Diamond Power Specialty Corporation v. Bayer Co.

13 F.2d 337, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3562
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMay 7, 1926
Docket7158, 7159
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 13 F.2d 337 (Diamond Power Specialty Corporation v. Bayer Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diamond Power Specialty Corporation v. Bayer Co., 13 F.2d 337, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3562 (8th Cir. 1926).

Opinion

BOOTH, Circuit Judge.

Two suits were brought by the Diamond Power Specialty Corporation against the Bayer Company in. the court below. In one the bill alleged infringement by defendant of two patents belonging to plaintiff: 1,416,553, Garland, May 16, 1922, apparatus for blowing soot from the tubes of boilers, and 1,465,387, Bowers, August 21,1923, for a boiler cleaner. In the second suit] the bill alleged infringement by defendant of three patents belonging to plaintiff: 1,060,923, Magee, May 6,1913, for a water tube blower; 1,231,276, Mellvane, June 26, 1917, for a boiler cleaner; and 1,-343,654, Beebe and Bowers, June 15, 1920, for a boiler cleaner. Defendant answered in both suits, denying -the validity of each of the patents, and also denying infringement. Later defendant amended its answer in the second suit, and set up a counterclaim, alleging that plaintiff was infringing a patent owned by defendant, No. 1,028,180, Bayer, June 4,1912, for improvement in soot blower attachments. Plaintiff answered this counterclaim, ’ denying the validity of the Bayer patent, and denying infringement thereof by plaintiff.

The two causes involving these six patents were consolidated for final hearing. The court by its decree adjudged claims 15 and 16 of the Garland patent valid and infringed; claims 1, 2, and 3 of the Bowers patent valid and infringed; claims 6, 20, 21, 22, and 24 of the Magee patent valid ..and infringed; claim 7 of the defendant’s patent (Bayer) invalid. From so much of the decree, the defendant has appealed, No. 7159. The court also by its decree adjudged claims 4 and 5 of the Beebe and Bowers patent invalid; claim 1 of the McHvane patent invalid; claim 2 of the Mellvane patent not infringed by defendant. From the part of the decree holding claims 4 and 5 of the Beebe and Bowers patent invalid, plaintiff has appealed, No. 7158. No appeal has been taken as to the Mellvane patent.

The Garland patent; No. 1,416,553, discloses an apparatus foi blowing soot from the tubes of water tube boilers. It comprises a blower tube mounted in suitable bearings, so as to rotate about its longitudinal axis, and having a series of small nozzles spaced along its length, and a valve to control the supply of steam to the blower tube. The valve by suitable mechanism is made to operate in a timed relation with the rotation of the blower tube,' so that the steam is admitted to the nozzles of the blower tube when they are directed to the part of the boiler desired to be cleaned. Claims 15 and 16 of the patent are here involved. Claim 15 reads:

“15. A soot cleaning apparatus for boilers comprising in combination a blower mem *339 ber having a series of laterally disposed outlets, a steam supply member in communication with said blower member, a valve for controlling the discharge of steam to said outlets, means for imparting movement to the blower member about its longitudinal axis whereby to direct the jets of steam to different portions of the boiler to clean the same, the said last-mentioned moans being operatively associated with said valve whereby the valve automatically opens and closes in synchronism with the movement of the blower member and remains open during a predetermined movement of the blower member about its longitudinal axis.”

Claim 16 adds a further element: “Means interconnecting the operation of said valve and blower member whereby upon the operation of one of them the other will he automatically operated.”

The defenses set up to this patent are, first, estoppel. This is based largely on the history of the application in the Patent Office. The contention is that during the earlier stages of the prosecution of the application Garland insisted that the apparatus of his invention removed the soot by the so-called “puff” method; that is, by causing the steam to be forced through nozzles of the blowers in a series of puffs, and that having claimed this as his invention, and having allowed several years to elapse before filing claims 15 and. 16, he is now estopped from claiming the invention defined in those claims. The contention cannot be sustained. It is true that Garland did in the early stages of the prosecution of his application lay great stress upon the “puff” method; but it is also tme that later on, and before the defendant entered the field with its accused device, Garland had inserted other claims in connection with his application, and of theso new claims two wore allowed, being 15 and 16 of the patent in suit.

The insertion of new claims in connection with a pending application is allowable, provided the substance of the claims was disclosed by the original specifications and drawings. Godfrey v. Eames, 1 Wall. 317, 324, 17 L. Ed. 684; Smith v. Goodyear, 93 U. S. 486, 499, 23 L. Ed. 952; Hobbs v. Beach, 180 U. S. 383, 396, 21 S. Ct. 409, 45 L. Ed. 586; Western Elec. Co. v. Sperry Co., 58 F. 186, 196, 7 C. C. A. 164; Bowers v. San Francisco Bridge Co. (C. C.) 69 F. 640; Cleveland Foundry Co. v. Detroit Vapor Stove Co., 131 F. 853, 68 C. C. A. 233; Victor Talking Machine Co. v. American Graphophone Co., 145 F. 350, 76 C. C. A. 180; Proudfit Co. v. Kalamazoo Co., 230 F. 120, 144 C. C. A. 418; General Elec. Co. v. Continental Fibre Co., 256 F. 660, 664, 168 C. C. A. 54.

An examination of the drawings, specifications, and file wrapper of the Garland patent satisfies us that claims 15 and 16 come within the rule stated, and that the defense of estoppel cannot be maintained. The case of Webster Electric Co. v. Splitdorf Electrical Co., 264 U. S. 463, 44 S. Ct. 342, 68 L. Ed. 792, cited by defendant, is not applicable. In that case the original application for the Kane patent had been filed February 2, 1910. The patent had been issued November 14, 1916. A divisional application had been filed in 1914 or 1915, for the purpose of securing an interference with the Milton patent, issued May 12, 1914. The interference was decided in favor of the Kane patent. Subsequently, in 1915, another divisional application was filed by Kane, presenting claims copied from the Podlesak patent, issued March 4, 1913, and reissued February 9, 1915. This interference resulted in favor of the Podlesaks. Thereafter, in June, 1918, Kane filed an amendment, introducing two new and broader claims. These were'allowed, and the patent to Kane issued, September 24, 1918. These two claims were brought into the Splitdorf suit, which had been commenced in 1915, by a supplemental bill filed October 25, 1918. The defense set up against these two claims was laches on the part of Kane. It was sustained. The Supreme Court in its opinion said:

“ * * * Claims 7 and 8 were for the first time presented to the Patent Office, by an amendment to a divisional application eight years and four months after the filing of the original application, five years after the date of the original Podlesak patent, disclosing the subject-matter, and three years after the commencement of the present suit. * * * During all of this time their subject-matter was disclosed and in general use; and Kane and his assignee, so far as claims 7 and 8 aro concerned, simply stood by and awaited developments. • & The repeated assertion of interferences in narrower terms, resulting in delays incident to their determination, affords no just excuse for the failure to assert the broader claims, '7 and 8, at an earlier date.

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Bluebook (online)
13 F.2d 337, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diamond-power-specialty-corporation-v-bayer-co-ca8-1926.