Joseph H. Meyer Bros. v. Paispearl Products, Inc.

62 F.2d 668, 16 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 170, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 3232
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 29, 1932
DocketNos. 2741, 2742
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 62 F.2d 668 (Joseph H. Meyer Bros. v. Paispearl Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph H. Meyer Bros. v. Paispearl Products, Inc., 62 F.2d 668, 16 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 170, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 3232 (1st Cir. 1932).

Opinions

BINGHAM, Circuit Judge.'

This is a suit for infringement of Letters Patent No. 1,525,317 applied for August 10, 1921, and issued February 3, 1925, to Jean Paisseau; and Letters Patent No. 1,760,771, applied for February 29, 1925, and issued May 27,1930, to said Paisseau. The patents are now owned by the Paispearl Products, Ine., the plaintiff. The issues are validity and infringement. In the first patent, the claims in issue are Nos. 1, 2,4, and 5, and in the second Nos. 1 and 2.

In the District Court the first patent was held valid and the four elaims to have been infringed. The second patent was held invalid, as being anticipated.

Both patents relate to a method or processes of separating pearl essence, an industry two hundred and fifty years or more old. Pearl essence is composed of tiny crystals of an organic matter known as guanin, ordinarily obtained from the inner membrane of the scales and skin of certain fish. The crystals of guanin are separated from the membrane of the fish by certain methods, and, when so separated and collected, constitute what is called pearl essence, which is used largely in the manufacture of artificial pearls by coating glass beads with the essence, thereby imparting to them a beautiful lustre.

A preliminary and important question for decision is the nature of the process or processes disclosed in the specification of the first patent and claimed in its elaims. The discussion of this question is rendered difficult due to the fact that the statements in the specification are so lacking in consecutive arrangement and thought that even the voluminous briefs of counsel have lent little aid in the solution of the question.

In the specification it is pointed out that the.process employed for hundreds of years in the removal of the guanin crystals from the protoplasm or epidermis in which they are inclosed is based upon the use “of a 1 to 5% ammoniacal water”; that this process was susceptible of producing desirable results, especially in the scales of fresh water fish, and that in the practice of this process churning and stirring, or kneading the scales by hand, was employed to detach the film containing the crystals from the scales and skin of ,the fish. It is also there stated that the process of treatment in ammoniacal water in the cold state is slow, often taking weeks if not months, and that the quality of the product by that process can only be improved after a series of repeated washings and settlings; that it is the alkaline bath that finally disassociates or removes the fatty film in which the crystals are embedded, and permits the final separation of the crystals through repeated washing and settling stages to which they are subjected.

It is evident that the chief advance which the patentee thought he had made was the saving of time; that he could do in a few hours by the use of his process what took weeks or more with the old ammoniacal process, for he states that the process “which constitutes the object of my invention consists in principle in the rapid separation of the crystalloids from the various material containing the same—not only from the scales of fresh water fish but likewise from all parts [669]*669of any kind of fish either fresh wafer or sea water, from insects, or the like—by dissolving, destroying and removing the protoplasm which surrounds the said crystalloids”; that “the protoplasm may be destroyed by submitting the same to the action of all suitable chemical substances which have no action upon the crystalloids,” and by making use, if desired, of heat, churning, grinding, or the like; that the “raw material may be submitted to the action of various detersive substances susceptible of dissolving or dissociating the protoplasm, the fatty substances or the like which constitute the material enclosing the said crystalloids.”

Having dissolved, destroyed, and removed the protoplasm or film by agents possessing such qualities, the patentee points out that the crystalloids are then separated from the liquid “either by physical, means such as settling or by mechanical means such as centrifugal treatment, or the like”; and that “by this process the crystalloids may be separated in a few hours from the raw material employed, such crystalloids being well cleaned off and constituting a pearl essence of an attractive quality.” He further points out that the process above outlined may also be used “for the refining of pearl essence which has been prepared by the usual method [the ammoniaeal method], and in this ease the refining process will now become extremely rapid. * * * ”

Among the detersive substances available for this process he names neutral soap and saponine. Ho further states that “identical results are obtained by the use of all bodies possessing detersive properties similar to those of soap and saponine, or containing these latter, and not susceptible of acting upon the brilliant pigments.”

Having outlined his process, when starting with the raw material, he then gives two examples of how his process may be used in purifying “crude pearl essence, or sediment of 24 hours standing, prepared according to the usual [ammoniaeal] method.” In the first example given he names neutral soap as the reagent, and in the second saponine. In each example ho gives the number of liters of crude essence,^the number of grams of soap or saponine, and the number of liters of distilled water. In both of these examples the feature emphasized is that the water used in the bath where soap is used should be heated to from 35 to 60 degrees C. from two to three hours; and where saponine is used, the water should bo heated to a like range of temperatures for three hours, and in both cases, during the heating process, the mixture should be stirred. Further on the patentee states: “An excellent result is obtained by a hot treatment of the scales, for instance from 35° to- 65° C1. in 10 per cent, solution of soap or a 1 to 5 per cent, solution of saponine, or even a 2 per cent, carbonate of ammonia solution.”

The patentee not only points out that the use of the old ammoniaeal process in the cold state is slow, but that, when applied to herring scales, the churning of such scales “in the cold state with ammonia or with the carbonate, the brilliant film which covers the scale is entirely detached therefrom, and the brilliant pigment imbedded in the film is not released,” as it would be from bleak fish, and that “the ammonia exerts a rapid destructive action upon this essence”—the crystals.

It is apparent from what the patentee states in his specification that in effect he disclaims the use of ammonia or carbonate of ammonia, in the cold state, as an agent of his-invention, and it is equally plain that in a heated state, at least within the range of 35° to 65° C. he claims its carbonate as a reagent possessing the properties essential to the operation of his process and on an equal basis as to the excellent result to be obtained with that of soap or saponine, when similarly heated.

It is also evident, if the disclosures of the patentee be true, that, if ammonia or carbonate of ammonia in solution in the cold state operates but slowly in removing the crystals and when heated operates expeditiously in removing them, the heat is -but an accelerator of the method of operation and does not alter the method by which such reagent separates and removes the protoplasm from the crystals.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 F.2d 668, 16 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 170, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 3232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joseph-h-meyer-bros-v-paispearl-products-inc-ca1-1932.