Lorraine v. Townsend

8 F.2d 673, 1925 U.S. App. LEXIS 3335
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 9, 1925
DocketNo. 4582
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 8 F.2d 673 (Lorraine v. Townsend) 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
Lorraine v. Townsend, 8 F.2d 673, 1925 U.S. App. LEXIS 3335 (9th Cir. 1925).

Opinion

MeCAMANT, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). Plaintiffs’ original patent was issued April 5, 1921, and was numbered 1,373,664. The plaintiff Lorraine, to whom it was issued, was dissatisfied with its form and applied for a reissue, under the provisions of section 4916 of the Revised Statutes (section 8965 of Barnes’ Federal Code, 16 Stat. 205 [Comp. St. § 9461]). The reissued patent contained claims 17, 18, and 19, which defendants are charged with infringing. Defendants contend that these claims do not cover the same invention as tho original Lorraine patent. If this contention is well taken, it is decisive of the controversy.

The statute providing for the reissue of patents, above referred to, is as follows:

“Whenever any patent is inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective or insufficient specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming as his own invention or discovery more than he had a right to claim as new, if the error has arisen by inadvertence, accident, or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention, tho Commissioner shall, on the surrender of such patent and the payment of tho duty required by law, cause a new patent for the same invention, and in accordance with the corrected specification, to be issued to the patentee, or, in the case of his death or of an assignment of tho whole or any undivided part of the original patent, then to his executors, administrators, or assigns, for the unexpired part of the term of the original patent. Such surrender shall take effect upon the issue of the amended patent. The Commissioner may, in his discretion, cause several patents to be issued for distinct and separate parts of the thing patented, upon demand of the applicant, and upon payment of the required fee for a reissue for each of such reissued letters patent. The specifications and claim in every such ease shall be subject to revision and restriction in the same maimer as original applications are. Every patent so re[674]*674issued, together with the corrected spe.cification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of all actions for causes thereafter arising, as if the same had been originally filed in such corrected form; but no new matter shall be introduced into the specification, nor in -case of a machine patent shall the model or drawings be amended, except each by the other; but when there is neither model nor drawing, amendments may be made upon proof satisfactory to the Commissioner that such new matter or amendment was a part of the original invention, and was omitted from the specification by inadvertence, accident, or mistake, as aforesaid.” R. S. § 4916; Act July 8, 1870, c. 230, § 53,16 Stat. 205 (Comp. St. § 9461).

The requirement of the statute is that the reissued patent shall be “for the same invention.” This requirement is emphasized by the provision that “no new matter shall be introduced into the specification, nor in case of a machine patent shall the model or drawings be amended, except each by the other;” The Supreme Court has repeatedly construed this legislation, and has rigidly adhered to the requirement that the reissued .patent must be for the same invention as the original patent. Giant Powder Co. v. California Powder Works, 98 U. S. 126, 138, 25 L. Ed. 77; Heald v. Rice, 104 U. S. 737, 738, 26 L. Ed; 910; Eachus v. Broomall, 115 U. S. 429, 438, 6 S. Ct. 229, 29 L. Ed. 419; Parker & Whipple Co. v. Yale Clock Co., 123 U. S. 87, 98, 99, 8 S. Ct. 38, 31 L. Ed. 100; Freeman v. Asmus, 145 U. S. 226, 241, 12 S. Ct. 939, 36 L. Ed. 685; Topliff v. Topliff, 145 U. S. 156, 170, 12 S. Ct. 825, 36 L. Ed. 658. The case last cited holds that the identity of the two inventions must appear from the specification and claims of the original patent. In McCormick Machine Co. v. Aultman, 169 U. S. 606, 610, 18 S. Ct. 443, 444, 42 L. Ed. 875, it is said: “New matter cannot be introduced, nor can the scope of the invention be enlarged.”

The original Lorraine patent, No. 1,373,-664, contained five claims. These were as follows:

“1. In an apparatus for separating gas and oil from oil wells comprising a receptacle, a vertical partition arranged in the receptacle and terminating short of the top and bottom of the receptacle, and means arranged between the said partition and a contiguous wall of the receptacle for introducing the oil from the well whereby the oil is caused to flow downwardly and around the lower end of the partition and rise on the opposite side and the gas that freely escapes from the oil rising to the top of the receptacle and collecting above the upper end of the partition ; said means including’ an inlet oil tube arranged in the upper part of the receptacle, said tube having a surrounding discharge sleeve with a deflecting bottom plate for discharging the oil toward the receptacle wall.

“2. In an apparatus for separating gas and oil from oil wells comprising a receptacle, a vertical partition arranged in the receptacle and terminating short of the top and bottom of the receptacle, and means arranged between the said partition and a contiguous wall of the receptacle 'for introducing the oil from the well whereby the oil is caused to flow downwardly and around the lower end of the partition and rise on the opposite side and the gas that freely escapes from the oil rising to the top of the receptacle and collecting above the upper end of the partition; said means including an inlet oil tube arranged in the upper part of the receptacle, said tube having a surrounding discharge sleeve with a deflecting bottom plate for discharging the oil toward the receptacle wall; said sleeve having upper and lower outlets for gas and oil respectively.

“3. In an apparatus for separating oil and gas, a receptacle having separate discharge means for the oil and gas, each having an exterior valve actuated by a common crank, said valves being set for one to open as the other closes and float means within the receptacle actuated by the height of the liquid, operatively connected to said crank to actuate said valves.

“4. In an apparatus for separating oil and gas, the combination of a receptacle having oil inlet means, separate oil and gas outlet means comprising pipes extending from the interior of said receptacle, stopcocks arranged in said pipes, one to open as the other closes and actuated by a common crank, float means within the receptacle operatively connected to said common crank adapted to actuate the valves with reference to the height of the liquid within the receptacle.

“5. In an apparatus for separating gas and oil the combination of a receptacle, a float within the receptacle for actuating gas and oil outlet valves, said float comprising a sealed chamber, two supporting arms of equal lengths pivoted to said float at their proximal ends and pivoted to the wall of the receptacle at their distal ends to hold the chamber in substantially vertical alinement during movement thereof, the pivotal centers of said arms being offset in vertical alinement at their distal ends, one of said arms having an extension thereon extending

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Bluebook (online)
8 F.2d 673, 1925 U.S. App. LEXIS 3335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lorraine-v-townsend-ca9-1925.