and thus exclude all other forms, though such other forms would embody his invention, and thereby not secure to himself the whole that he has invented. In such a case, he is secured only in the particular form claimed. The patent law was intended to secure to the inventor his whole invention or discovery, but not unless he claimed to be secured in the whole. And, if he claims only a part, or some particular form, such part, or particular form only, is secured to him. No more can be secured by the patent than has been invented or discovered; and no more can be secured than is claimed to be secured in the specification.

In the case of Winans v. Denmead, 15 How. [56 U. S.] 330, the substantial means used by the defendant to accomplish the object sought, were the same as those described and claimed in the specification of the plaintiff’s patent. There was no other change than a slight change of form, not varying in substance the means used by the plaintiff, and set forth and described in the specification of his patent And, as a mere change in the form of the machinery, or the means specified, by which the result is produced, not varying essentially the mode of operation of the thing patented, will not vary its organization, or be deemed a new or different invention, the defendant was deemed to have been an infringer of the plaintiff’s rights secured to him by his patent.

The invention of Slocum, as described in his specification, is a “machine for sticking pins into paper” in a row. It consists of a horizontal plate, as described, with as many grooves as the number of pins intended to be stuck in a row, which grooves are of sufficient length and depth to receive one pin and one only; a sliding hopper, so constructed as to hold a number of pins, one directly over the other in a horizontal position, and so made to slide directly over the grooves, as to deposit one of the pins in each groove by gravitation; and a sliding plate or follower, upon the front edge of which projects a system of points or wires corresponding with the grooves, so that, when the sliding plate or follower is driven forward, the wires enter the grooves in which the pins are separated, and drive forward the pins which are thus made to perforate the previously adjusted folds of a folded and crimped paper, which is held between clamps. And, in the specification, Slocum claims, as his invention, the plate with grooves, as described, for separating the pins, the sliding hopper, which deposits the pins in the grooves, as described, and the sliding plate or follower, with the wires attached thereto, in combination with the grooved plate, as described, and also-these in combination with the hopper, as described.

The invention of Howe, as described in his specification, is for an improvement on Slocum’s machine for sheeting pins, that is, for sticking pins in rows into sheets of paper. The machine of Slocum did not crimp the paper. But the paper was crimped in the old way, by a separate operation, and then taken out of the crimping apparatus, and placed in clamps, and, while in such clamps, and out of the crimping jaws, the pins perforated through the crimps previously formed, and in that way were sheeted.

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Bluebook (online)
1 F. Cas. 712, 3 Blatchf. 190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-pin-co-v-oakville-co-circtdct-1854.