Savery Hotel Co. v. Under-Feed Stoker Co. of America

178 F. 806, 102 C.C.A. 254, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4564
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 1910
DocketNo. 3,039
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 178 F. 806 (Savery Hotel Co. v. Under-Feed Stoker Co. of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Savery Hotel Co. v. Under-Feed Stoker Co. of America, 178 F. 806, 102 C.C.A. 254, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4564 (8th Cir. 1910).

Opinion

HOOK, Circuit Judge.

This was an action by the Under-Eeed Stoker Company of America against the Savery Hotel Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, for the contract price of four under-feed stokers installed in the boiler room of defendant’s hotel. The stoker is an appliance for the mechanical feeding of coal into the furnace or fire box of a boiler, and it supplants the ordinary grate, and dispenses [807]*807with the manual shoveling of coal through the furnace door. The coal is fed to the fire from below, instead of from above, as in the old way, and the gases, liberated by the heat and intermixed with air mechanically supplied, pass upward through the fire and are consumed. There were two small boilers and one large one in the hotel. Each of the former was equipped with a stoker, and the large one by two. By the contract, which was in writing, the plaintiff expressly warranted that the stokers would effect a saving in fuel bills of not less than 10 per cent, as compared with the results of hand firing ou common grates, and that the capacity of the large boiler would be increased at least 25 per cent, beyond a stated rating. Tests were lo be made, if requested by defendant, and it was to accept the equipment upon completion of the installation and the fulfillment of the warranties, and pay the price in fixed installments.

The defenses were breaches of the express warranties, and also of a warranty, claimed to he implied, that the stokers were reasonably fit for the purpose intended, to wit, sufficiency as applied to defend-antis entire plant and hotel properly; and, failing in those respects, defendant removed them, and the contract price never became due and owing. There was also a counterclaim by defendant for expenditures in connection with the installation. The plaintiff replied that satisfactory tests -were impossible because of the defective condition of the boilers, and that the failure of the stokers, if there was one, was the fault of the defendant. There was a verdict and judgment for plaintiff, and defendant prosecuted this writ of error.

Complaint is made that the trial court rejected defendant’s claim of an implied warranty. We think the court was right. The question is simplified by the fact that defendant does not claim there were structural defects in the stokers, nor that, considered by themselves, they were unfit for the use for which they were designed. On the contrary, any contention that they were not meritorious, or that they could not be made to work properly and produce satisfactory results when installed under proper conditions, was expressly disclaimed. But it is said they did not do the work intended when installed in defendant’s plant. This brings in question the express warranties of economy in fuel and of increased capacity of the large boiler; but defendant goes much further, and attempts to extend the scope of plaintiff’s undertaking to an implied guaranty of the sufficiency of all its machinery of various kinds designed for furnishing heat, light, and power for its hotel, when supplemented by the stokers. Obviously that cannot be. There is nothing in the contract or in the relations of the parties from which it could reasonably be implied. The plaintiff contracted, not to overhaul the entire mechanical plant of the hotel, hut merely to furnish and install subordinate and auxiliary appliances under limited specific guaranties. It was not concerned with the question of the previous adequacy of the plant as an entirety. Whether the plant f.s an entirety was or was not sufficient for all needs of the hotel after the installation of the stokers depended on many things wholly disconnected from the operation of those particular appliances. Plaintiff expressly warranted a certain economy in fuel and a certain increase in boiler capacity, and nothing more. If the defendant desired the [808]*808extension of the warranties to the efficiency of the entire plant when supplemented by the stokers, it should have so provided in the contract. That such was the intent of defendant does not suffice. The case is much like Seitz v. Brewers’ Refrigerating Co., 141 U. S. 510, 12 Sup. Ct. 46, 35 L. Ed. 837, in which it was held that where a known, described, and definite article is ordered of a manufacturer, and is actually supplied, there is no implied w&rranty that it shall answer the particular purpose intended by the buyer. See, also, Grand Avenue Hotel Co. v. Wharton, 24 C. C. A. 441, 79 Fed. 43; Davis Calyx Drill Co. v. Mallory, 69 C. C. A. 662, 137 Fed. 332, 69 L. R. A. 973.

Were the express warranties complied with? It was shown quite clearly at the trial that the stokers did not work satisfactorily in connection with the boilers, and the stipulated tests were not made. There was much evidence as to the cause, and who was responsible for it. The contract provided for the use of bituminous coal, such as was readily obtainable in the local market. The evidence showed it contained a larger percentage of ash or noncombustible material than other coal, and that when subjected to unusual heat an unusual amount of clinkers was produced. The defendant claimed it was impossible to keep the furnaces free of clinkers without practically shutting down the boilers and machinery. The plaintiff contended that the impaired capacity of the boilers, due to a condition of the water tubes presently to be described, required the forcing of the stoker fires to a degree otherwise unnecessary, but that, -notwithstanding this, if the instructions for the operation of the stokers had been complied with, and the clinkers removed at more frequent intervals, the difficulty could have been overcome. As to this the court charged the jury in substance that, though there was no warranty to that effect in the contract, it was -a reasonable construction that a fulfillment of plaintiff’s obligation required that it be practicable to remove the clinkers without closing dow-n the machinery. The question of fact under the instruction was properly left to the jury.

There was much evidence that when the stokers were installed it. was discovered that the interior of the water tubes of the boilers had been allowed to become so thickly incrusted with scale that it was not only impossible to operate the boilers satisfactorily, but also dangerous. The scale acted as a nonconductor of the heat externally applied to the tubes, and so reduced the interior water surface as to materially decrease the capacity of the boilers. The clogged tubes would also burn out, and explosions resulted. There were a number of explosions, and one man was killed. The diameter of some of the tubes, normally a little more than three inches, was so reduced by the scale as to scarcely exceed an inch. Partial tests of economy in fuel were made of one of the small boilers, and it showed that after tire installation of the stoker there was an increase of more than 100 per cent, in-evaporation per pound of coal. It should be said, however, that conditions were not suitable for making accurate tests, and before they were concluded a steam pipe in the engine room, with which the plaintiff had nothing- to do, burst and put a stop to them. No other tests were made to deter i .ine whether the express warranties of the [809]*809contract were complied with. The plaintiff notified defendant that the boilers were not in proper condition for firing, that it was dangerous to use them, and that the stoker equipment was at defendant’s risk.

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178 F. 806, 102 C.C.A. 254, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/savery-hotel-co-v-under-feed-stoker-co-of-america-ca8-1910.