Hammerschlag Manuf'g Co. v. Bancroft

32 F. 585, 1887 U.S. App. LEXIS 2802
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedSeptember 5, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 32 F. 585 (Hammerschlag Manuf'g Co. v. Bancroft) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hammerschlag Manuf'g Co. v. Bancroft, 32 F. 585, 1887 U.S. App. LEXIS 2802 (uscirct 1887).

Opinion

Gresham, J.

This suit is brought to enjoin the defendant from infringing the fifth claim of reissued letters patent No. 8,460, issued October 22, 1878, to Siegfried Hammerschlag, complainant’s assignor; also the first,, third, and fourth claims of letters patent No. 217,280, granted on the second day of June, 1879, to the same person, and by him assigned to the complainant. The fifth claim in the reissue is identical with the second claim in the original patent. Gage v. Herring, 107 U. S. 640, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 819.

After argument of counsel, Judge Blodgett granted a preliminary injunction against the defendant on all the claims. The complainant’s chief reliance is upon the fifth claim in the reissue, which is for a process of waxing paper by machinery. I do not understand that any relief is expected upon the other patent, (No. 217,280,) which is for an improvement in machinery for waxing paper, and no further attention will be given it. The answer contains the usual defenses, but those chiefly relied on are anticipation by a large number of machines and patents, both American and foreign, and non-infringement. The fifth claim of the reissue is as follows:

“The method herein set forth of waxing paper, consisting in spreading the wax upon the surface, heating the paper from the opposite side to spread and fuse the wax into the fabric of the paper, removing the surplus wax, and remelting and polishing the wax upon the paper, substantially as set forth.”

The paper is passed from a supply reel over and in contact with a heated cylinder, which revolves partly submerged in a vat containing [587]*587melted para (line, tlius receiving the wax, to and over a heated roller which diffuses the wax equally, then to and over a scraper which removes the surplus wax, and finally to and over a polishing roller. A scraper is also attached to the cylinder that takes up the melted paraffine and applies it to the paper, and this scraper is applied between the wax-trough and the place of contact with the paper, for the purpose of removing surplus wax, and distributing the remaining wax uniformly over the cylinder. A full description of the process, step by step, and the means of carrying it out, will be found in Hammerschlag v. Scamoni, 7 Fed. Rep. 584. In an elaborate opinion in that case, Judge Blatohford held that llammerschlag’s invention was new and useful; that he was a pioneer in the art, — the creator of a new industry or article of commerce; and in sustaining the fifth claim gave it a broa,d and liberal construction. This decision was followed in the Third circuit (Hammerschlag v. Garrett, 9 Fed. Rep. 43) by Judge Butler, the circuit judge concurring; also by Judge Lowell in the First circuit, in Hammerschlag v. Wood, 18 Fed. Rep. 175.

In referring to the broad construction given to the fifth claim by Judge Blatchford, Judge Lowell said: “I am myself of opinion that the claim may and should have this liberal construction.” It is true that, on a motion in Hamnnerschlag v. Garrett to commit the defendant for contempt, the court field the fifth claim was not entitled to the liberal construction given to it in the Scamoni Case; but on a similar motion in the latter case, before Judge Blatciiford, he adhered to this first interpretation of this claim, and held that dipping the web itself into a bath of wax, instead of dipping the cylinder into the hath, and carrying the paper over the cylinder, was an infringement of the fifth claim. It is not necessary to refer to other cases for infringement of the fifth claim, in some of which the complainant obtained preliminary or perpetual injunctions, while failing in others, on the ground, however, that the proof did not show infringement.

The two English patents granted to John Stenhouse in 1862, and the American patent, No. 97,983, granted to Cheney and Millikcn, as assignees of Stenhouse, December 14, 1869, are relied on bere, as they were in the three cases above cited, as a complete anticipation of the Hammerschlag invention. Other patents and machines are also relied on as anticipating defenses; but I shall not notice them further than to say that if the fifth claim, broadly interpreted as it was by Judges Blatoh-ford and Lowell, was not anticipated by Stenhouse, it was not anticipated at all. The Stenhouse invention was for a new improvement in rendering wood, leather, paper, and textile fabrics less pervious to air and liquids, and less liable to decay, by coating or impregnating them with paraffine. In one of his specifications, Stenhouse thus speaks of his invention:

“One way in which I treat leather and textile fabrics is as follows: I take a plate of iron or other metal, the upper surface of which is quite clean, and this I heal to a temperature of 130 to 250 Fahrenheit, or oven higher if desirable, either by placing it over a suitable furnace, or by means of low or high [588]*588pressure steam, or a metallic or other bath. On this plate I stretch out the cloth or leather which I wish to coat or impregnate, and hold it tight and flat, by means of a frame, or some other suitable arrangement. When it has become sufficiently warm to soften or melt the paraffine easily, I then rub over it, on the wrong side of the cloth, a flat rectangular block of solid paraffine, so as to coat its surface as evenly as possible. The cloth is then strongly compressed by means of a hot flat-iron or hot rollers, or other suitable arrangement, in order to distribute the paraffine more equally among the fibres. * * * This plan will serve also for preparing water-proof paper. A thorough incorporation of the paraffine with the cloth is completed by calendering between hot metallic rollers, as in the previous case. * * * When fabrics of considerable length have to be treated with paraffine, the process can be made continuous by passing them over one or more hot metallic rollers coated with paraffine from working in a bath of that substance. The excess of paraffine is removed by means of what is called a gauge-spreader, having a gauger or knife fixed about it, and furnished with screws so as to regulate the amount of paraffine applied to the rollers. The amount of paraffine can also be regulated by means of a brush or similar apparatus, also acting on a roller; the thorough incorporation of the paraffine into the fabric being subsequently completed with hot rollers, by means of which any excess of paraffine can also be removed. ”

Judge Blatcheord held that there was nothing in the Stenhouse patents which anticipated reissued patent No. 8,460.

It is insisted by the defendant’s counsel that no drawings of a machine in accordance with the Stenhouse patents were shown to Judge Blatcheord and Judge Lowell, and that they held the Hammorschlag invention was not disclosed in the Stenhouse patents without understanding those patents, or the prior state of the art. The defendant cannot thus avoid the force of the opinions of these two learned judges. In disposing of the contempt motion in the Scamoni Case, Judge Blatch-eord again considered the reissued patent and the Stenhouse patents, and stated that, while no drawings accompanied the latter, he had carefully examined tire specifications.

The defendant makes waxed paper on two machines, which are so nearly alike that they need not be noticed separately.

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Bluebook (online)
32 F. 585, 1887 U.S. App. LEXIS 2802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hammerschlag-manufg-co-v-bancroft-uscirct-1887.