Evans v. Eaton

8 F. Cas. 856, 3 Wash. C. C. 443
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 15, 1818
DocketCase No. 4,560
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 8 F. Cas. 856 (Evans v. Eaton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. Eaton, 8 F. Cas. 856, 3 Wash. C. C. 443 (circtdpa 1818).

Opinion

BY THE COURT.

After an appearance of the defendant in error in the supreme court, and pleading, as it must be presumed he did, to entitle him to appear by counsel, and argue the cause, it is too late to take this objection. We must presume, that all formal objections, and particularly one to the want of the writ, were waived by consent of parties.

The jury being sworn, the competency of Philip Frederick, to give evidence for the defendant, was objected to by the plaintiff, on the ground that he uses a Stouffer hopper-boy; and that if the defendant should obtain a verdict, upon the ground of the use of the Stouffer hopperboy by others, prior to the plaintiff’s discovery, the court must declare the patent void; and thus incapacitate the plaintiff to recover against the witness.

BY THE COURT. This patent, according to the plaintiff’s claim, covers eleven distinct things; and may be perfectly good for a part, though not so as to this particular machine. If, therefore, the jury should find for the defendant, on the ground that the hopperboy [857]*857was known, and. in use, prior to• the • plaintiff’s discovery, THE COURT could not declare- the wliole patent void, on account of the unsoundness of a part of it, in relation to a distinct machine; and we can find no authority for the judgment which has been hinted at — that is, to avoid the patent, quoad the hopperboy. It is only in this most extraordinary ease, of one patent for a great number of different inventions, that this difficul- . ty could occur. But we must say, that, on that account, it must be exempt from that provision of the 6th section [Act 1793; 1 Stat 322], as to the judgment where the. objection goes only to the prior use of one of the patented machines.

The deposition of Michael Former was offered, and objected to, for the reasons urged against it in the case of Evans v. Hettick [Case No. 4,562], The plaintiff’s counsel examined the clerk of the court, to prove what the practice had been; who states, that rules to take depositions generally, have frequently been entered in the office; and depositions of witnesses living within the state, and above one hundred miles from Philadelphia, have been taken; that it has been rare, for twenty years past, to take depositions under the act of congress [1 Stat. 88, § 30].

THE COURT rejected the evidence, for the reason assigned in Hettick’s Case.

The counsel for the plaintiff contended, that, under his patent, he was entitled to •claim, 1. The entire hopperboy, which is protected by the judgment of the supreme court in this very case (3 Wheat. [16 U. S.] 519); although it should appear that he was not the original inventor of it, which, however, they contended he was; and that the defendant’s -witnesses, who had testified as to the prior use of the Stouffer hopperboy, must be mistaken in their recollection of dates. 2. An improvement on a hopperboy. — That it is not necessary to the validity of such a patent, to describe in the specification, in what the improvement- consists, the 3d section of the law being, in this respect, merely directory to the secretary of state, authorizing him to refuse a patent, if such a specification be -not filed. But, however this may be in .common cases, they insisted, that the supreme court having decided that one of the plaintiff’s claims, under his patent, is to an improvement on the hopperboy (3 Wheat [16 U. S.] 517), the requisition (page 518) that he should show the extent of his improvement ■must necessarily mean, that he should show it by parol evidence; since tne chief justice having noticed, in the opinion, (page-515), that the specification does not. distinguish the improvement from the original machine, the .court would never have sent the cause to another trial, upon the plaintiff’s claim to an .improvement,, if the specification was deemed too defective to authorize his recovery.

WASHINGTON, Circuit Justice,

(charging jury). This is an action for an infringement of the-plaintiff’s patent, which-the-plaintiff alleges to be, — 1. For the whole of the machine employed in the manufacture of flour, called the hopperboy. ,2. For an improvement on the hopperboy. The question is, is the plaintiff entitled to recover upon either of these claims? The question is stated thus singly, because the defendant admits, that he uses the very hopperboy for .which the patent is in part granted, and justifies himself by insisting, — 1. That the plaintiff was not the original inventor of the hopperboy, as patented, but that the same was in use prior to the plaintiff’s patent. 2. That his patent for an improvement is bad; because the nature and extent of the improvement are not stated in his specification; and if they had been, still the patent comprehends the whole machine, and is, therefore, too broad.

1. The first is a mixed question of fact and law. In order to enable you to decide the first, it will be well to attend to the description which the plaintiff has given of this machine, in his specification, of which a model is now before you. Its parts are — (1) An upright round shaft, to revolve on a pivot in the floor. (2) A leader or upper arm. (3) An arm set with small inclining boards, called flights and sweepers. (4) Cords from the leader to the arm, to turn it (5). A weight passing over a pulley, to keep the arm light on the.meal. (6) A cog at the top of the shaft to turn it, which is operated upon by the water power of the mill. The flights are so arranged, as to track, the one between the other, and to operate like ploughs; and at every revolution of the machine, to give the meal two turns towards the centre. The sweepers are to receive the meal from the elevator, and to trail it round the circle, for the flights to gather it to the centre, and also to sweep the meal into the bolt The use of this-machine is stated to be, to spread any granulated substance over a floor; — to stir and expose it-to the air, to dry and cool it and to gather it to the bolt

The next inquiry under this head is, when ■was this discovery made? Joseph Evans has sworn, that in 1783 the plaintiff informed him he was engaged in contriving an improvement in the manufactory of flour, and had completed it in his mind some time in July of that year. In 1784, he constructed a rough model of the'hopperboy; -but having no cords from the extremities Of the leader to those of the arm,- it was necessary, in making his experiments, to turn around the arm by hand. In 1785, he set up a hopperboy in his mill, resembling the model in court, and the machine described in his specification. The evidence of Mr. Anderson strongly supports this witness; and indeed, the discovery, as early as 1784, or 1785, is scarcely controverted by the defendant The defendant insists, that a hop-perboy, similar to the plaintiff’s, was discovered and in use many years anterior even to the year 17S3, and relies upon the testimony of the following witnesses: Daniel Stouffer, who deposes that he first saw the Stouffer hop-[858]*858perboy in his father’s, Christian Stouffier’s, mill, in the year 1774. In 1775 or 1776, he erected a similar one in the mill of his brother Henry, and another in Jacob Stouffier’s mill in 1778 or 1779. Philip Frederick swears, that in the year 1778, he saw a Stouffer hopperboy in operation in Christian Stouffer’s mill, and in the year 1783 he saw one in Jacob Stouffier’s mill and another in U. Charles’s mill; and that it was always called Stouffer’s machine.

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Bluebook (online)
8 F. Cas. 856, 3 Wash. C. C. 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-eaton-circtdpa-1818.