Fowler & Wolfe Mfg. Co. v. McCrum-Howell Co.

215 F. 905, 132 C.C.A. 143, 1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 1311
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 7, 1914
DocketNo. 45
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 215 F. 905 (Fowler & Wolfe Mfg. Co. v. McCrum-Howell Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fowler & Wolfe Mfg. Co. v. McCrum-Howell Co., 215 F. 905, 132 C.C.A. 143, 1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 1311 (2d Cir. 1914).

Opinion

ROGERS, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The question in this case brings before the court the validity of complainant’s patent, and, if the patent is valid, then the question of the defendant’s infringement.

It is the complainant’s contention that the patentee gave to the world the first wall radiator composed of units capable of being connected together to extend the area of radiating surface over a wall. The complainant insists that there is a substantial and effective difference between a floor radiator and a wall radiator, and that the features of construction and proportions of parts which render the patent in suit peculiarly effective, are patentable features and entitled to protection as such.

A radiator is described as:

“A device for delivering the heat, steam or hot water admitted to its interior to the air of the room or compartment which it is desired to heat.”

It is the function of a radiator to transmit the heat, which is supplied by the heating medium (steam or hot water) to the objects which are outside. It is the outside surface of the radiator which transmits the heat by contact with the air.

The art of warming buildings by radiators, located in rooms to be warmed, and connected by pipes with steam and hot water boilers, has been known to some extent for many years. In Hood’s Treatise on Warming Buildings, published in London in 1855, mention is made of [908]*908the fact that Count Rumford, who lived from 1753 to 1814, made improvements in steam heating apparatus.

The appellant complains that the court below erred in holding that claims 1 and 2 were not restricted by the specification and drawings of the patent in respect to the relative sizes of the outer cross, and connecting tubes,, of which the radiator sections are composed.

The opinion of the court below in respect to this particular matter is as follows:

“There was a prior suit brought upon this patent against a licensee who, of course, could not deny the validity of the patent. The licensee was dealing in a radiator, which was substantially in shape like the radiator described in the complainant’s patent, except that its various connecting tubes were substantially of about the same size. In that case, Judge Buffington originally held on a motion for a preliminary injunction, that the defendant’s radiator was substantially the same as the complainant’s radiator, but upon final hearing, he held that, in view of the prior art, the complainant’s invention was a very narrow one, and that the claims must be interpreted in the light of the specifications and drawings, which stated and showed that the top and bottom tubes were larger than the cross-tubes, and that the cross-tubes were larger than the small intermediate cross-tubes, and held that as the defendant’s radiator was not so constructed it did not infringe. Some, of the witnesses for the complainant in the case at bar lay stress on the fact that, as shown in the drawings and described in the specifications, the outside tubes are larger than any of the intermediate tubes, and the intermediate cross-tubes are larger than the tubes between the cross-tubes, and claim that such a construction is important in aid of the rapid diffusion of steam throughout all parts of the radiator, and the effective expulsion of air and water from the radiator. But the answer to all these assumptions based upon the different sizes of the tubes shown in the drawings and described in the specifications is that no claim is made in the patent of any invention in those respects. The first and second claims in the patent apply to a unitary hollow casting consisting of tubes, and if the claims are good they give a monopoly of the use of such a unitary structure with tubes of any size. The fact that the specifications describe a structure with tubes of different sizes, is, of course, immaterial. An invention described in specifications, but not claimed, is not protected by a patent. As the first two claims are drawn, in my opinion, they are anticipated by the patents cited and by the condition of the prior art.”

We cannot agree with the court in the construction placed on claims 1 and 2. In his specification Fowler set forth as his substantial advance in the art the fact that the cross-tubes of his radiator are of larger size than the connecting tubes, which run at right angles. In our opinion it is clear that these relative sizes are not mere preferential or illustrative constructions, but that they are the particular features which characterize the invention and are embodied in the claims in controversy. The patentee states in his specification:

“The sections are preferably two longitudinal top and bottom tubes B B', united by two end tubes O O’, which are connected by a series of smaller longitudinal tubes J>. I prefer to employ intermediate cross-tubes B connecting the tubes B B' and having the longitudinal tubes D connecting with them. In the construction shown there are two of these large intermediate cross-tubes B located between the end tubes O O and dividing the small longitudinal tubes D into three sets or series. The small longitudinal tubes D are located at sufficient distance apart to form intermediate openings or spaces for the circulation of air between them. Each section thus constructed is composed of a series of communicating tubes, forming a unitary rectangular hollow frame.”

[909]*909We think that the word “preferably” refers to the rectangular shape and not to the relatively “large intermediate cross-tubes” and the “small longitudinal” or connecting tubes. In this we find ourselves fully in accord with the position taken by the court in the Third Circuit, and we agree in thinking that the very fact that the two sets of intermediate tubes are called in the claims, one “cross-tubes” and in the other “connecting tubes,” shows a purpose to differentiate them, and that the only ground of differentiation is found in the figures and specification in which latter the cross-tubes are described as “large intermediate tubes,” and the connecting tubes as “small longitudinal tubes.” See Fowler & Wolfe Mfg. Co. v. National Radiator Co., 172 Fed. 661, 663, 97 C. C. A. 187.

There will be found in the specification that the patentee repeatedly states that the horizontal tubes B B' C C are large and the series of longitudinal tubes D are small. He also states that as tubes of the size of the small tubes D are liable to offer considerable friction to the steam or water traversing them, he prefers to shorten their length by the interposition of the intermediate transverse tubes If. But the statement in the specification which reads “1 prefer to construct the section A with the tubes arranged in the manner described,” refers, as we understand it, to a section which is longer horizontally than vertically.

[1] Wc cannot understand why the court below should have reached the conclusion that au invention described in the specification but not included in the “claims” cannot be protected by a patent. We regard the law as well established that the claims of a patent are to be construed in the light of the specification. It is quite true that the claims fix the extent of the protection furnished by the patent. McClain v. Ortmayer, 141 U. S. 419. 12 Sup. Ct. 76, 35 L.

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215 F. 905, 132 C.C.A. 143, 1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 1311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fowler-wolfe-mfg-co-v-mccrum-howell-co-ca2-1914.