Home/U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania/Bryant Electric Co. v. Buchanan

Bryant Electric Co. v. Buchanan

124 F. 537, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5008
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 8, 1903
DocketNo. 30
StatusPublished

This text of 124 F. 537 (Bryant Electric Co. v. Buchanan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryant Electric Co. v. Buchanan, 124 F. 537, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5008 (circtedpa 1903).

Opinion

J. B. McPHERSON, District Judge.

This suit involves the validity of claims 1 and 2 in letters patent No. 434,153, applied for October 31, 1888, and granted August 12, 1890. The inventor was Philip Lange, but the patent was issued to the Westinghouse Electric Company, as assignee, and the title is now owned by the complainant. The subject-matter of the invention is a new and useful improvement in key-sockets for incandescent electric lamps. The scope of the improvement is thus described by Mr. Waterman, the complainant’s expert:

“The Lange patent, as its title, ‘Incandescent Lamp Socket,’ implies, relates to sockets or -holders for incandescent electric lamps, by which they are at the same time held mechanically in position, and connected, or adapted for connection, with an electric circuit, by which they are to be supplied with current. The invention which the patent disclosed, in so far as concerns the two claims referred to, relates in general to a mechanical construction by which particular parts are brought and held together. It will be sufficient, as a general introduction, to say that, while the completed socket is a simple and comparatively insignificant looking article, its construction, to meet practical requirements, has been a problem of great difficulty, and its satisfactory solution has been a matter of imperative importance; for while the socket must, from a commercial standpoint, be small, light, simple, easily wired, and, as the English say, ‘eyeable,’ and though cheapness is essential, it is an article necessarily situated in a dangerous location in connection with live terminals in an electric circuit, and upon its mechanical stability and perfect performance of its function depend safety from fire, and even in many cases the safety of life, as well as continuous and satisfactory lighting service. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that the socket should preserve continuously the correct mechanical relation of its parts, and, as it is necessarily constructed of light metal parts and frail insulating materials, and is subjected to much rough usage, as well as to the weight of heavy globes and shades, correct relation of parts and methods of securing them together be■come of prime importance. These methods, moreover, must permit of the socket being quickly taken apart and conveniently wired or connected to the electric circuit, whether hung from a cord as a pendant or attached to a chan* delier or other fixture.
[538]*538“The object of the patent is to attain this correct relation of parts, and at once improve the mechanical construction, lessen its parts, and increase its durability. This is stated by the patentee:
“ ‘The object of the invention is to simplify and improve the mechanical construction of the device, and thereby lessen its parts, and increase its durability.’ ” (Page 1, lines 13 to 16.)
Fig.l. Fig'.Z.

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Bluebook (online)
124 F. 537, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryant-electric-co-v-buchanan-circtedpa-1903.