In re Daniel

34 F.2d 995, 17 C.C.P.A. 605, 1929 CCPA LEXIS 109
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedOctober 4, 1929
DocketNo. 2125
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 34 F.2d 995 (In re Daniel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Daniel, 34 F.2d 995, 17 C.C.P.A. 605, 1929 CCPA LEXIS 109 (ccpa 1929).

Opinion

GakRett, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the coilrt:

This is an appeal from the decision of the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office, affirming the action of the examiner in rejecting claims 1, 2, and 3 of applicant, and also rejecting claim 4 which was admitted for purpose of appeal by the board and rejected in its decision.

The subject matter of the application is a claimed device or mechanism for improved curtain-shade rollers, and the claims involved in this appeal are as follows:

1. The combination with a curtain-shade roller and a curtain shade and cord, said shade and cord secured to and adapted to wind on the roller in opposite directions, of a bracket or fixture’ forming, in a single piece, a closed, round bearing for the roller and a guide for the cord, and rotatable means carried by the bracket between which and the bracket the cord passes and is .adapted to be pinched when directed laterally to a predetermined position, the cord being free and disconnected from the point where it leaves the rotatable means, so that its manipulation is at all times entirely within the control of the operator.
2. A device of the character described including a curtain-shade, and a roller, having a round pintle, and provided with a reel at one end and a cord ■attached to the reel and adapted to wind thereon, and a bracket having an integral bearing formed to fit the pintle of the roller and a pair of integral ears in planes parallel with the bearing, a stop-pulley rotatably mounted in said ears to turn on an axis parallel with the axis of the curtain-shade roller, said stop-pulley having grooves therein, and between which and the bracket the cord on the reel extends, certain of said grooves being adapted to guide and clamp the cord, the curtain and cord being wound around the roller and [606]*606reel iii opposite directions, the cord being wound to roll up the curtain, and the curtain being unrolled by releasing and slackening the tension of the cord.
3. The combination with a curtain-shade roller and a curtain-shade and cord, said shade and cord secured to and adapted to wind thereon in opposite directions, of a bracket or fixture forming a bearing for the roller and a guide for the cord, located above the roller, and rotatable means carried by the bracket to which the cord extends directly from the roller, and between which and the bracket the cord passes and is adapted to be pinched when directed laterally to a predetermined position thereon, the cord being free and disconnected from the point where it leaves the rotatable means, so that its manipulation is at all times entirely within the control of the operator.
4. The combination with a curtain-shade roller and a curtain shade and cord, said shade and cord secured to and adapted to wind thereon in opposite directions, of a bracket or fixture forming a bearing for the roller and a guide for the cord, and rotatable means carried by the bracket to which the cord extends directly from the roller, and, between which and the bracket the cord passes and is adapted to be pinched when directed laterally to a predetermined position thereon, the cord being free and disconnected from the point where it leaves the rotatable means, so that its manipulation is at all times entirely within the control of the operator.

The first decision of the Board of Appeals rendered June 30, 1927, involved only the first three claims, and was as follows :

This is an appeal .from the decision of the examiner in finally rejecting the three claims in this application. Claim 1 is given here is an example.
“ The combination with a curtain-shade roller and a curtain-shade and cord, said shade and cord secured to and adapted to wind on the roller in opposite directions, of: a bracket or fixture forming, in a single piece, a closed, round bearing for the roller and a guide for the cord, and rotatable means carried by the bracket between which and the bracket the cord passes and is adapted to be pinched when directed laterally to a predetermined position, the cord being free and disconnected from the point where it leaves the rotatable means, so that its manipulation is at all times entirely within the control of the operator.”
The references relied upon are:
Truemper, 204206, Sept. 12, 1882.
Dawson, 1181852, May 2, 1916.
Claim 1 reads directly on the patent to Truemper except that it specifies that the bracket is “ in a single piece ” and that it has “ a closed round bearing for the roller.” There is also a statement that the cord is “ free and disconnected from the point where it leaves the rotatable means.” It is well established in the decisions of the courts that there is ordinarily no invention in making in a single piece what has before been made in two, and the limitation to a bracket “ in a single piece ” cannot make the claim allowable. There is nothing novel in making a round bearing for the pintle of a curtain roller, see the ordinary brackets in general use. In Truemper the pull on the curtain roller is downward so that the pintle cannot rise in the slot e which is made open so that the roller can be readily removed from the bracket. In the reference, the cord J would be “ free and disconnected ” if the switching arm K were omitted and there is no necessity for using it if one were willing to dispense with its function. It is merely an additional element to do automatically what appellant must do manually. This claim is not limited to locating the locking device above the curtain roller nor to making the bracket of sheet metal nor does it specify any particular construction of the bracket except the round bearing. We are unable to find anything patentable in the claim over the reference.
[607]*607Claim 3 is like claim 1 except that it locates the locking device “ above the roller ” and claim 2 is a little more specific than claim 1 as to the ears for pivoting the locking device. The examiner cited the patent to Dawson to show a cord guide above the roller and a sheet-metal bracket similar to that of the application and held that in view thereof there would be nothing inventive in mounting Truemper’s locking roller in such a bracket. We find that this Dawson patent has been reissued as No. 14375, October 9, 1917, and assigned to the Cunningham Springless Shade Co., who are also the owners of the reissue application which is before us on appeal. This reissue patent shows in Figure 5 a bracket identical with that of the present case, so far as the cord guide is concerned, and it has downturned ears in which a guide roller is pivoted. If the guide roller of Truemper were substituted for the plain roller of Dawson, the entire structure disclosed by appellant would be produced. In view of this Dawson patent we see no invention in using Truemper cam roll above the curtain roller, as specified in claim 3.
We agree with the examiner that the claims are not patentable over the references, and the decision of the examiner is affirmed.

Following this decision applicant on August 2,1927, filed a petition for rehearing, alleging surprise by the citation by the Board of Appeals of the Dawson reissue patent of October 9, 1917, No. 14375, same being a reissue of an earlier Dawson patent, No. 1181852.

The drawings accompanying the Dawson reissue, No.

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Bluebook (online)
34 F.2d 995, 17 C.C.P.A. 605, 1929 CCPA LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-daniel-ccpa-1929.