Buckan v. McKesson

7 F. 100, 18 Blatchf. 485, 1880 U.S. App. LEXIS 2724
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York
DecidedDecember 4, 1880
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 7 F. 100 (Buckan v. McKesson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buckan v. McKesson, 7 F. 100, 18 Blatchf. 485, 1880 U.S. App. LEXIS 2724 (circtsdny 1880).

Opinion

Blatchford, C. J.

These suits are brought for the infringement of re-issued letters patent No. 5,007, granted to Isabella Eames and Charles A. Seely, July 30, 1872, for an “improvement in the manufacture of soap,” the original patent having been granted to Charles J. Eames and Charles A. Seely, May 28, 1867. The specification of the re-issue says that the invention is “a new and improved composition for soap.” It proceeds: “The nature of our invention consists in a new soap compound, produced by incorporating carbolic and cresylic acids, either one or both, with ordinary soap. These substances are well known for their useful properties, and we have found that, when combined with soap, the detergent value of the soap is improved, and the properties of the acids are not masked or destroyed. To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention we proceed to describe it in detail. By soap we mean any of the compounds of alkali with oil or fat which are known and used in the arts under that name. Our invention is applicable to all kinds of ordinary detergent soap, and to several saponaceous compounds prepared for medicinal use. We employ one of the following ways of incorporating carbolic acid and cresylic acid with the soap: First, the acid or acids is dissolved in the alkaline solution before the addition of fat; second, the acids are dissolved in the melted fat; or, third, the acids are mixed in with the finished soap by means of crutching or other mechanical device. From the nature of the case we do not limit ourselves to any specific proportions of the carbolic and cresylic acids to the soap. For a toilet soap, five to fifty drops of the acid to the pound of soap will be found to give satisfactory effects, while as much as ten to twenty-five per cent, of acid may be used with other soaps. We are aware that gas tar and the dead oil of gas tar, containing a small proportion of carbolic acid, have been made into emulsions of a somewhat saponaceous character by means of alkalies and saponifiable fats; and we are also aware that the dead oil of gas tar was formerly sometimes known under [102]*102the name of crude carbolic acid; but the mixtures so made did not owe their efficiency to the small proportion of carbolic acid contained in them, and they were impracticable for the purposes to which soaps are applied. We therefore disclaim all such mixtures. By carbolic acid and cresylic acid we mean the chemical products known under the names respectively of phenol or phenylic alcohol, and crossol. or cresylic alcohol.”

The claims are as follows: “ (1) A soap made by incorporating carbolic acid, or its equivalent, with ordinary soap, substantially as above specified. (2) The combination of carbolic acid, or its equivalent, with the oils and fats to be used in the manufacture of soap. (3) The combination of carbolic acid, or its equivalent, with alkaline solutions to be used in the manufacture of soap.” The persons who were the exclusive owners of the re-issued patent on the third of December, 1879, did on that day, with the consent of the persons who were then the owners of the exclusive right under the patent for the United States east and south-east of the Booby mountains, file a disclaimer disclaiming the words: ‘‘and to several saponaceous compounds prepared for immediate use.”

It is claimed that the defendants have infringed the first claim of the patent by selling a soap made by incorporating carbolic'acid with ordinary soap. The plaintiffs’ specification is.not limited to a chemical incorporation of the acid as distinguished from a mechanical incorporation. It describes three ways of making the incorporation, in order to show how the invention is to be practically carried out. But, in order to show infringement, it is not necessary to show that some one of those three methods of incorporation was employed, or that any particular method resulting in a chemical union was used. It is sufficient if the soap has the 'carbolic acid in the body of it, in such way that the useful properties of the carbolic acid can be availed of in the use of the soap, while the useful properties of the soap, as a soap, are at the same time availed of. The defendants, in selling the soaps they sold, represented them as containing 10 per cent, of car[103]*103nolle acid, by printed matter on tlie boxes enveloping tliem. This fact, with the affirmative testimony as to their containing carbolic acid, is sufficient to establish the fact, although by the lapse of time and by exposure they may, at a certain date, have so parted with their carbolic acid as to make it impossible appreciably to recognize its presence.

The specification of the patent states that the “new soap compound. ” which is the invention, is made by incorporating the acid with “ordinary soap.” It then defines the word “soap,” as used in the specification, to mean “any of the compounds of alkali with oil or fat which are known and used in the arts under that name.” It also says that the invention is “applicable to all kinds of ordinary detergent s.oap,” and that, when the acid is combined with soap, the detergent value of the soap is improved, while the properties of the acid are not masked or destroyed. It says that the acids named are well known for their useful properties, but it does not specify the properties. It also speaks of “satisfactory effects,” but it does not state what effects are referred to other than such as are elsewhere mentioned. A “detergent” soap is a cleansing soap. “Detergent” means “cleansing.” It is the nature of a soap to be detergent or cleansing. If the article is a soap, it is detergent. If it is not detergent, it is not a soap. Whatever is a soap, is a detergent soap.

The defendants contend that the patented invention covered by the first claim of the patent existed before and was described in a patent granted in England to Alexander Mc-Dougall, No. 2,510, dated October 15, 1860, and sealed April 12, 1861. The provisional specification, deposited October 15, 1860, states the invention to be for “improvements in materials or composition for destroying vermin on sheep and other animals, and for protecting them therefrom, ” and says: “My invention consists in the use of heavy oil of tar or dead oil, or crude carbolic acid, as it is sometimes called, or creosote, obtained in the destructive distillation of carbonaceous substances. These materials I treat with an alkali, and add a saponifiable fatty substance.”

The Ml specification, filed April 15, 1861, says: “My in[104]*104vention consists in the use of the heavy oil of tar or dead oil, or crude carbolic acid, as it is sometimes called, or creosote, obtained in the destructive distillation of carbonaceous substances. These materials I treat with an alkali, and add a saponifiable fatty substance. And, in order that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe a method by which I carry the same into practical operation. I take crude carbolic acid, or heavy oil of tar, or other products obtained from the distillation of tar, which, like those mentioned, have a greater specific gravity and a higher boiling point than water, and act upon it with caustic soda or potash, so as to render it soluble or mixable with water. This mixture is heated (say to about the boiling point of water) and agitated, so that all the parts may be equally acted upon. I then add to it fat, tallow, or other saponifiable substance, and give it the consistency of a soft paste, in which condition it is suitable for use. The proportions may be varied, but those I prefer are two parts by weight of the carbolic acid, one part by weight of caustic soda of 50 deg.

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Bluebook (online)
7 F. 100, 18 Blatchf. 485, 1880 U.S. App. LEXIS 2724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buckan-v-mckesson-circtsdny-1880.