Collins v. Owen

199 F. Supp. 61, 132 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 230, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5187
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Iowa
DecidedNovember 16, 1961
DocketCiv. No. 669
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 199 F. Supp. 61 (Collins v. Owen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. Owen, 199 F. Supp. 61, 132 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 230, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5187 (N.D. Iowa 1961).

Opinion

GRAVEN, District Judge

(by assignment) .

The above-entitled action was heretofore tried to the Court and submitted to it. The Court, now being fully advised in the premises, makes and enters the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order for Judgment.

Findings of Fact

1. The plaintiff, Robert A. Collins, resides at Waukon, Allamakee County, Iowa. The plaintiff, Pigloo Corporation, is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Iowa with its principal place of business at Waukon, Allamakee County, Iowa. The defendant, Foster Owen, is a farmer residing near Reinbeck, Grundy County, Iowa. Allamakee County and Grundy County are in the Northern District of Iowa. In this action the plaintiffs charge the defendant with patent infringement. The infringement was allegedly committed in the Northern District of Iowa.

2. On April 3, 1956, pursuant to an application filed August 20, 1954, United States Letters Patent No. 2,740,379 for a farrowing pen was granted to the plaintiff, Robert A. Collins. On September 30, 1958, the plaintiff, Robert A. Collins, duly and legally assigned the .entire interest in the patent to the plaintiff, Pigloo Corporation. Since that time, that plaintiff has been engaged in the manufacture of farrowing pens referred to as pigloos. The plaintiffs charge the defendant with infringement of the patent referred to.

3. The Patent Office references cited in the patent were the following:

The defendant claims that those patents were prior to and anticipatory of the patent here involved. The defendant also claims that the invention which was purportedly described in that patent had been previously described in publications published in New Zealand. The defendant also asserts the defenses of file wrapper estoppel, unclean hands, and that Robert A. Collins appropriated the invention.

4. The farrowing pen described in the patent is designed for the use of one sow. It is circular in form. The outer structure consists of a side wall, roof, and [63]*63floor. Inside there is a smaller circular structure open at the top which is described as a hover. Suspended over the center is an electric heating lamp or device. The patent recites that concrete, wood, corrugated metal, or other suitable material could be used in the construction of the pen. The patent does not contain any specific dimensions. However, the evidence discloses that the pens manufactured by the plaintiff, Pigloo Corporation, are similar as to relative dimensions and features. The dimensions and features of a pen asserted by the plaintiffs to be typical of the pen described in the patent will be next described. The outer wall of the structure consists of wood panels around forty-two inches in height. The outer structure is approximately eight feet in diameter; the inner structure, or hover, is approximately three feet in diameter. There is an opening or door approximately twenty-four inches in height in the outer structure for passage by a sow. The wall of the hover is of corrugated steel and is approximately twenty-five inches in height. There is no opening into the hover on the side nearest the door. However, at the side of the hover remote from the door there is an opening grilled by two steel rods which are so spaced that the pigs may pass into the hover but the sow cannot. This constitutes a so-called creep area for the pigs. Extending around the inside wall of the outer structure from one side of the door to the other, there is a rod which is about seven inches from the wall and six inches from the floor. It is attached to the wall by inverted brackets. The space underneath the rod affords a safe creep area for the pigs. The circular hover is so offset in relation to the outer structure that the space between the hover and the rod attached to the wall of the outer structure in the vicinity of the door is so narrow that a sow cannot lie down in the space with comfort. The rod tends to guide a sow to the rear of the structure. At the rear of the structure, and opposite the grilled opening into the hover, the space provided is such that a sow can there lie down with comfort. The floor in the open space between the outer wall of the structure and the hover slopes towards the hover, so it is more comfortable for a sow to lie with her back to the wall. Thus, a sow coming into the pen would normally be guided to and lie down opposite the grilled opening to the hover with her back to the outer wall. This would permit her pigs to readily nurse her while in the protected area afforded by the hover. The warmth given off by the electric heating lamp or device would also attract her pigs into the hover.

5. The use of an individual farrowing pen lessens the possibility of the communication of disease to the sow and pigs and has other advantages over multi-sow farrowing structures. The outer guard rail and the protected area afforded by the hover lessens the possibility of the sow lying on her pigs. The solid wall of the hover on the side facing the door into the structure lessens the exposure of the pigs to chill drafts coming in the door. The heating lamp or device in the hover provides warmth which is conducive to their survival and growth.

6. The claims of the patent are as follows:

“1. A pig brooder comprising a floor, an outer enclosure wall extending upwardly from said floor and having an entrance and exit opening formed in a part thereof and extending downwardly to the floor, said outer wall being substantially circular, and a substantially circular hover disposed within the enclosure and spaced from said outer wall and adapted to contain a litter of pigs, said hover including a segmental wall portion and a segmental section of openwork construction forming a guard portion spaced a distance from an adjacent part of said outer wall such that a sow may conveniently lie on the floor between said outer wall and the guard portion of the hover only with her back toward the outer wall and with her belly adjacent the openwork guard portion of the hover.

“2. A pig brooder as in claim 1, said hover being eccentrically disposed within the enclosure defined by said outer [64]*64wall and being disposed with its center nearer the entrance and exit opening than the part of the outer wall located opposite said wall opening, the hover being spaced from said outer wall a sufficient distance to permit a sow to readily pass through the wall opening and around the hover.

“3. A pig brooder as in claim 2, said hover wall portion being solid and being disposed adjacent the outer wall opening.

“4. A pig brooder as in claim 3, said solid hover wall portion and the openwork guard portion of the hover each being substantially of semicylindrical shape.

“5. A pig brooder as in claim 4, heating means disposed within the hover and above the hover floor, and means for suspending said heating means from above the hover.

"6. A hover as in claim 1, said floor sloping downwardly and inwardly from said outer wall to the hover, a portion of said floor, constituting the hover floor, being disposed above the level of the sloping floor portion disposed immediately therearound and below the level of the sloping floor portion disposed adjacent said outer wall.

“7.

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Bluebook (online)
199 F. Supp. 61, 132 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 230, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-owen-iand-1961.