Harper v. Watson, Com'r of Patents

D.C. Circuit

Harper v. Watson, Com'r of Patents

214 F.2d 280

CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

DecidedJuly 28, 1954

Docket11993

StatusPublished

This text of 214 F.2d 280 (Harper v. Watson, Com'r of Patents) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Harper v. Watson, Com'r of Patents, 214 F.2d 280 (D.C. Cir. 1954).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Upon rejection by the Patent Office of his application for a patent 1 appellant filed an action in the District Court under 35 U.S.C. § 145, formerly Rev.Stat. § 4915, as amended. After a full hearing, followed by the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, the judgment appealed from was entered dismissing the complaint.

... The invention is an apparatus for automatically dimming or lowering the beams of automobile headlights as one car approaches another traveling in the opposite direction. It is comprised of a fresnel type lens for collecting the light from approaching headlights, one or more photocells positioned behind the ^ens an<f surrounded by a collecting reflect°r> the purpose of the photocells be-to convert the collected light into an. electrical signal, and^ a relay placed in the usual headlight circuit arrangement to dim the headlights in response to the signal.

The District Court found that the pri- or art includes the Gillespie patent 2 , showing the combination of a lens mounted on the front of an automobile to receive light from the headlights of an approaching vehicle, with a photoelectric cell positioned to receive the light collected by the lens and through *281 the photocell operating circuit automatically dimming the headlights of the car on which the device is mounted. It found further that a fresnel type lens, among other uses in the prior art, had been used in combination with a photoelectric cell to measure light intensity. 3

In view of the foregoing, none which « controverted, we cannot say the District Court was clearly m error . „ ’. , ,, J , J m finding that the differences between the prior art and the subject matter described m appellant s claims are such that the latter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill m the , ,, , . . , , . . art, that his structure combines or aggregates features or elements old in the prior art and defines no new or patentable combination, and that the claims are nrimtpntflhle

Affirmed.

1

. Serial No. 194,674 filed November 8, 1950.

2

. No. 2,240,843, May 6, 1941.

3

. First Addition, No. 46,869, to Frenck Patent No. 788,385, August 4, 1936.

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PER CURIAM.

Upon rejection by the Patent Office of his application for a patent 1 appellant filed an action in the District Court under 35 U.S.C. § 145, formerly Rev.Stat. § 4915, as amended. After a full hearing, followed by the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, the judgment appealed from was entered dismissing the complaint.

... The invention is an apparatus for automatically dimming or lowering the beams of automobile headlights as one car approaches another traveling in the opposite direction. It is comprised of a fresnel type lens for collecting the light from approaching headlights, one or more photocells positioned behind the ^ens an<f surrounded by a collecting reflect°r> the purpose of the photocells be-to convert the collected light into an. electrical signal, and^ a relay placed in the usual headlight circuit arrangement to dim the headlights in response to the signal.

The District Court found that the pri- or art includes the Gillespie patent 2 , showing the combination of a lens mounted on the front of an automobile to receive light from the headlights of an approaching vehicle, with a photoelectric cell positioned to receive the light collected by the lens and through *281 the photocell operating circuit automatically dimming the headlights of the car on which the device is mounted. It found further that a fresnel type lens, among other uses in the prior art, had been used in combination with a photoelectric cell to measure light intensity. 3

In view of the foregoing, none which « controverted, we cannot say the District Court was clearly m error . „ ’. , ,, J , J m finding that the differences between the prior art and the subject matter described m appellant s claims are such that the latter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill m the , ,, , . . , , . . art, that his structure combines or aggregates features or elements old in the prior art and defines no new or patentable combination, and that the claims are nrimtpntflhle

Affirmed.

1

. Serial No. 194,674 filed November 8, 1950.

2

. No. 2,240,843, May 6, 1941.

3

. First Addition, No. 46,869, to Frenck Patent No. 788,385, August 4, 1936.

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