Southwest Industrial Products, Inc. v. Ezee Stone Cutter Manufacturing Co.

157 F. Supp. 208, 116 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 362, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2476
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedDecember 19, 1957
DocketCiv. A. 1315
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 157 F. Supp. 208 (Southwest Industrial Products, Inc. v. Ezee Stone Cutter Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southwest Industrial Products, Inc. v. Ezee Stone Cutter Manufacturing Co., 157 F. Supp. 208, 116 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 362, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2476 (W.D. Ark. 1957).

Opinion

JOHN E. MILLER, District Judge.

Findings of Fact

1.

The plaintiff, Southwest Industrial Products, Inc., is an Oklahoma corporation, having its principal place of business at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The defendant, Ezee Stone Cutter Manufacturing Company, is an Arkansas corporation with its principal place of business in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The defendants, Bo Gann and James Willis, are citizens and residents of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The amount in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the sum of $3,000.

2.

In 1949 or 1950, G. B. Entz (assignor of the plaintiff herein) conceived the idea of making a stone cutting machine for the purpose of cutting building stone. He obtained the use of the facilities of the McFarlan Machine Shop at Hinton, Oklahoma, and constructed his first stone cutting machine. This rather simple machine included a frame with opposing jaws, each jaw having a continuous blade, and the jaws were operated by two hydraulic hand jacks in such a manner as *210 to cut or break the stone. Entz cut approximately 50 tons of stone with this machine, but its operation was not entirely satisfactory. Later, Entz conceived the idea of constructing a stone cutting machine which would have an equalized blade (made up of individual chisels) that would follow the contour of the stone, rather than a straight continuous blade such as the one used in his first machine. He had seen wheat ■drills in operation and thought the same principle could be applied to a stone cutting machine.

Entz went to Oklahoma City and contacted the Crowl Machine & Heat Treating Plant. He conferred with Leland ■Crowl, owner of the machine shop, and a Mr. Markwell, who worked in the shop. Entz explained his idea for the stone cutting machine, and Crowl agreed that such a machine might be feasible. They began work on the construction of the machine, and completed the first machine in about two months. The machine was ■completed in September of 1950 and was tested at that time. The test proved the machine to be successful, and production was begun on the stone cutting machines. The first full-size or 4-foot machine was ■completed in January of 1951, and during the year 1951 approximately eight machines were manufactured and sold to the public. The machines were manufactured for Entz by the Crowl Machine ■& Heat Treating Plant. During 1951 various minor improvements were made •on the stone cutting machines.

3.

It developed that the stone cutting machines were difficult to move and handle, and Entz decided that he needed trailers on which to mount the machines in a manner that would permit the moving of the machines and also permit the machines to be set on the ground or some «olid foundation when in use. He thought it would be possible to build a trailer with an offset axle similar to certain horse-drawn plows.

Entz contacted T. E. Mosley, a mechanic and welder who resided in Oklahoma City. Entz explained his need to Mosley, and Mosley proceeded to build a trailer for an Entz stone cutting machine. The first trailer was made in July or August of 1951, and required about 20 hours to build. Thereafter, practically all of Entz’ stone cutters were mounted on trailers before being sold to the public.

4.

During the year 1952 Entz continued to sell his stone cutters at the rate of approximately two per month. The stone cutters were being manufactured by Crowl and the trailers were being made by Mosley. During 1952 minor improvements were made on the stone cutting machines, but apparently little, if any, change was made in the trailers.

5.

In the spring of 1953 Entz built his own shop so he would have a place to overhaul the stone cutting machines and to work on different improvements for the machines. Entz continued to sell them at the rate of approximately two per month during 1953.

6.

It developed that the trailers Entz was using were not entirely satisfactory in performance, and in the early part of 1953 a change was made in the location and hookup of the link mechanism in order to solve the difficulty. Apparently this change was the only one of significance made in the trailers after the first one was built in 1951.

7.

In the fall of 1953 Entz made several changes .or improvements in the stone cutting machine. These improvements included: (1) pivoting of the wedges to their shanks (prior to this the wedges had been bolted in, and trouble was experienced with bolts breaking and in turn causing the stone to be broken or cut incorrectly); (2) providing a gable on one side of the head of the knives or chisels to provide a continuous cutting edge (prior to this there was a gap between each set of two chisels, and these gaps tended to cause some breakage of *211 the stone and to prevent a perfectly straight break); (3) a hydraulically operated gauge was added to determine the widths of the cut of the stone, and said gauge was designed to operate automatically (before this the gauge did not work automatically but was controlled by the operator of the machine); (4) some change was made in the washing system relating to the shanks of the lower chisels (the evidence was not clear as to the exact nature of this change, and apparently it was a minor one).

The first stone cutting machine containing these four improvements was first publicly displayed in January of 1954 at a convention in Washingto'n, D. C.

8.

On November 2, 1953, Entz applied for a patent on the trailer he was using. The only difference in the trailer at that time and the ones Entz had been manufacturing since 1951 was in the location of the link mechanism. Thus, in all respects except this change of location, the trailer had been in public use and on sale more than a year prior to November 2, 1953.

On May 21, 1954, all claims of the trailer patent were denied by the examiner. Entz requested reconsideration, and on January 20, 1956, the claims were again denied by the examiner. Entz requested reconsideration, and finally on July 24, 1956, the examiner approved the application for a patent, and on September 11, 1956, patent No. 2,762,631 was issued to Entz.

The trailer as patented is of particular construction in which a relatively wide chassis frame is provided with few operating parts and practically none above the longitudinally extending side members so that the load may be disposed thereon and "in close proximity to the ground wheels carried by the side members for lifting and lowering the chassis with respect to the ground wheels. The frame includes side members with two shafts extending thereacross and the ends extending outside the frame members, to which radial arms are attached and extend longitudinally of the side members when the vehicle is in transporting position, and to a position diagonally upwardly. The wheels are thus mounted on the arms, two on each side of the frame structure. Rigidly secured to the outwardly extending portion of the shafts are levers which extend upwardly from the radial arms. There are two of the levers, one on the inside and one on the outside of one side member.

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157 F. Supp. 208, 116 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 362, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwest-industrial-products-inc-v-ezee-stone-cutter-manufacturing-co-arwd-1957.