Hirschy Co. v. Wisconsin-Minnesota Gas & Electric Household Appliances Co.

18 F.2d 347, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1065
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 24, 1927
DocketNo. 494
StatusPublished

This text of 18 F.2d 347 (Hirschy Co. v. Wisconsin-Minnesota Gas & Electric Household Appliances Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hirschy Co. v. Wisconsin-Minnesota Gas & Electric Household Appliances Co., 18 F.2d 347, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1065 (mnd 1927).

Opinion

MOLYNEAUX, District Judge.

This is a suit in equity for an injunction and an accounting for infringement of the Hirschy patent, No. 1,399,482, issued December 6, 1921.

It relates to a clothes wringer. The defenses are, as stated by defendant:

“(1) The claim is invalid because the supposed invention which it defines is no invention at all in view of what is disclosed in pri- or patents.

“(2) If the claim is held valid at all, it must be given such a narrow scope that it is not infringed by the defendant’s device.”

The patent in suit, No. 1,399,482, was issued December 6, 1921, to Herman C. Hirschy, and was later assigned by Hirschy to the plaintiff, the Hirschy Company; the assignment being recorded in the United States Patent Office on December 15,1921.

The Hirschy Company is a corporation, and was such at the time of acquiring said patent right, duly incorporated under the laws of the. state of Minnesota.

The Hirschy Company is the owner of the Hirschy patent, and has been the owner of it since the 13th day of December, 1921

A blueprint, introduced into evidence as Plaintiff’s Exhibit C, illustrates the structure of the wringer manufactured by defendant. The said defendant has manufactured 'said wringer, and had sold the same within the state of Minnesota subsequent to the date of the patent in suit and prior to the beginning of this suit.

Plaintiff’s Exhibit C-l is an advertisement, published by the manufacturers of defendant’s machine herein complained of, and correctly represents defendant’s wringer and^ the manner of attaching the same to a washing machine.

In the advertising catalogue, Plaintiff’s Exhibit C-2 is an illustration of defendant’s wringer attached to a washing machine. Paragraph 1 of page 5 of said catalogue, Plaintiff’s Exhibit C-2, contains a further description of said wringer and the advantages thereof.

The plaintiff notified the 1900 Washer Company, Binghamton, N. Y., and this defendant, under date of June 19, 1924, of its infringement of the patent in suit, No. 1,399,-482.

The nature and aim of patentee’s invention is stated in the application as follows:

“In the operation of a clothes wringer, provision is made for quick release of the action of one wringer roll upon the other to avoid injury to the fingers or hand of the operator and to enable the operator to withdraw any article from between the rolls during the wringing operation. Generally, in these wringer roll releasing devices, the lower roll is positively driven and continues its operation when the rolls have been separated, and it is desirable to positively stop revolution of the lower roll when the wringing operation ceases.

“The object of my invention is to provide a driving means which, when the rolls are separated, will be automatically disconnected from both rolls and will remain so disconnected until the two rolls are again adjusted in their working position.

“The invention consists generally in various constructions and combinations, as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims herein.”

An examination of figures 1 and 2 of the drawings shows that the machine is provided with a lower roller, 18, and an upper roller, 12, which are geared together by 17, 17a, 20, and 20a. A shaft, 11, is mounted in suitable bearings, and this shaft, which is an extension of the shaft of the upper roll, is provided with a gear, 10, arranged to be driven by-a pinion, 9, on a power drive shaft, 7.

By this arrangement, when power is applied from a motor, through the driving gear, 6, the shaft, 7, and gears, 9 and 10; the roll, 12, is driven directly from the shaft, 7, apd the roll, 18, is driven from roll, 12.

With this arrangement, the two rolls are driven simultaneously from the same motor; the second or lower roll, being driven from the upper roll.

The upper roll, 12, as seen in figures 1 and 2, has one end of its shaft, 11, mounted in bearings in the housing, 15, the opposite end of said shaft, 11, being mounted in bearings in a housing, 21. This end of shaft, 11, is provided with the pinion, 17a.

The manner of supporting the housings, 15 and 21, is described as follows:

“The housings, 15 and 21, are pivoted at 23 to the housings, 2b and 21b, and allow the upper roll to be lifted away from the lower roll, said pivots, 23, being located on one side of the lower roll and studs, 24, being mounted in the frame of the wringer on the other side of the roll and limited against upward [352]*352movement by helical spring, 25, and provided with lugs, 26, which bear on the frame, and prevent downward movement of the studs.”

The arrangement of the housings, 21a, and 15, and 21, is set forth in the specifications as follows:

“The housing, 21a, which extends over the upper' roll, is provided with a handgrip, 27, and is pivoted to the housings, 15 and 21, by pins, 28, which are mounted on the housings to engage the recessed upper ends of the studs, 24, and lock the upper and lower rolls in their working position but allowing 'the rolls to separate under pressure of the clothes passing between them, the springs, 25, yielding for this purpose. This release device is already covered by United States letters patent, and I make no claim to the same herein.”

The principal object of the invention is to immediately stop the revolution of both rolls when the upper roll is moved away from the lower roll. This is accomplished by having the drive-from the motor directly to the shaft of the upper roll. The lower roll is then driven from the power-driven upper roll. When the upper roll is released and raised, it is moved away from the lower roll, and the drive to the lower roll is positively broken, and cannot be resumed again until the upper roll is returned to its working position.

In reference to this arrangement, the specifications say:

“In this way I am able to positively cheek further revolution of the lower roll as soon as the release is operated to separate the two rolls.

“An important point in the construction, resulting from the stopping of both rolls, is the complete relief to the motor of the load. In constructions wherein the lower roH is continuously driven, it often happens that the clothes wiE be wound on this power roE, resulting in such load that the motor wiE be staEed or burned out. In the improved device there is an absolute relief of the load as soon as the rolls are separated, and, consequently, there is positively no danger of overloading or burning out the motor.”

The patentee states in his testimony that this provision of a gearing so combined with the roEs that the upper roE is driven from the power shaft and the lower roE from the upper, when the parts are in comparative position, both rolls being stopped instantly, is the novel feature of the patent.

The advantage of this combination, whereby the operation of both rolls is instantly stopped, over a device such as is exhibited in the Dillingham patent, No. 694,096, cited by the defendant, is obvious.

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Bluebook (online)
18 F.2d 347, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hirschy-co-v-wisconsin-minnesota-gas-electric-household-appliances-co-mnd-1927.