Madison Patent Corp. v. Harry Williams Mfg. Co.

87 F. Supp. 87, 83 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 173, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1967
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMay 31, 1949
DocketNos. 48 C 382, 48 C 387, 48 C 393, 48 C 394
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 87 F. Supp. 87 (Madison Patent Corp. v. Harry Williams Mfg. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Madison Patent Corp. v. Harry Williams Mfg. Co., 87 F. Supp. 87, 83 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 173, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1967 (N.D. Ill. 1949).

Opinion

BARNES, Chief Judge.

Questions of the infringement and validity of two patents are involved in this suit.

One of the patents involved is Breitenstein et al. No. 2,155,929, issued April 25, 1939, on an application filed August 21, 1936 (hereinafter referred to as Patent 929). Patent 929 relates to a score registering device for registering a score by an illumination upon a screen. Only the defendants, Harry Williams Manufacturing Co. (hereinafter referred to as Williams), and Chicago Coin Machine Company (hereinafter referred to as Chicago ¡Coin) are charged to infringe Claims 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Patent 929. The plaintiff has selected Claim 5 as typical. It reads as follows:

“5. In a device of the class described positionable as a compact projector unit in an exhibitor structure and comprising a horizontal support carrying a turnable disk having an edge through which a beam of light may pass, a source of light, a screen, a lens system associated with the disk to project light from the source through the disk to the screen, means on said support for securing said source of light in optical alinement with the edge of [88]*88the disc and lenses, a stop means determining a starting postition from which the disk is to be turned, electromagnetically operable mechanical means to move the disk step by step in a direction away from the stop means, and spring means to drive the disk reversely to its starting position.”

The court will take up, first, the question of infringement of Patent 929.

Claim 1 of this patent includes, as a part of the supposed combination called for by the claim “lenses carried on the support respectively on opposite sides of the disk and in alinement with each other and with said marginal edge thereof (the disk).” The lenses referred to in Claim 1 are a condenser lens, arranged between the light source and the marginal edge of the disk, and a projector lens, arranged between the marginal edge of the disk and the screen. Williams’ and Chicago Coin’s devices have nothing intervening between the light and the marginal edge of the disk, while between the marginal edge of the disk and the screen there is found, first, a slotted plate, and, second, a projector lens. It is thus apparent that in neither the Williams device nor the Chicago Coin device is there included “lenses carried on the support,' respectively, on opposite sides of the disk.”

The claims of this patent are narrowly worded and belong to that class of patent claims which, if valid, must be narrowly construed. The defendants Williams and Chicago Coin, in making their respective devices, have, as has been pointed out, omitted a necessary and indispensable element of the combination of Claim 1. Accordingly, there is no infringement of Claim 1 by either def endant.

Claims 3, 4 and 5 of Patent 929 may be considered together. Each of these claims includes, as a part of the combination claimed, “a lens system associated with the disk to project light from the source through the disk to the screen.” As the court has pointed out, the devices of Williams and Chicago Coin have, in the order named, a light source, a rotatable disk, a slotted plate, a projector lens, and a screen. It will be observed that there is no “lens system which projects light from the source through the disk,” that the defendants use only one lens, which does not project light through the disk, that the slotted plate cannot be said to project light or to have any other effect than to cut off light, and that, in the defendants’ devices, light is projected through the disk by the light source itself and not by any lens or lens system. The plaintiff seeks to have the slotted plate used by the defendants declared to foe the equivalent of the condenser lens of the claims. The court does not believe that this slotted plate can be said to be the equivalent of the condenser lens or any other type of lens, but even if, under other circumstances, it could be held to be equivalent to a lens, it is not a part of the “lenses * * * on opposite sides of the disk” claimed by Claim 1. Nor is it a part of a “lens system associated with the disk to project light from the source through the disk,” claimed by Claims 3, 4 and 5. A slotted plate does not perform the functions attributed to the lenses of Claims 1, 3, 4 and S.

The court concludes that the claims of this patent are not infringed by the devices of Williams or those of Chicago Coin.

If it were not for the fact that there is a possibility of the reviewing courts disagreeing with this court on the question of infringement, the court, having decided that there is no infringement, would refrain from passing upon the question of the validity of the patent, but since there ,is a possibility that the reviewing courts may disagree with this court’s conclusions in respect of non-infringement, it would probably save the time of the parties and of the courts if the court proceeds and considers the question of validity of this patent.

The elements of typical claim 5 of Patent 929 are:

1) a horizontal support

2) a turnable disk

3) a source of light

4) a screen

5) a lens system

6) means for securing the source of light etc.

7) stop means

[89]*898) electromagnetically operated mechanical means

9) spring means.

Each of the foregoing elements, alone .and in combination, is old in the art. Shyvers et al. Patent No. 2,053,379, issued September 8, 1936, on an application filed February 10, 1936, discloses:

6) means for securing the source of light, etc.

7) stop means (as the disk is spring driven, a stop means is necessarily provided to limit the drive of the disk by the driving spring)

8) electromagnetically operated mechanical means

It will be observed that the only element of typical Claim 5 of Patent 929 which is not present in the Shyvers Patent is the fifth element, the lens system, and it is by this element that plaintiff seeks to distinguish the disclosure of the Shyvers Patent from Claim 5.

Cave Patent No. 1,792,412, issued February 10, 1931, on an application filed March .28, 1929, discloses:

4) a screen (not shown, but no doubt included)

5) lens system

8) electromagnetically operated mechanical means.

Potter Patent No. 2,138,821, issued December 6, 1938, on an application filed March 5, 1936, discloses, in the following order, a light source, a lens, the equivalent of a disk, a lens and a screen, the same elements in the same order as disclosed by Patent 929 in suit.

Buchner Patent No. 1,398,835, issued November 29, 1921, on an application filed November 12, 1920, shows a lens system associated with a light source.

In the court’s opinion, Claims 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Patent 929 disclose no invention over the patents referred to and they are, accordingly, invalid.

The second patent involved in this suit is Breitenstein Patent No. 2,281,262, issued April 28, 1942, on an application filed March 14, 1940 (hereafter referred to as Patent 262). Patent 262 relates to a combined step-up, escapement and reset mechanism for use in amusement and other apparatus. All four defendants, Williams, Chicago Coin, United Manufacturing Company (hereinafter referred to as United) and Exhibit Supply Co.

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87 F. Supp. 87, 83 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 173, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1967, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/madison-patent-corp-v-harry-williams-mfg-co-ilnd-1949.