Lyman v. Maypole

19 F. 735, 1884 U.S. App. LEXIS 2107
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedFebruary 11, 1884
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 19 F. 735 (Lyman v. Maypole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lyman v. Maypole, 19 F. 735, 1884 U.S. App. LEXIS 2107 (uscirct 1884).

Opinion

Blodgett, J.

This is a bill to enjoin an alleged infringement by the defendants of a patent issued to the complainant for an “improve[736]*736ment in traps for exhaust steam pipes.” The object and scope of the invention is set out by the patentee as follows:

“The object I have in view is to provide the top of the exhaust pipe of a non-condensing steam-engine with a head which will not only trap off the water of condensation carried up the pipe with the exhaust steam, but also the grease used for lubricating the cylinder, and carried up by the exhaust steam. The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the cap and the combination therewith of the deflectors and conduits, and a hand-hole in one side of the cap, through which access is had to the interior for removing grease and solid matter settling therein.”

The general scope of this invention is, that the steam, carrying with it some spray or water, and the melted grease or oil ejected with the steam, reaches by the exhaust pipe the arrangement shown in the •condensing head; there the steam is deflected, sent around the cold edges of the large surface, where the water, which has already become condensed, is caught upon the deflectors and upon the head of the cap of the condenser, and is condensed, so that the water falls into some of the receptacles for it; it either is condensed and passes into the lower skirt, which is inverted, and runs down and passes into the channels and flows through the outlet pipe, or it is held by the upturned edges, which are shown by the model, so that whatever steam is discharged is mainly dry steam that will not readily condense, and passes into the air without depositing any water or grease ■on the adjacent roofs or buildings.

The defendants deny the infringement of the complainant’s patent, •and also insist that- the complainant made, and sold, and put in public use condensers, in the form now made and used by the defendants, more than two years prior to the complainant’s application for a patent and the issue of his patent. It is insisted that by such pub- ' lie use the complainant has lost the right to cover a device so given to the public by his patent. The proof in the case, which I will not stop to read, is briefly this: Some years ago, in 1870, 1871, and 1872, the complainant commenced the manufacture of these condensing heads. He began by manufacturing a condenser head something like that shown in the proof marked, “Lyman’s Old Head,” which is admitted to be a substantially correct illustration of what the defendant now makes. In 1872 he manufactured several of these, at least four of which he sold and put in public use. They were not experimental heads, in the strict sense of the word, such as .are allowed within certain limits to be made and used by an inventor as experiments. The law permits an inventor to construct a machine which he is engaged in studying upon and developing, and place it in friendly hands for the purpose of testing, it, and ascertaining whether it will perform the functions claimed for it; and if these machines are strictly experiments, made solely with a view to perfect the device, the right of the inventor remains unimpaired; but when an inventor puts his incomplete or experimental device upon ■the market and sells it, as a manufacturer, more than two years be[737]*737fore lie applies for his patent, he gives to the public the device in the condition or stage of development in which lie sells it. The proof in this case shows that during the year 1872, and forepart of 1873, complainant made and sold at least four of these condenser heads, made in all respects like the “Exhibit Lyman’s Old Head.” They were not experiments, but were made, sold, and put in use by complainant in his business as a manufacturer. In the mean time the complainant continued his experiments, and after a time increased the size of the upper deflector so that it overhung the lower one, and turned up the edges of the upper, and turned down the edges of the lower deflector, so that they have the shape shown in his final patent; and in April, 1876, he applied for his patent, which was issued a few months afterwards, in which he specifically describes his device, including the upturned edges of the upper deflector, and the down-turned edges of the lower deflector. His claims specifically call for the deflectors with the edges turned as described. The claims are as follows:

“(1) The combination of the cap, 13, B, escape pipe, A’, deflectors, O, O’, and. conduits, a, D, said deflectors and conduits provided with curved outer rims or edges, with the exhaust pipe of a non-condensing engine, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
“(2) The combination of the cap, B, B’, escape pipe, A’, deflectors, C, O’, conduits, o, I>, and hand-hole, E, with the exhaust pipe, A, of a non-condensing steam-engine, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. ”

Both these claims, as I construe them, call l'or these deflecting plates with turned edges.

The complainant’s device also shows a “band-hole’’for the purpose of removing the grease, soot, or other solid matter which may collect in the condenser. The defendants, instead of using a “hand-hole” located as shown in the patent, insert a large screw plug near the lower end or apex of the inverted cone, through which plug the drain pipe passes, and by unscrewing and removing this plug, a hook or wire can be inserted and used to clean out the solid matter. This is not a “hand-hole,” as called for by the specifications of complainant’s patent, but is a mere enlargement of the drain or discharge pipe. I find, therefore, that in the general features of the condensers made by defendants, they conform to those which complainant made and gave to the public at least three years before he applied for his patent; and, in construing complainant’s patent, I must hold him bound by the state of the art as he developed it up to 1872 and 1873, and that his patent cannot be allowed to relate back and cover the forms of condensers which he gave to the public more than two years before he applied for his patent. The complainant’s bill must be dismissed for want of equity.

Prior to 1836 our patent laws contained no provision in reference to abandonment or dedication of an invention to the public by uses or sales before the filing of an application for a patent. Tlio supreme court, liowover, decided [738]*738in 1829 that an inventor might abandon his invention to the public by such uses or sales, and, speaking through Justice Story, said: “Upon most deliberate consideration we are all of opinion that the true construction of the act is’that the first inventor cannot acquire a good title to a patent if he suffers the thing invented to go into public use, or to be publicly sold for use, before he makes application for a patent. His voluntary act or acquiescence in the public sale and use is an abandonment of his right, or rather creates a disability to comply with the terms and conditions on which alone the secretary of state is authorized to grant him a patent."1 This doctrine, which liad been previously announced by Justice Story2 and by Justice Washington,3 was reiterated by the supreme court in 1883.4 And “ at common law the better opinion, probably, is that the right of properly of the inventor to his invention or discovery passed from him as soon

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Related

Craig v. Michigan Lubricator Co.
72 F. 173 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Michigan, 1896)
Lyman v. Lyman
75 F. 665 (U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illnois, 1895)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 F. 735, 1884 U.S. App. LEXIS 2107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lyman-v-maypole-uscirct-1884.