Sperry v. Payne

141 F.2d 816, 31 C.C.P.A. 942, 61 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 179, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 37
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedFebruary 7, 1944
DocketNo. 4776; No. 4777; No. 4778
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 141 F.2d 816 (Sperry v. Payne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sperry v. Payne, 141 F.2d 816, 31 C.C.P.A. 942, 61 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 179, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 37 (ccpa 1944).

Opinion

Jackson, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

These are appeals from decisions of the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office affirming.those of the Examiner of Interferences awarding priority of invention of the subject matter of the counts in Appeals Nos. 4776 and 4777 to Payne, the senior party, and in Appeal No. 4778 to Teschner, the junior party.

All the appeals relate generally to the same subject matter. The attorneys for appellant and appellee in each case are the same and the appeals were argued together. For the reason that the interferences are so closely related they will be disposed of in a single opinion, but each will be separately discussed and decided.

The involved subject matter is an automobile heater comprising a radiator core and a fan and blower unit adapted to project two streams of heated air in different directions; in other words, one stream may be directed to one place in the car and another, to another. For example, one stream may be used to defrost the windshield while the other is heating the car.

The interferences all involve an application of the appellant, Serial No. 132,000, filed March 20,1937. Appeals Nos. 4776 and 4777 involve an application of appellee Payne, Serial No. 128,077, filed February 27, 1937. Appeal No. 4778 involves the application of the appellee Teschner, Serial No. 137,083, filed April 15,1937.

Appeal No. Jfl76 — Interference No. 75,056

In this interference no testimony was taken on behalf of appellee and he is restricted to the filing date of his application, February 27,1937, for conception and constructive reduction to practice. [1] He offered in evidence a copy of the printed “Record for Sperry” in Interference No. 73,751. That interference involved related subject, matter, among other parties including the party Sperry. The Examiner of Interferences would not consider that record since it was not introduced in accordance with rule 157 of the Rules of Practice, citing Olson v. Pospeshil, 50 App. D. C. 182, 269 Fed. 698. We are in full agreement with that decision of the examiner.

Testimony was taken on behalf of the appellant and many physical exhibits supporting the testimony were received in evidence.

The single count herein reads as follows:

Iu combination, a beat exchange device comprising a housing, a radiator core disposed within said housing, and means for circulating air through the radiator core, said means comprising an outer fan driving air into said core and an inner fan withdrawing air from said core.

[944]*944The interference as declared, involved three parties. The third party did not appeal from the decision of the Examiner of Interferences.

In his preliminary statement appellant alleged a conception of the invention and a disclosure of it to others on or about January 10, 1936. He also alleged that shortly after that date he embodied the invention in a device having all the necessary elements to prove a reduction of the invention to practice and that he afterward embodied his invention in a complete commercial machine on or about May á, 1936.

Sperry Exhibit 1 comprises a motor with a shaft extending there-through, at one end of which is fastened a four-bladed propulsion fan, the blades measuring about 3 inches from the shaft to the outer ends thereof. In appearance the fan is similar to the ordinary small air-circulating fan. Near the inner ends of the blades holes were bored therein. Between the fan and the motor, and also fastened to the shaft, is a cylindrical bakelite suction blower.

According to the record, the purpose of that device was to test out a theory of appellant that wlien the shaft was rotated by the motor, air would be delivered in two directions, outwardly by the propeller fan and inwardly by the blower, the air drawn hy the latter coming through the center portion of the fan and the holes in the blades. It appears that the device was mounted on a block with an automobile heating core in front of the fan and a metal band in the.form of an oval housing or shroud surrounding the blower, In a test of the device smoke was generated in front of the heating core and it was observed that the smoke was drawn through the core by the blower in a direction opposite to the air driven by the fan. The record does not show any further test of that exhibit.

The Examiner of Interferences stated with respect to Exhibit 1 that the testimony of appellant concerning its building and testing was reasonably corroborated by two other witnesses, but that such testing was not more specifically fixed than “perhaps the Tall of 1936.’ ” He held that Exhibit 1 could not be considered as establishing a conception of the complete operative device defined by the count.

Exhibit 2 comprises a blower fan assembly generally similar to Exhibit 1. It contains a metal blower comprising an annular shell having vanes in its periphery for removing air from the interior of the shell and surrounded by a brass housing or shroud through which air drawn by the blower is propelled in a direction different from that driven by the propulsion fan. That fan consists of six blades attached to the outer rim of the blower. The fan and blower assembly is [945]*945attached by means of a shaft to a motor, which is fastened to the wall of the shroud by two U-shaped metal brackets. The testimony of appellant is that Exhibit 2 was completed about October 10 to 15, 1935, which date the Examiner of Interferences stated was amply corroborated by the witness who made the blower housing and assembled the device, and another witness who attached the fan blades to the blower.

Exhibit 2 was tested with a conventional heater apparently complete in all-respects except that the core was not surrounded by a housing. The Examiner of Interferences held that Exhibit 2 was so tested probably immediately after the completion of the exhibit, sometime during the latter half of October 1935. The heating core which was used in that test is said to be the same as that now found in Exhibit 3, which is a conventional automobile heater the core of which is disposed within a housing. Fastened concentrically to the inner wall of the core is a metal ring in front of the fan and providing a channel around the inlet from the core to the blower. The ring is about the same diameter as that of the blower. However, the back plate which was used in the test was larger than that now on Exhibit 3, and the large U-bracket by means of which the heater is attachable to the body of an automobile was not on the heater at the time of the test. The test was made in the laboratory of appellant’s company and the device was found to have a large blower outlet of air which did not interfere with the volume of air discharged by the propulsion or propeller fan. The assembled device was tested in the following manner, according to appellant:

* * * The air was tested for its velocity and compared with the ordinary type heaters that we were making with a plain propeller-type fan, and we found that we did not lessen the frontal air hut very little, but at the same time the air that was drawn through the core to feed the blower was of a sufficient, volume that enabled us to use it for the purpose that the device was intended for.

One of his corroborating witnesses testified as follows:

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141 F.2d 816, 31 C.C.P.A. 942, 61 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 179, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sperry-v-payne-ccpa-1944.