Home/U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Ohio/St. Louis Car-Coupler Co. v. National Malleable Castings Co.

St. Louis Car-Coupler Co. v. National Malleable Castings Co.

81 F. 706, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2682
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Ohio·Decided May 27, 1897·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

TAFT, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). In order to determine how broad and liberal a construction is to be put upon the reissued patent of the complainant, it is necessary to examine the state of the art at the time of its issue. The patent in question is a mere improvement on a well-known form of car coupler. As early as the 29 th of April, 1873, a patent was issued to E. H. Janney, Xo. 138,405, for a car coupler which established a type. It had a forked draw-head, one arm of which operated as a buffer, and to the other arm was pivoted a knuckle or coupling-head consisting of two arms, one adapted to hook with a similar arm upon a similar coupling-head on a fellow coupler, and the other when the coupling-head was open, swinging out in a position where it would be struck by the arm of the opposing coupler and driven back into a hollow draw-head, there to be latched by a spring latch firmly against the side of the draw-head, and thus holding the outer arm or hook of the coupling-head in engagement with the corresponding hook of the coupling-head of the opposing coupler. The form may be gathered from the following figures taken from the drawings of the patent:

Various improvements were made by Janney on his coupler in the matter of the locking device and the form of the draw-head and coupler, one in 1874, another in 1878, another in 1879, and another in 1882. On the following page are Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings of the Janney patent of 1879. The locking device is a spring latch embracing the tail or inner arm of the knuckle head.

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St. Louis Car-Coupler Co. v. National Malleable Castings Co., 81 F. 706, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2682 (circtndoh 1897).

81 F. 706 (St. Louis Car-Coupler Co. v. National Malleable Castings Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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