National Co. v. Belcher

68 F. 665, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 3490
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 25, 1895
DocketNos. 34 and 2
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 68 F. 665 (National Co. v. Belcher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Co. v. Belcher, 68 F. 665, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 3490 (circtedpa 1895).

Opinion

DALLAS, Circuit Judge.

In pursuance of a stipulation filed, these two cases have been heard together, and upon the same proofs. They each, involve the same five patents.

1. The patent to Philip Hinkle, No. 183,055, dated October 10, 1876, is for “improvement in air chambers for forcing water for operating elevators,” etc. The claim in question in this suit is as follows: “(1) In an hydraulic hoisting device, an air and water chamber, A, interposed between and communicating with the elevator cylinder and a pressure generator, substantially as described.” In the specification it is said: “I may employ a pump, or such construction that when there is a determined amount of pressure in the chamber A the pump shuts off, but when the pressure lowers [666]*666the pump again starts.’’ This is the only mention which is anywhere made of any particular kind of pump or construction, and it amounts to nothing more than a suggestion which may or may not be followed. Complainants’ expert says that “the patentee proposes to provide the pump of such construction that a determined amount of pressure in the tank chamber, A, will automatically stop the pump, the pump being started again when the pressure in the chamber becomes lower”; but for this statement there is no other foundation than the language which I hare quoted from the specification. Whether the patentee, if he had in his claim specifically designated the automatically acting pump here referred to, would have strengthened his position is at least doubtful; but, as it is very plain that the claim does not call for any peculiar form or construction of “pressure generator,” inquiry as to whether a claim so constructed might have been made and sustained would be profitless. As it stands, this claim has been met by overwhelming evidence of anticipation, and therefore I am constrained to hold that it is invalid.

2. The patent to Charles E. Otis, No. 228,107, dated May 25, 1880, is for an invention which, as stated in the specification, “consists in means * * '* for preventing accidents from the breaking or slipping of the hoisting rope of an elevating apparatus, or from the cage acquiring an undue velocity from any cause, the invention further consisting in means for automatically restoring the parts to an operative position after the movement of the cage has been arrested or reduced.” Four of the seven claims of this patent are involved. These are as follows:

“(3) The combination, with an elevator cage having appliances for arresting or retarding the movement thereof, of mechanism for throwing said appliances into operation on an undue increase of speed, and devices for automatically restoring the said appliances to their first' position as the speed is reduced or motion arrested or reversed, substantially as set forth. (4) The combination, with a cage and its arresting appliances, of the cable, k, connected thereto and traveling therewith, governor operated by said cable, a clamp operated by the governor to automatically grip and release the cable, substantially as set forth.” “(6) The' combination of the cage, its detents, the cable, k, and its retarding appliances, and the spring interposed between the operating, arm of the stopping or retarding devices, and a bearing on the cable, substantially as set forth. (7) The combination of the cage, its 'arresting devices, operated from a crank or arm, a cable traveling with the cage and connected to said arm, governor operated by the movement of the cable, and jaws arranged adjacent to the cable, to act directly thereon, and connected to the governor, to be opened and closed thereby.” 0

Tbe 10 prior patents discussed by the learned counsel of the defendants have been carefully examined. They certainly do show that before this Otis patent was applied for much thought had been directed to securing safety in the operation of elevators, and that the trend of the inventive efforts of others had been in the same general direction as that of Mr. Otis. His construction, however, though very nearly approached, had never been reached, and upon its introduction the contrivance of the patent in suit was adopted in preference to anything which had preceded it, and was and is largely used. His achievement, now that it has been realized, [667]*667may not appear to ha ve boon a very difficult one to accomplish, but that it met a recognized want, and was regarded as being new as well as useful is quite persuasively shown by its extensive adoption and the prolonged acquiescence of the trade in his monopoly. The claim which is most, seriously attacked is the third, and the reference by which that attack is most plausibly maintained is to a patent issued to John Fensom, No. 151,014, dated May 19, 1874, for “improvement in elevators.” But by that patent, although its appliances for arresting the movement of the cage may, after service, fall out of opeiative position, there are disclosed no “devices for automatically restoring the said appliances to their first position as the speed is reduced or motion arrested or reversed,” and the employment, of such devices constitutes a material element of the third claim of the patent in suit. Infringement has been clearly shown. These are all combination claims, and though some of the corresponding parts in the respondents’ arrangement are not precisely identical with those of the patent, yet it is obvious that they have the same purpose in the ¿combination, and effect that purpose in substantially the same manner. Upon the authority of Dunlap v. Schofield, 152 U. S. 244, 14 Sup. Ct. 576, I sustain the point made for respondents, that: “there can he no recovery for damages and no accounting for profits, because the complainant has failed to. allege in the hill of complaint either that the patented devices were marked ‘Patented,’ or that actual notice of that fact was given to the defendants, as required by section 4900, Kev. St.” In Allen v. Deacon, 21 Fed. 122, it was held, in a suit in equity, that:, in the absence of marking or notice, neither damages nor profits can be recovered.

3. The patent to George IT. Reynolds, No. 317,202, dated May 5, 4885, is “fo-r means for controlling the operation of elevators.” The only claim involved in this suit is as follows:

“(1) The combination, with the car or cab and its controlling valve, of a lever or hand gear on the car or cab, and occupying a stationary position relatively thereto as it travels, sheaves, g gi, and bearings therefor arranged at the bottom of the shaft: and adapted to move upward and downward, other sheaves, h h, at the top of the shaft, flexible connections passing around those sheaves from, the toil to the bottom of the shaft, and connected at their one end with the said lever dr hand gear on the car or cab, and connections bc-tween the valve and the movable bearings for the sheaves’, g gi, at the bottom of the shaft, through which the movement of the lover or hand gear on the car and the rising movement of one or other of the sheaves, g gq will effect the shifting of the valve, substantially as herein described.”

This claim was before the circuit court for the Northern district of Illinois, in the case of Crane Elevator Co. v. Standard Elevator Co., hut the opinion filed by that court is silent upon the question of the patent’s validity. That question is therefore an open one, and, as such, has now been considered. It is, however, unnecessary to discuss the evidence bearing upon it, except as it relates to a single matter upon which 1 have reached a decisive conclusion. A German patent, No. 18,400, to 1).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Motorola, Inc. v. The United States
729 F.2d 765 (Federal Circuit, 1984)
Flat Slab Patents Co. v. Turner
285 F. 257 (Eighth Circuit, 1922)
Coffield Motor Washer Co. v. A. D. Howe Mach. Co.
190 F. 42 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern West Virginia, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 F. 665, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 3490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-co-v-belcher-circtedpa-1895.