Gibson v. Van Dresar

10 F. Cas. 329, 1 Blatchf. 532
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern New York
DecidedJune 15, 1850
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 10 F. Cas. 329 (Gibson v. Van Dresar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gibson v. Van Dresar, 10 F. Cas. 329, 1 Blatchf. 532 (circtndny 1850).

Opinion

NELSON, Circuit Justice.

1. The particular parts of the defendants’ machine relied on to make out a substantial difference between it and Woodworth’s, and to distinguish it from, the same in the sense of the patent law, are: (1) The rotary guides used for keeping the board firmly to its bed while under the process of planing; and (2) the construction of the planing cutters used in connection with the rotary guides.

The rotary guides are so arranged and adjusted as to press, by means of weights, against the edges of the board while it is undergoing the operation of the plane or cutter; and, being placed somewhat obliquely to the motion of the board, their position produces, as they revolve against the edges, a constant tendency to keep the board to its bed.

In the Woodworth machine, the board is kept to its bed by means of pressure rollers, which act upon the face instead of upon the edges of the board, and are made to press upon the face by means of weights or springs. In the Woodworth specification as amended, in setting forth the claims of the patentee, it is stated', among other things, that he- claims the employment of rotating planes, as described, in combination with rollers, or any analogous device, to prevent the boards from being drawn up by the planes when the machine is in operation.

In the defendants’ machine, the pressure rollers are placed upon the edges of the board; in Woodworth’s, upon its face. They are arranged and adjusted by a somewhat different mechanical contrivance in the former; but in both they are used for the same purpose, and lead to the same result. Some mechanical ingenuity is doubtless displayed in transferring the pressure from the face of the board to the edges, and in combining it with the planes or cutters. But that is not always, enough to distinguish the new from the old machine. If it were, a patent would not be worth the mone3’ paid for the parchment upon which it is written. A given mechanical power is frequently essential to enable an inventor to carry his improvement into operation and effect. For this he is indebted to another department of knowledge — mechanical experience and skill; and such is the proficiency in that department, that an ingenious mechanic will furnish him with the necessary power in various ways, and by different combinations of machinery. This fact was well known to-Woodwdrth, and is recognized and referred to in his specification, alreadjr recited, where he [334]*334claims his combination with the pressure rollers, or any analogous device, to keep the board to its bed.

I have heretofore had occasion to examine this question in the case of Gibson v. Harris [Case No. 5,396]. The defendant had constructed his machine by dispensing with the rollers, and by substituting in their place a screw and a spring operating upon smooth plates of iron placed on each side of the rotating planes, by which the board was pressed down upon the moving platform that carried it forward to the knives. I then remarked that “Woodworth does not limit his contrivance, to prevent the board from being drawn up by the cutters, to the pressure rollers, but refers to any other device which mechanical skill and ingenuity may readily suggest. The pressure upon the plank, to secure the free action of the rotary planes, is essential to the working of the machine; but as to the particular mode or best mode of accomplishing the end, it is left open to mechanical knowledge. An inventor is not necessarily a machinist. He is often wholly dependent on the skill of this department of knowledge to give embodiment and practical operation to his discovery.”

In my judgment, the view above taken affords a complete answer to the claim set up by the defendants, that their machine is substantially different from Woodworth’s in the sense of the patent law. It is simply an analogous device of the skillful mechanic, to produce the effect to be found in Wood-worth’s combination. The contrivance applies the pressure upon the edges of the board instead of upon the face. That is all — an application of the pressure to a different part of the board — a difference in form not in substance.

2. The revolving cutters used in the machine of the defendants, (in combination with the rotary guides above examined,) have heretofore been frequently before me, at chambers, on motions for injunctions; and were, among other models, produced on the argument of the case of Wilson v. Rousseau, 4 How. [45 U. S.] 646. They were also more especially involved in the case from Kentucky, of Woodworth v. Wilson, Id. 712. They have been before Judge Betts and myself, sitting in the circuit court for the Southern district of New-l’ork, in the case of Van Hook v. Pendleton [Case No. 10,851], in which the machine was enjoined as an infringement of Woodworth’s patent. Since' the first examination of cutters of this description, I have not been able to bring my mind to doubt, that they were colorable imitations of the rotary cutters of Woodworth; and such has been the uniform determination in this circuit for the last four years. I am satisfied, therefore, that the plaintiff is entitled to the injunction prayed for.

The counsel for the defendants expressed a desire, if the court should be against them, that, instead of their being enjoined, security should be taken for the damages accruing to the plaintiff in case of an ultimate recovery in his favor, leaving the defendants to the use of their machine in the meantime. This course might properly be adopted, if the question ivas new, or in the least doubtful. But here the plaintiff’s machine has been in operation for twenty years and upwards; and the right to its enjoyment has been established by the highest court in the Union, after a protracted and expensive litigation. I regard the validity of the patent as fully settled, and all rights arising under it as beyond dispute. The only open question in the case is, whether or not the defendants’ machine is substantially identical with the plaintiff’s. Being entirely satisfied that it is, I am bound to enjoin it.

Injunction granted.

5 [NOTE. Amended Specification of Wood-worth’s Patent of July 8, 1845.

[The plank or boards which are to be planed, tongued, or grooved, are first to be reduced to a width by means of circular saws, by reducing wheels, or by any other means. When circular saws are used for this purpose, two such saws should be placed upon the same shaft, on which they are to be capable of adjustment, so that they may be made to stand at any required distance apart; under these the board or plank is to be forced forward, and brought to the width required: this apparatus and process do not require to be further explained, they being well understood by mechanicians.

[When what has been above denominated reducing-wheels are used, these are to consist of revolving cutter-wheels, which resemble in their construction and action the planing and reducing wheel to be presently described; these are to be made adjustable like the circular saws, but the latter are preferred for this purpose. The plank may be reduced to a width on a separate machine.

[When the plank or boards have been thus prepared (on a separate machine), they may be placed on or against a suitable carriage, resting on a frame or platform, so as to be acted upon by a rotary cutting or planing and reducing wheel, which wheel may be made to revolve either horbontally or vertically, as may be preferred. The carriage which sustains the plank or.

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Bluebook (online)
10 F. Cas. 329, 1 Blatchf. 532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gibson-v-van-dresar-circtndny-1850.