Cardox Corp. v. Armstrong Coalbreak Co.

194 F.2d 376
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 19, 1952
Docket10438_1
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 194 F.2d 376 (Cardox Corp. v. Armstrong Coalbreak Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cardox Corp. v. Armstrong Coalbreak Co., 194 F.2d 376 (7th Cir. 1952).

Opinion

DUFFY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff charges defendant with infringement of Claims 2, 3 and 6 of Armstrong patent No. 2,212,891 applied for May 29, 1933, and issued August 27, 1940, and of Claim 1 of Harris patent No. 2,083,705 applied for June 14, 1933, and issued June 15, 1937. Defendant urges invalidity for lack of invention over the prior art, noninfringement, and misuse by plaintiff of the patents in suit, precluding it from any right to equitable relief. The district court held that the claims of the patents in suit were valid and infringed by defendant’s device, and overruled the defense of misuse of the patents.

The patents in suit have to do with improvements in compressed air cartridges. Although not limited to coal mining, plaintiff’s commercial airdox device and defendant’s accused device are used in coal mines for breaking down coal. In an under-surface coal mine the procedure is to- make a deep horizontal cut at or near the level of the mine floor. Holes are then driven horizontally into the coal face above the cut. Formerly it was the usual method to place black powder or other explosives in the holes and ignite same. The resulting blast broke down the coal. The size of the lumps of coal produced by an explosion depends somewhat upon the intensity of the blast: a light charge will produce large lumps and a heavy charge will produce more finely broken coal.

Coal mining is dangerous because numerous coal dust and gas explosions have been accidentally ignited by a spark or a flame, often causing great loss of life and property damage. Mining laws in Illinois and some other States prohibit the shooting or breaking down of coal with explosives during regular working shifts. The air cartridge was developed to avoid the necessity of using explosives or electric or other ignition devices. Highly compressed air of the order of 10,000 lbs. per square inch is used in these cartridges and the quick release of such air is effective to provide a *378 blasting effect which will knock down the coal.

In 1933 Frank Armstrong designed a precharged air cartridge, which could be fired at will from a remote position by means of a special air gun chisel positioned at the rear of the cartridge to perforate a disc. The air gun was to> be held adjacent to the disc by. means of an expansible rubber sleeve. He applied for a patent on May 29, 1933, which he assigned to plaintiff, and over seven years later it became the Armstrong patent in suit.

The patents in suit are concerned with cartridge valves that can be used repeatedly. Each employs a “differential valve” wherein a rod is provided at one end with a valve head to close the discharge opening at the front end of the cartridge, and at the opposite end a piston which separates a control chamber from the main chamber of the cartridge. The piston permits slow passage of air from the control chamber to the main chamber, but prevents passage of air in the opposite direction. In each patent a frangible disc must be broken to drop the air pressure in the control chamber below that of the main chamber. This causes the valve head to open and permits the air to rush out. The disc at the rear of the control chamber must be replaced after each shot.

Plaintiff brought out its commercial airdox cartridge in 1935. It has a discharge opening at the center of its front end which is controlled by a differential valve mechanism. The main chamber is separated from the rest of the cartridge by a fixed baffle plate through which the differential valve rod extends to a piston in the rear of the baffle. The piston divides the rear portion of the cartridge into a control chamber and an intermediate chamber. When the pressure in the control chamber drops substantially below that of the main chamber, the differential valve moves in the direction of the rear of the cartridge pulling the valve head back, and permitting the air to shoot forwardly through the discharge port.

The claims of the patents in suit are:

Armstrong No. 2,212,891:

Claim 2: “A. material breaking device comprising a cartridge having a chamber adapted to receive a charge of highly compressed air or other gas and a discharge opening through which said charge may escape, and a differential valve within said chamber for controlling said discharge opening.”

Claim 3: “A material breaking device as defined in claim 2 further characterized in that the said differential valve is controllable from a remote point.”

Claim 6: “A cartridge having a chamber adapted to receive a charge of gas at working pressure, and a repeatedly reusable valve reciprocable bodily between positions within said chamber in which it respectively seals the charge in said chamber and permits discharge of said charge therefrom, and means constructed and arranged and subject to remote control for moving said valve from its sealing position to> its discharging position to release said charge.”

Harris No. 2,083,705:

Claim 1: “A material breaking apparatus comprising a cartridge adapted to> receive a charge of high pressure air or gas and embodying a discharge orifice through which such charge may be released, a differential valve mechanism normally sealing said orifice when pressure exists within the cartridge and means for effecting the opening of said differential valve mechanism automatically upon the attainment of a predetermined pressure within the cartridge.”

It is thus apparent that the patents in suit relate to mechanisms to hold and control the high pressures of compressed air, and to cause the quick discharge thereof, so as to break down coal or other material. Apparently Armstrong believed his invention to be the placing of a reusable differential valve in a compressed air cartridge and activating said valve by shooting out the breakable disc with his special air gun. The Harris patent uses a structure disclosed by Armstrong, specifically mentioning a differential valve, but contemplating shooting the cartridge when a predetermined pressure is reached and while it is still connected with the air supply line.

The inventor, Harris, was plaintiff’s patent attorney and was later president of plaintiff. Harris had prepared and filed the *379 Armstrong application about 15 days before filing on June 14, 1933, .the application in his own name resulting in the Harris patent in suit. He also filed on May 27, 1933, the application resulting in the Dull patent No. 2,083,695, owned by plaintiff. There is some evidence in the record to support the findings of the district court that Armstrong in 1933 was a few months ahead of Dull.

Claiming invalidity because of lack of invention over the prior art, defendant relies heavily on Pratt patent No. 387,256. Pratt disclosed a pneumatic cartridge as a propellant for ammunition. The cartridge of Pratt is shown in a gun barrel. It is operated by a hammer striking a pin to turn the control valve to venting position. While claim 2 of the Armstrong patent in suit does read upon the Pratt disclosure in several respects, it is clear that even if Pratt were operative, it was not intended for a material breaking device, except in so far as any artillery shell might damage any object with which it came into contact. No‘ attempt was ever made to mine coal with the device.

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Bluebook (online)
194 F.2d 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cardox-corp-v-armstrong-coalbreak-co-ca7-1952.