Denny Renton Clay & Coal Co. v. Portland Cement Pipe & Tile Co.

232 F. 890, 1916 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1696
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedApril 17, 1916
DocketNo. 6885
StatusPublished

This text of 232 F. 890 (Denny Renton Clay & Coal Co. v. Portland Cement Pipe & Tile Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Denny Renton Clay & Coal Co. v. Portland Cement Pipe & Tile Co., 232 F. 890, 1916 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1696 (D. Or. 1916).

Opinion

WOLVERTON, District Judge.

[1] Plaintiffs are the exclusive ownérs of letters patent No. 929,898, and of the invention and im[891]*891provements therein described, and bring this suit against defendants to enjoin infringement. Complainants’ invention relates to machines for making concrete pipes or drains, such as are employed in the construction of sewers, culverts, and the like. Among other specific objects of the invention, are stated the following •

One is:

“To provide a machine for forming the interior walls of the pipe or drain with a glazed surface, thereby to render the pipe impervious to moisture.”

And another is:

“To provide a machine in which the mold and core member are mounted for rotation in the same direction and at the same rate of speed.”

Complainants’ device, briefly described, consists of a core loosely mounted on the lower end of a shaft, a mold so arranged as to be concentric with the core, the mold showing in the drawings a bell at the top (though no special claim is made in the patent for the bell or any bell core), all mounted bn a table, which table by certain means and .appliances is made to rotate. This carries with it by rotation the core and the mold. While thus in operation, the cement material, through contrivances to direct its course, is poured into the space between the mold and the core, and by certain other contrivances is tamped down as it finds its way into the interstice. When desired, the core may he locked against rotation by means devised for., that purpose, and the mold, with its pipe, will continue to rotate, by which operation the tile or pipe is troweled or glazed on the inside, which gives it a smooth appearance, and renders the pipe to a greater extent, if not wholly, impervious to water.

The locking device, by which the core is locked against rotation, consists of a hook affixed to the top of the drum composing the core, which is made to engage with a collar on the shaft. The core is made collapsible, and may be again expanded, which serves the purpose of loosening the core from the pipe and putting it in position for glazing the inside of the pipe. This feature, however, has but little to do with the question involved by the present controversy. Mr. Kinealy, a consulting engineer of eminence, says:

“The characteristically novel features of the Thomas [complainants’] invention lie in providing a cement sewer pipe machine comprising a mold and a core with means whereby, during the formation of a sewer pipe, the mold and the core may be caused to rotate together, and whereby, after the pipe has been formed, the core may be held at rest while the mold and the pipe are rotated with the inner surface of the pipe in contact with the outer surface of the core.”

The defendants’ machine, the one which it is claimed infringes complainants’ patent, consists of a core-carrying shaft, which is square and is prevented from turning about its longitudinal axis. The core is made in two parts, forming the body or main cylindrical portion of the pipe, and an upper part forming the bell of the pipe. The core is rigidly attached to the lower end of the core-carrying shaft. The bell core, when not in use, is carried up with chains, detachably attached to handles on the sides. The mold is formed in halves. When the halves are in place they rest upon a table, which latter is made [892]*892to rotate, carrying the mold in rotation also, but the core remains stationary. The core surrounds a base ring, called by some of the witnesses for the defendants a pallet. A like appliance is used in complainants’ patent, but referred to as a ring, or hose ring. This ring also rotates with the mold, but the core remains stationary. When the machine is thus in movement, the cement material is fed into the interstice and tamped in the same way practically as it is fed into and tamped in the complainants’ machine. When the material is filled to the offset forming the bell,' the bell core is then put in place, and the chains used for lifting’or lowering it are detached. The bell core is supplied with lugs intended to rest on the top of the main core. When in this position, the material is fed in so as to fill up the space left between the bell core and the bell of the mold.

The defendants claim that by using a wet mix, which they seem to- think is the only kind adapted for use in their machine, it forms a pipe without a glaze on the inner side, and renders it more impervious to water than can be made on plaintiffs’ machine. Mr. Kinealy is of the opinion that, in the operation of defendants’ machine, the material, when fed in and tamped, adheres to the mold and the ring at the bottom, which revolves with it, and thus causes the inner surface of the pipe to move and revolve about the stationary core, which results in troweling or glazing such surface, the same as is the case with the complainants’ machine. As to the bell core he maintains that by friction it is made to rotate with the mold. He further claims that, when the pipe is finished, the bell core is grasped by the handles with hook appliances, and prevented from rotation, while the mold is permitted to rotate, and thus is the inner surface of the bell troweled or glazed. The defendants seem to dispute this particular operation of their machine. '

With this description of both machines, including somewhat of their operation, we will be able to advance to a discussion of the question of infringement. But the one question has been presented by the record. Other patents have been offered and admitted in evidence, but these were admitted for only one purpose, and that to enlighten the court respecting the prior state of the art.

Complainants’ predecessor was not a pioneer in the art. His device consists, in a combination of old elements, and complainants must be held to a largely restricted construction of -their patent. Infringement is predicated of the first three claims of the patent. Thé first claim reads:

“In a machine of the class described, a mold carrier, a mold mounted for rotation on the carrier, a core member movable to operative position within the mold, means for tamping the material in the mold as the latter is rotated, means for rotating the mold and core in the same direction during one operation of the machine, and means for locking the core against rotation while the mold revolves at another stage of operation of the machine.”

The second claim differs from the first only in that the words “means for tamping the material in the mold as the latter is rotated” are omitted ; and the third differs from the first only as to the features of the tamping mechanism.

[893]*893It is manifest that the defendants have combined all the elements comprised by claim 1 in their machine, unless it be the last two, namely:

“Means for rotating the mold and core in the same direction during one operation of the machine, and means fon locking the core against rotation while the mold revolves at another stage of operation of the machine.”

The defendants’ device is supplied with no means for rotating the mold and the core in the same direction. The core is built in stationary, and the mold rotates about it at all times. So that there are no means whatever for rotating the two together, and in the very principle of the device none was intended to be. Professor Kinealy explains that defendants’ machine has the means for rotating

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
232 F. 890, 1916 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1696, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denny-renton-clay-coal-co-v-portland-cement-pipe-tile-co-ord-1916.