Barrott v. Drake Casket Co.

187 F. Supp. 284, 127 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 69, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5087
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedSeptember 16, 1960
DocketCiv A. No. 3284
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 187 F. Supp. 284 (Barrott v. Drake Casket Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barrott v. Drake Casket Co., 187 F. Supp. 284, 127 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 69, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5087 (W.D. Mich. 1960).

Opinion

STARR, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs as owners of United States patent No. 2,593,717 issued April 22, 1952, and reissue patent No. 23,718 issued September 29, 1953, for improvements in a “casket carrying truck,” filed complaint alleging infringement of said patents by the defendant company. They asked for an injunction against further infringement of their reissue patent and for damages and costs of suit. The defendant answered, alleging invalidity of the patents because of prior-art anticipation and lack of invention and denying infringement.

In support of its claim of invalidity of patent because of prior-art anticipation and lack of invention, defendant cites the following patents, which were not considered by the Patent Office: Schrottky I, 280,090 issued ' September 24, 1918; Heise 1,628,880 issued May 17, 1927; Troell 1,919,608 issued July 25, 1933; Richter 2,110,239 issued March 8, 1938; Van Blarcom 2,200,436 issued May 14, 1940; Howland 2,236,317 issued March 25, 1941; Pringle 2,405,054 issued July 30, 1946; Pride 2,421,128 issued May 27, 1947; Pride 2,459,045 issued January II, 1949; Snow 2,497,474 issued February 14, 1950; Satsky 2,530,341 issued November 14, 1950; Woodward 2,553,-156 issued May 5,1951.

In further support of its claim of invalidity of patent because of prior-art anticipation and lack of invention, defendant also cites the following patents, which were considered by the Patent Office: Abbey 758,493 issued April 26, 1904; Erickson 2,146,533 issued February 7, 1939; Swanson 2,158,596 issued May 16, 1939; Onstott 2,301,639 issued November 10, 1942; Pearlman 2,442,549 issued June 1, 1948; Kappen 2,521,727 issued September 12, 1950; Black 2,635,-771 issued April 21, 1953.

The truck body described in plaintiffs’ patents and the defendant’s accused truck body are both designed as improvements in a truck body with hoist device for the elevating, lowering, and handling of caskets and other heavy objects and their storage on supporting rails or racks in the truck body. The specifications of reissue patent 23,718 provide in part:

“This invention comprises novel and useful improvements in a casket carrier and more specifically pertains to an improved truck body and hoist construction specifically adapted for the efficacious elevating and lowering of caskets or other objects for storing the same on racks in truck bodies and the like.
“The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved construction of hoist specifically adapted to facilitate the handling of heavy-objects such as caskets, and particularly for raising and lowering the-same to enable their position upon, or their removal from a rack assembly provided in a truck body. * * *■
[286]*286“More generally, it is a prime object of the invention to provide a rack and hoist construction for trucks whereby heavy objects may be raised and lowered, stored upon the rack assembly or withdrawn therefrom with a minimum of effort and with a minimum expenditure of labor. * * *
“It is to be here understood that although the principles of this invention have been shown as applied to a truck body specifically adapted for the handling, storage and transportation of coffin caskets or the like, and this body is specifically designed to permit the most efficient utilization of the entire volume of the body for storing and handling a maximum number of caskets therein, that the invention is likewise applicable to any other truck body and especially one provided with rack assemblies on which relatively heavy objects are adapted to be mounted and transported.” (Emphasis added.)

The specifications explain the purpose and the construction of a truck body under the plaintiffs’ reissue patent, and the question of its validity must be determined from the claims as explained in the specifications. General Electric Co. v. Wabash Appliance Corp., 304 U.S. 364, 58 S.Ct. 899, 82 L.Ed. 1402. Plaintiffs claim infringement of claims 6, 7, 8, and 9 of their reissue patent. Claims 6 and 9, which are reasonably illustrative of all claims, read as follows:

“6. In a truck or trailer body having opposed side walls and a rearward opening, a series of vertically spaced horizontal support rails mounted in pairs along the respective body side walls, said rails being generally coextensive with the length of said side walls but terminating forward of said reaiward opening, said rails being adapted to engage the ends of caskets and to support the same in rows one above the other during transportation, vertical guide means on each side of the body, said guide means being disposed in the space intervening between the rearward ends of the support rails and said rearward opening, a pair of horizontal elevator rails, one on each side of the body, each rail being interconnected to a guide means, means for vertically moving said 'elevator rails on the guide means to positions selectively registrable with each of the support rails and means for synchronizing the vertical movement of said elevator rails, said last named means being associated with said body but being sufficiently remote from the areas immediately to the rear of said rows of caskets that the loading and unloading of caskets onto and from said support rails is not impeded by said means.”
“9. In a truck or trailer body for transporting uncrated caskets, said body having opposed side walls and a rearward opening, a series of vertically spaced and horizontally disposed pairs of support rails, the support rails of each pair mounted opposite one another on the inner sides of the side walls of said body, said rails being generally co-extensive with the length of said body but terminating forward of said rearward opening, the respective rails of each pair being adapted to engage the opposite ends of caskets to support said caskets, elevator guides disposed vertically along the side walls of said body adjacent said rearward opening, a pair of horizontal elevator rails, said elevator rails being structurally independent of one another, each elevator rail being slidably engaged with an elevator guide and adapted to support an end of a casket, hoisting mechanism op-eratively connected to said elevator rails, said hoisting mechanism being adapted to move the respective elevator rails vertically along said elevator guides to positions in which said elevator rails are selectively registrable with each pair of said sup[287]*287port rails, and means for synchronizing the vertical movement of said elevator rails, the last named means being removed sufficiently from said support rails so that the rearward body opening is not obstructed thereby to interfere with loading and unloading of caskets onto and from said support rails.”

The plaintiffs, who are patentees of the patent in suit, are respectively the president and vice president of Aurora Casket Company of Aurora, Indiana, a manufacturer of burial caskets.' The defendant is likewise a manufacturer of burial caskets at Constantine, Michigan. In their complaint in this action plaintiffs allege:

“2. On April 22, 1952, Letters Patent of the United States No. 2.593.717 were duly and legally issued to plaintiffs, jointly, by the Commissioner of Patents upon an application Serial Number 152,084 theretofore filed by plaintiffs in the United States Patent Office on March 27,1950.
“3.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
187 F. Supp. 284, 127 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 69, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barrott-v-drake-casket-co-miwd-1960.