Lloyd v. Spalletta

290 F. 537, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1547
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedMay 18, 1923
StatusPublished

This text of 290 F. 537 (Lloyd v. Spalletta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lloyd v. Spalletta, 290 F. 537, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1547 (E.D.N.Y. 1923).

Opinion

CAMPBEEE, District Judge.

This is an action brought to restrain the alleged infringement of patent No. 1,229,102, dated June 5, 1917, for talking doll, issued by the United States Patent Office to the plaintiff Burt E. Eloyd, the plaintiffs E. I. Horsman and /Etna. Doll Company, Inc., and Averill Manufacturing Company being grantees of the exclusive right or license to make and sell dolls containing and embodying the said patented device or voice, manufactured for said two corporate plaintiffs by the said plaintiff Eloyd. The answer of the defendant raises two issues, the infringement of the patent in suit, and the validity of said patent.

The patent in suit represents a great step in advance in the doll industry in America, and is of large commercial value. Before the appearance on the market of the “ma-ma” voice, manufactured by the plaintiff Eloyd, and covered by the patent in suit, there was no satisfactory talking doll, although for 25 years there had been efforts made to produce one and the sale of the so-called “speaking dolls” was very small; but almost immediately upon the entrance on the market of the said “ma-ma” voice, produced by the plaintiff Eloyd, the condition changed, and now but very few nonspeaking dolls are sold, the demand being for the “ma-ma” doll. There has been no adjudication of the patent in suit.

Plaintiff’s suit is based upon claims 1, 2, 3, and 4 of said patent. In the patent in suit we have an air chamber or bellows, which is adapted to have the air therein compressed and forced in the direction of an opening or aperture; a sounding device in the form of a reed, which is actuated by the air in the course of its travel to the aperture. The sounding device or reed sets up vibrations resulting, in so far as the sounding device is concerned, in a continuous sound. In order to translate these vibrations into an enunciated sound, they are interrupted to produce the word “ma-ma.”

The essence of the Lloyd patent is the manner of making this interruption of sound, and to obtain this interruption of sound, a valve mechanism is utilized which penetrates the aperture. This is fundamentally novel. In the preferred embodiment of this principle, the sound vibrations are slowly cut down by the two disks or valves as the distance between them and the aperture gradually diminishes, and is [538]*538shut off entirely when one of the valves is completely seated in the aperture, and the emission of sound vibrations is again permitted as the disk passes entirely through the aperture.

After the performance by the last valve of the active or passive operation and the completion of the “ma-ma” sound, the bellows is again' inflated; and soundlessly the valves pass back through the aperture, to be in a position to again'perform their function. For distinctly articulating the word “ma-ma” there is utilized in this patent what is called therein a resilient lip (preferably rubber). According to said patent the rubber lip may either edge the aperture or may be secured to the valve stem, or to the edge of the valve disks. The resilient lip is secured around the aperture in the manner shown in Fig. 6 of the patent and in Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4, offered in this action, representing the commercial device.

There is-a distinct articulation of the m’s in “ma-ma” when the rigid co-operating valve elements come in contact with the resilient lip, hug it, and carry its free edge along with it. Both Plaintiff’s Exhibits Nos. 3 (without the lip) and 4 (with it) are good, and are covered by claims 1 and 2; but the particular merit of the more specific features of claims 3 and 4 are clearly demonstrated by the greater perfection of enunciation of Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4'over Exhibit 3.

There can be no reasonable doubt about the question of infringement, because it would appear that defendant must have had one of plaintiff’s devices before him when he constructed his device, as it is substantially an exact reproduction of the plaintiff’s commercial device. Examining the defendant’s device specifically, in view of the claims in suit, we find that it has an air chamber in the form of a bellows, a sounding device in the form of a reed inclosed,in a small cardboard housing situated at one side of the aperture, an aperture through which two valves move to successively close the aperture and thereby interrupt the sound waves or vibrations, thus clearly falling within claims 1 and 2.

The valves in appearance are like a small spool, being made of wood and having a connecting neck. Mechanically this is identical with two spaced disks in the patent in suit. The defendant’s wooden spool is exactly the same as the valves of the patent in suit and the plaintiff’s exhibit of their commercial structure, in function, location, and spacing both the plaintiff’s and defendant’s devices operate exactly alike. Air is expelled by the bellows, and the sounding device or reed is actuated by the air in its passage to the aperture; there the air is interrupted by the valves as they successively pass through the aperture. In the defendant’s device as well as the plaintiff’s patent, and in the plaintiff’s commercial structure, is also found the resilient lip (rubber) secured around the aperture, and the valves successively hug it during their passage through the aperture, in order to distinctly articulate the m’s in the word “ma-ma,” and this is a clear infringement of claims 3 and 4.

Claim 1 of the patent reads:

“A sound-producing' device, comprising a sounding device, an air chamber having an aperture, and valves movable through the aperture to successively close and open the same.”

[539]*539Each of these elements is found in defendant’s device. There is no substantial difference between claims 1 and 2, except that in claim 2 it is provided that the means for opening and closing the aperture comprise a stem movable through the aperture and having spaced disks to close and open the aperture. Obviously the two heads of the spool used in defendant’s device are two disks, which function precisely as called for by claim 2.

Claims 3 and 4 cover the case of the rubber lip. Claim 3 reads as follows:

“In a sound-producing device, a sounding element, an air chamber having an aperture through which sounds issue, and means for opening and closing the aperture, said means comprising a stem movable through the aperture and having spaced disks to close and open the aperture, said aperture having a resilient lip which snugly hugs the disks in passing through the aperture."

Each of these elements is also present in the defendant’s device. The resilient lip is located around the aperture, and as the disks pass through the aperture the lip snugly hugs the disks to properly enunciate the word “ma-ma.”

Claim 4 is much broader in scope than claim 3, and reads as follows:

“A sound-producing device comprising a sounding element, an air chamber having an apertured part, and a valve part, said parts being relatively movable, one part having resilient means for effecting a stoppage of sound and also one element including spaced sound-stopping portions."

Each element of this claim is found in defendant’s device. The scope of this claim is broad enough to cover the resilient means, whether the means are located around the aperture or upon the stem.

The only remaining question to be considered is the bearing of the prior art upon Mr. Lloyd’s invention.

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Bluebook (online)
290 F. 537, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lloyd-v-spalletta-nyed-1923.