National Malleable Casting Co. v. American Steel Foundries

182 F. 626, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5660
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey
DecidedSeptember 12, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 182 F. 626 (National Malleable Casting Co. v. American Steel Foundries) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Malleable Casting Co. v. American Steel Foundries, 182 F. 626, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5660 (circtdnj 1910).

Opinion

RFLDSTAB, District Judge.

Both these patents relate to the same type of coupler, and have the same fundamental features of form and operation. Patent No. 728,049, applied for March 17, 1902, is the basic patent, and patent No. 728,182, applied for May 29, 1902, covers certain detail improvements suggested while constructing patterns for the device shown in the former patent.

No commercial use was made of the exact device shown in patent No. 728,049. The coupler made and sold by the complainant, known as the “Climax coupler,” is that shown in such patent, with the improvements covered by patent No. 728,182. Two forms of the improved coupler have been marketed by the complainant, respectively known as high head and low head Climax couplers. The high head contained a lock identical with that shown in the later patent, and the low head — a reduced height of head and shortened shank — because of its reduced height, contains a shorter lock. Both these are functionally the same, and are covered by such patents and directly based on the claims in suit. The lock of the high head coupler is known in the trade as the “A” lock, and that of the low head as the “C” lock.

Modern car couplers conform to certain limitations fixed by the Master Car Builders’ Association. The design and coupling face contour is based upon the original Janney type. Briefly stated, the necessary parts are a hollow coupler casing, a drawhead, a swinging coupling hook or knuckle, and a locking device to lock the knuckle in coupled position. The contour of the drawhead and front end of the knuckle must be of the prescribed configuration, that all couplers of the same general type shall be capable of interlocking. In addition to these elemental parts, and as accessories thereto, means for lifting the lock are provided, usually a link or chain attached thereto, passing through an opening in the coupler wall, connected with a lever extended along the end of, and projected beyond the side of, the car, that the operator may throw the knuckle from its closed to its open [628]*628position without passing between the cars. No limitations exist as to the configuration of the tail of the knuckle, the locking means, nor the inner contour of the chamber in which the knuckle tail and locking means operate. It is, however, essential that the knuckle, when locked, should not move out of its locked position while the cars are in motion, and that the coupler may be unlocked when desired. Since the adoption of this standard, the scope of invention in this type of coupler has been practically limited to the locking and unlocking features. While the main function of the lock itself is to lock and unlock, the trade also demands that it may be put and kept in unlocked position while the knuckle remains locked, that the cars may be uncoupled by their own movement. This is called lock-setting. The means for presenting the lock from moving or creeping up out of locked position, under draught or shock, is called the “anti-creep” or “lock to the lock.”

Complainant claims that with its lock — a single piece or block — the functions of locking and unlocking, knuckle throwing, lock-setting, and locking the lock, are performed, and that' this is a decided advance on the prior state of the art. Such a device necessarily coacts upon, and works in combination with, the knuckle tail, and, in the case of complainant’s coupler, with the interior configuration of the coupler head.

Of the claims of these patents, only four are specified in the bill as having been infringed, viz., claim 11 of patent No. 728,049 and claims 8, 9, and 10 of patent No. 728,182. These read as follows:

“Claim 11. A coupler locking and opening piece having its lower end inclined forwardly when in locking position, and having at its upper end an attachment for a lifting link, and a fulcrum-bearing, substantially as described.’.’
“Claim 8. A coupler opening and locking piece upwardly and rearwardly movable and having on its forward side projections h and g adapted to engage the knuckle successively, substantially as described.
“Claim 9. A coupler lock having on the lock a stop adapted to bear on the rear side of a lifting-link, and to support the same, substantially as described.
“Claim 10. A coupler lock having' a lifting-link pivoted in a slot in said lock, and a stop in the slot on the rear side of the link for supporting the same, substantially as described.”

These claims embrace the locking and unlocking features of the coupler. Claims 11 and 8 alone cover the lock, the construction and operation of which will' be presently described. There is no contention that defendant supplied the Climax coupler as a whole. It manufactures car couplers, but of á different type; and also parts of car couplers of many different types. It admits that it manufactured, advertised, and sold Climax locks of the “A” and “C” types, and Climax lifting links to be attached thereto. It furnished these attached to each other or separately, as desired, to purchasers and users of Climax couplers, to replace similar parts which originally had been furnished by the complainant as parts of a complete coupler.

The complainant charges that the supplying of these parts constitutes a direct infringement of such claims; that the Climax lock itself, was inventively a new thing, and is protected by such claims. The defendant contends that it supplied such parts only as repair parts to replace injured or defective parts, and, while these claims are drawn [629]*629in form to cover the lock separately, the lock alone is wholly without function or utility, and not patentable as a separate thing; that it is useful only when associated with the peculiar form of the coupler head and knuckle shown in the patent; that such claims must be so read and construed as to embody such other necessary parts of the coupler; and that, when so read, the lock is but an element of a complete combination, and may be repaired by the owner and user of the complete device, so long as the identity of the original device was preserved. The other defense is invalidity, because: (1) Patents were anticipated by prior patents; and (2) that such locking features lack patentable novelty, and are faulty and inoperative.

As the validity of the patents, particularly the claims relied on, must be passed, upon regardless of the question whether the parts supplied come under the head of repairs, this question will be first considered. Complainant contends that its lock was the first to give, in a single piece, the function of the “anti-creep” or “lock to the lock,” in addition to locking, unlocking, knuckle throwing, and lock-setting; and that the latter functions were performed in a new and desirable way. Tower, in his specification of patent No. 728,049 (basic patent), states the object of his invention and describes its several parts, their operation and functions, and novel features and advantage of his device, as follows:

“The object of my invention is to provide a coupler with a locking and opening piece of simpler construction and easier of operation than heretofore and which will enable the coupler to be made of great strength in proportion to the weight of the metal used therein. These characteristics which I obtain by my invention are of the greatest practical importance, for the reason that the couplers when in use are subjected to severe strains and often to careless .use.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
182 F. 626, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-malleable-casting-co-v-american-steel-foundries-circtdnj-1910.