Cavitron Corp. v. Ultrasonic Research Corp.

301 F. Supp. 293, 161 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 518, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13141
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 18, 1969
DocketNo. 66-856-Civ
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 301 F. Supp. 293 (Cavitron Corp. v. Ultrasonic Research Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cavitron Corp. v. Ultrasonic Research Corp., 301 F. Supp. 293, 161 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 518, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13141 (S.D. Fla. 1969).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT and CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

EATON, District Judge.

This patent infringement action came on for non-jury trial before the Court. The Court heard testimony, received evidence, heard argument by counsel and considered the proposed findings and conclusions presented by counsel. Therefore, the Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I. NATURE OF ACTION, JURISDICTION, PARTIES

1. This is an action under the Patent Laws of the United States for infringement of the following three patents:

(a) Patent No. 3,075,288 (hereinafter called the ’288 patent), issued January 29, 1963, to Lewis Balamuth and Arthur Kuris, on an application filed December 24, 1954. Plaintiff relies on claims 8 and 9;

(b) Patent No. 3,076,904 (hereinafter called the ’904 patent), issued February 5, 1963, to Claus Kleesattel, Lewis Balamuth and Arthur Kuris on an application filed August 29, 1958. Plaintiff relies on claims 15, 23 and 25;

(c) Patent No. 3,213,537 (hereinafter called the ’537 patent), issued October 26, 1965, to Lewis Balamuth, Claus Kleesattel and Arthur Kuris, on an application filed on September 11,1961, as a division of the original application filed December 24, 1954, that matured into the ’288 patent. Plaintiff relies on claims 6 and 8.

2. Defendant Sonic Industries Corporation has counterclaimed charging false marking by Plaintiff under 35 U.S.C. § 292.

3. Plaintiff is the owner, by assignment, of all the right, title and interest in and to the patents in suit and has the right to sue for infringement thereof. The defendants fall into two categories: (a) Ultrasonic Research Corporation, [294]*294Louis Winter, Mrs. Louis Winter, William Czeisler and Rose Czeisler, parties to the original complaint; and (b) Sonic Industries Corporation (hereinafter called Sonic), John C. Adams, Adrienne J. Adams, Zoltán Haydu, Dorothy Haydu, John Eubanks and Marcel Marovitch, added as parties by the amended complaint. The defendants in the first category did not appear and defend at the trial, nor did they join in the execution of the pretrial stipulation. The parties in the second category did appear by counsel and participate in the trial of the cause. Counsel for plaintiff stated at the trial that he did not propose to ask for a judgment against those defendants who were not represented at the trial.

II. THE PATENTS IN SUIT

4. The patents in suit relate to a new kind of dental instrument which utilizes ultrasonic energy for the drilling or cleaning of teeth. Plaintiff’s units incorporating this initial design were placed on general sale to the dental profession in 1955. In this initial form, the instrument was designed for drilling of teeth. Approximately 1200 of such ultrasonic drilling units were sold by plaintiff in the years 1955 to 1957. In 1957, an improved version of plaintiff’s ultrasonic dental instrument, specifically designed for prophylaxis use (cleaning of teeth) was placed on the market. This instrument, with but relatively minor changes has been sold to the dental profession continuously since 1957 and until late 1965 was the only ultrasonic dental prophylaxis instrument commercially available to the dental profession. It has achieved wide commercial and professional acceptance, and during the last ten years, more than 40,000 of such instruments have been supplied by plaintiff for use in prophylaxis and peridontal therapy. The present model of the plaintiff’s instrument is known as the “Dents-ply-Cavitron Model 660”.

5. Generally, the ultrasonic dental instrument of the three patents in suit comprises a handpiece which is held by the dentist and a water and electrical supply system which is housed in a separate cabinet and coupled to the handpiece by a flexible conduit. The handpiece is controlled by a foot switch.

6. The handpiece has an outer casing or barrel within which there is an electrical coil, a sealed chamber for water circulation and cooling, and a vibratory system resiliently mounted within the barrel and connected with the tool extending from one end of the barrel.

7. The vibratory system of the hand-piece is made up of an elongated magnetostrictive transducer or stack of laminated strips of nickel, an acoustical impedance transformer and a working tool, rigidly joined together. When subjected to the varying magnetic field produced by the coil in the handpiece, the magnetostrictive transducer elongates and contracts at a rate corresponding to the rate of variations of the magnetic field and thereby produces longitudinal vibrating motion at its ends. Such mechanical vibrations are amplified in the acoustical impedance transformer and transmitted to the working tool to set its operative tip in vibratory motion.

8. The supply and control system includes an oscillation generator for converting 60 cycle line current into a high frequency alternating or varying current of about 25,000 to 30,000 cycles per second, and a solenoid valve for controlling the supply of water from a tap. Electrical conductors from the oscillation generator and a supply tube from the water valve in the housing are enclosed within a common flexible conduit running from the housing to the end of the handpiece opposite the working tool.

A. The ’288 patent.

9. The '288 patent discloses the earlier form of plaintiff’s commercial instrument, known as the Model 210, which was specifically designed for cutting or drilling teeth. In this device, the magnetrostrictive transducer and the acoustical impedance transformer are permanently retained within the hand-piece barrel and the working tips or tools are attached to the stem of the trans[295]*295former by screw threads. A resilient ring surrounding the transformer supports the vibratory structure within the barrel.

10. The sealing rings at the transformer end of the casing and a closure at the other end of the casing define a watertight chamber within the casing which encompasses the magnetostrictive transducer and a part of the acoustical impedance transformer. The energizing electrical coil is wound around the magnetostrictive transducer.

11. A current supply line extends through the closure at the end of the chamber opposite the working tool and is connected to the coil. A fluid supply line is coupled through the end of the closure to supply a fluid, such as water, to the casing chamber for the dual purpose of cooling the magnetostrictive transducer and coil during application of electrical power to keep their temperature within safe limits and supplying preheated or tempered fluid to the operative end of the work tool for application to the work area.

12. The use of the coolant for the magnetostrictive transducer as the treatment fluid for the operative procedure on the dental patient, as disclosed in the ’288 patent, simplifies the instrument by providing the pre-warmed fluid necessary for performance of operative dental procedure to be supplied to the working tip without the addition of separate heating elements, conduits, etc., and at the same time disposing of the coolant for the magnetostrictive transducer.

13.

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301 F. Supp. 293, 161 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 518, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cavitron-corp-v-ultrasonic-research-corp-flsd-1969.