Lanyon v. M. H. Detrick Co.

85 F.2d 875, 31 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 144, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 4269
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 28, 1936
DocketNo. 7941
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 85 F.2d 875 (Lanyon v. M. H. Detrick Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lanyon v. M. H. Detrick Co., 85 F.2d 875, 31 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 144, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 4269 (9th Cir. 1936).

Opinion

HANEY, Circuit Judge.

Appellee brought suit to obtain an injunction restraining appellant from making, using, or selling any furnace construction embodying the inventions disclosed in the Beall and Foltz patents, both of which are owned by appellee. Appellant asks review of the decree which granted the relief sought by appellee. The patents involved relate to furnace construction.

Witness Nathan E. Lewis, a mechanical engineer, testified on behalf of appellee, and related a part of the history and problems connected with the present day furnaces. It appears that between the years 1910 and 1915 stokers were introduced for use with boiler furnaces, which “permitted the burning of a greater amount of coal per square foot of grate and permitted the generating of more steam from the heating surface under the installations in which they were installed.” At the time of the introduction of these stokers, the boilers were installed with the heating surface located from six to seven feet above the fuel bed.

When stokers were used with these so-called “low-set installations,” it was difficult to obtain a smokeless combustion “due to imperfect combustion and cramped space.” This materially reduced the efficiency of the boiler. The difficulty was overcome by increasing the setting-height of the boiler.

In furnaces, ash particles collected on the walls, and when such material melted it ran down the face of the walls, eroding the refractories or firebrick, which action is called “slag erosion.” The firebrick used on the inner wall softened and became plastic at temperatures ranging from 2,000 to 2,400 degrees.

With the installation of the boilers at increased heights trouble developed which caused “shut-downs” for repairs to the walls. The temperature within the furnaces varied from 2,400 to 2,500 degrees. The slag erosion and high temperature caused the refractories to lose their supporting power. The normal expansion of refractories is about one-tenth of an inch per foot when subjected to high temperature, and this expansion sometimes raised the boilers from their foundations. While the temperature on the inside of the wall was about 2,400 degrees, the temperature on the outside of the refractories was from 300 to 700 degrees. Thus there was unequal expansion in the refractories themselves, and the expansion being greatest on the inside of the fire chamber, the refractories had a tendency to assume the shape of a wedge, and drop into the fuel chamber.

[876]*876To remedy these difficulties, refractory manufacturers were called upon to produce refractories which would withstand the high temperature, withstand slag erosion, and carry greater loads on the sidewalls. Relieving walls were built in the sidewalls of the furnaces to carry the load of the upper portion of the furnace wall. In some instances, laminated metal was used to tie the outer and inner wall together. Bonding tile which extended from and through the outer wall, through the inner wall, to hold the inner wall in alignment, were also used. Hollow blocks or built-in air ducts in the walls were used, through which air was introduced into the furnace at regular intervals just above the fuel bed for the purpose of forming an air film along the side of' the inner wall, and chilling the slag so that it would not melt and run down the side of the wall.

Each of these remedies might be successful in one furnace, but a failure in another. No one of them could be used in all .furnaces. In 1924 the Bureau of Mines and representatives of operating companies collected data from users of furnaces seeking some remedy for the difficulties outlined. After about a year the American Society of Mechanical Engineers appointed a committee to devise a solution.

About this time the Detrick wall became known. The witness testified: “One or two installations had been made and they were successful. They overcame the' plastic deformation due to breaking the wall up into sections so there was no great load on the lower tile of any one section. They provided expansion within the wall so that there was no section exposed to a great accumulated amount of expansion, and they incorporated the air cooling feature which reduced the temperature of the inner face of the wall, preventing the accumulation of slag and to help to reduce softening and deformation.”

The Foltz Patent No. 1,747,822.

The Foltz invention consisted of a combination described as follows: (1) A structural frame; (2) an inner wall, (a) which is made up of sections, (b) each of which consists of more than one component (c) is removable independently of any other (d) and is supported independently of any other (e) by the structural frame (f) through means of brackets held by the frame (g) which brackets have means for anchoring a part of the components of the sections to prevent horizontal displacement; (3) an outer' sheathing wall (a) collaterally spaced from the inner wall to make an intervening air chamber (b) in which is lodged the greater part of the heat radiating surface of the brackets; (c) the wall being made up of sections (d) each of which is supported independently of any other (e) by the structural frame.

In the actual assembly of the structure, the brackets, which are made with a flange at their face, corresponding to a horizontal T, are held by horizontal members of the structural frame. At the bottom of the flange of each bracket is a shelf. The refractories are formed with a T slot, to engage the flange of the bracket. A refractory .is placed on the shelf of the bracket and others are placed on this one. The highest refractory on a bracket is not held by the flange and is removable horizontally within the fire chamber. After removal of the top refractory of any particular bracket, the others below it to the shelf may be removed. The brackets are placed on the structural frame in a horizontally running series and one above another, so that the entire wall may be built up. The weight of the bracket and the refractories thereon is not transmitted to any other bracket or its refractories, but to the structural frame. The brackets are so spaced that expansion joints can be made between brackets. The intake of air in the aperture of the walls may be regulated.

Appellant’s method is identical to that of Foltz, and includes all the elements specified above. The only difference in form noted, is the method of anchoring refractories. As mentioned, Foltz anchors the refractories by means of a flange at the face of the bracket, with which the T slots of the refractories engage. Appellant anchors the refractories by using a casting of somewhat “horseshoe” shape, which engages the refractories at the two ends of the castings, and is looped around a vertically supported angle bar. The angle bar is supported by a socket in a lower bracket and a lug in the upper adjacent bracket.

Appellant admits infringement of eight claims of the Foltz patent, if such claims are held valid. He admits infringement of the other nine claims, if held valid, depending on the meaning of the word “hanger.” We believe that the difference between the two forms is only formal, and that, appellant’s construction is equivalent to that disclosed by the Foltz patent.

[877]*877In examining a previous patent we are not limited to the precise scope of the claims of the earlier patent, but our inquiry is directed to “what is disclosed in specification and made known to the world.” Minerals Separation Corporation v.

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Bluebook (online)
85 F.2d 875, 31 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 144, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 4269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lanyon-v-m-h-detrick-co-ca9-1936.