Duncan v. Stockham

204 F. 781, 123 C.C.A. 133, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1941
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 31, 1912
DocketNo. 1,896
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 204 F. 781 (Duncan v. Stockham) 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
Duncan v. Stockham, 204 F. 781, 123 C.C.A. 133, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1941 (7th Cir. 1912).

Opinion

SEAMAN, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The Stewart patent (No. 657,184) in suit is for “an improvement in coal washers,” and its means, operation, and objects are well described in the specifications. This appeal is brought for reversal of a decree which upholds the validity of the patent and grants relief against the appellants, as infringers of its single claim of invention, reading as follows:

“The combination in a coal washer of a vertically reciprocating jig H, provided with a perforated bottom J, metallic sliding joints ST on its sides, water tank G, with inclined bottom, perforated bucket elevator G, tank D, elevator 0, tank B, centrifugal pun® P, tank B, opening Q between tanks B and 0, valve R to close opening Q, substantially as described.”

The purpose of the structure thus claimed as an improved means is to receive from the dump the product of the mine, in mingled coal and slate, wash and separate the coal from the slate, and deliver the coal through such process in marketable condition. 'As aptly described in the brief for appellees, the operation is as follows:

“The unwashed and mingled coal and slate enters through the trough at the left and falls into the water in jig B at the left side. It’ moves across the jig because of its inclined bottom, the introduction of the material at the left and its escape at the right, and the flow of water upwardly and to the right through the jig. The washed coal and water escape at the right from the fop of the jig and have a free fall into the washed coal tank D, and the slate falls through the opening in the bottom of the tank at the right and down into the small hole leading to the refuse elevator G in the tank, which is placed alongside of the jig tank 0. When the jig rises the slate sections act as valves to close the perforations in the bottom of the jig, and then the jig lifts its contents and draws in water through the circulating system from the pump tank B and through the valve R, while at the same time a portion of the water so lifted flows with washed coal out into the tank B. The moment the jig begins to descend, the valve R is closed, and the hole between the tanks being full of slate and refuse, the water is confined in the closed jig tank, but is free to move upwardly through the jig and laterally to the right, whereupon a further quantity of water with washed coal moves toward the right through the jig and falls into the tank D, while the slate moves toward the right and falls into the bottom part of the tank 0. Thus the discharge action of the device is continuous. A lively bed of material, which is the condition for successful separation, is maintained by this intermittent upward rush of the whole body of water through the perforations, and by this continuous lateral movement of water and coal and refuse toward the right.”

Defenses are set up, challenging the validity of the patent and asserting noninfringement of the invention claimed. We believe infringement plainly appears, if the patent is sustainable, and that the slight variations in structure relied upon for denial thereof do not merit discussion. The contentions of error in upholding the patent claim of invention are: (a) That anticipations appear in prior publications and patents; (b) that the means “lack novelty in view of the [785]*785prior art”; and (c) that the structure is a mere aggregation of prior means. Whether one or more of these propositions is supported by the evidence presents the inquiry upon which the merits of the controversy must be determined.

[1] The record exhibits numerous earlier patents for coal washers or separators and ore jiggers — commencing with Bradford’s patent No. 143,219, issued in 1873 — all showing use of jigs or “jumping jigs,” in combination with water tanks and various other means, for like general purpose or analogous uses, and they establish the fact— conceded, as well, on behalf of the appellees and so referred to in the specifications of the patent in suit — that Stewart’s device -was a mere improvement of such general means of the prior art for the so-called “coal washer.” The fact of improvement over these prior devices in operation and results is well established. Its combination or assemblage of means for the purposes of the structure is not disclosed in any one of these prior patents; and we do not understand the argument of counsel for appellants to predicate the defense of anticipation on one or another of such references, in the extended review thereof submitted in their briefs and in the testimony, beyond their undoubted effect to narrow the field of invention which was open to the paten-tee, Stewart, for his claim in suit. We believe, therefore, that review of these various patents is not needful for discussion of any of the issues raised to defeat the patent, under the limited scope of invention involved herein.

The crucial inquiry of patentability, however, arises out of an important publication of a German text-book, bearing date in 1870. It is referred to in the record as “Rittinger’s publication,” pleaded and introduced iti evidence as an anticipation of the Stewart patent, and the information there published requires careful analysis for solution of issues which are thereby raised. The text-book and supplements are entitled (as translated) “Of the Science of Preparation of Ores,” bearing date in 1870 and 1873 and printed in the German language. The publications in evidence are well authenticated as German copies of the work which have been on the shelves of the St. Louis Public Library “continuously since September 2, 1889,” and they are of undoubted force as publications open to the public long prior to the date of the invention claimed by Stewart, so that, in so far as they describe with precision a complete and operative means for like purpose, the law applicable to patents charges the patentee with notice thereof, as of the prior art. 1 Robinson on Patents, § VIII.

Rittinger’s treatise contains descriptions of methods and drawings of apparatus for treatment of ores, and translations of excerpts from the text are introduced in the record as pertinent citations, together with the drawings referred to, which-appear as “plates” in an accompanying atlas. The text relates only to “a fine material (grain) jig machine,” for use of water for separation of grains of ore from sand or like refuse — obviously applicable as means for separating gold or precious metals, in placer mining — and neither text nor drawings purport to deal with coal washing, or with problems involved therein for separation of the coarse mineral from slate-or other substance [786]*786heavier than the mineral. But certain of the drawings and brief descriptive matter are relied upon as anticipations; and the drawings referred to are as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
204 F. 781, 123 C.C.A. 133, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1941, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duncan-v-stockham-ca7-1912.