Tatham v. Le Roy

23 F. Cas. 709, 2 Blatchf. 474
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York
DecidedNovember 15, 1852
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 23 F. Cas. 709 (Tatham v. Le Roy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tatham v. Le Roy, 23 F. Cas. 709, 2 Blatchf. 474 (circtsdny 1852).

Opinion

NELSON, Circuit Justice

(charging jury). The first machine for making lead pipe by pressure was the Burr machine, which was constructed in 1820. In that machine, the core which formed the bore of the pipe was fastened into the face of the ram, and extended through the cylinder and into the dié. Burr was the first person to whom it occurred that lead pipe could be made out of set or hard lead, by means of pressure. This machine was his contrivance to carry that idea into practical effect. It virtually failed, especially so in respect to the manufacture of pipe of the usual or ordinary size. It seems, from the testimony, to have been successful so far as respected the manufacture of pipe of two inches or two inches anu a half in diameter, and above that size; but, for the ordinary size —under two inches — it was a failure, and it went out of use. What constituted the real difficulty in the way of the successful operation of the Burr machine is a matter of controversy, as you have seen during the course of this trial.

In 1837, an improvement was made upon this machine of Burr by the Hansons, which went into successful operation. This machine was patented by them in England on the 21st of August, 1837. The improvement consisted in making a bridge at the bottom or near the bottom of the cylinder, for the purpose of holding a short core, and was founded upon the. development of a new and beautiful idea. They had discovered, for the first time, that lead, like steel or iron, was susceptible of being welded together after separation when solid; and they were thus enabled to construct a bridge at the bottom or near the bottom of the cylinder, in which they could insert a short core, where it could be kept firm and steady. The lead had to be forced through [712]*712the apertures in this bridge, which separated the mass when in a solid state; but it became re-united and welded together by means of pressure in the chamber beneath the bridge, and in the formation of the pipe as it was forced out of the die. The improvement was successful, and enabled the Hansons to make good merchantable pipe, and to make it cheaper and better than by any previous mode of manufacturing it, so that it superseded all prior methods of making lead pipe. The correctness of this idea, that lead could be separated when hard, and re-united by pressure, like the re-union of welded iron or steel, has been fully established on a trial in this court, in which the Hanson machine was involved. The truth of this idea was denied by the most eminent chemists in New York upon that trial, and, as a consequence of their disbelief of the fact that this property belonged to the metal, they testified that the pipe was made, in the Hanson machine, while in a fluid state, because the welding of the lead in a set state was a physical impossibility. They stated that they had never known this property as belonging to lead. But the fact was proved, by actual experiment on the trial, to their entire satisfaction, and they afterwards came into court and admitted they were mistaken.

Now, although this machine thus constructed manufactured merchantable pipe, and superseded all modes of manufacture known at that time, yet it was subject to an imperfection which embarrassed the manufacturer. The re-union of the lead, after its separation in passing through the bridge, was not at all times' complete throughout the length of the pipe made from a given charge; and hence, when the pipe was subjected , to a considerable pressure of water, a flaw would sometimes appear. This, I believe, was the only defect ever imputed to the article manufactured by the Hanson machine.

The next improvement upon the Burr machine was the plaintiffs’, in 1841 — the one in question in this suit. They bored the solid ram of Burr, and, instead of fastening the core on the face of the rain, extended it through the ram, and fixed it firmly to the cross-head of the frame — the core extending, also, through the cylinder into the die. The bore of the ram is fitted to the core or core-holder, either by adapting the aperture to it, or by packing, so that, when the machine is put in operation, the ram slides upon the core. The core, in the first place, is fastened to the cross-head, which is firm and immovable, differing in this respect from the Burr machine, in which the core was movable with the ram, being fastened upon its face. The core in the plaintiff’s machine is also steadied by the aperture in the hollow ram, or by packing. The advantage in this over the arrangement of Burr, is in steadying the core or core-holder, and in preserving its centrality in reference to the die. This machine appears to have been entirely successful in the manufacture of lead pipe of any dimension.

I will now call your attention to what is claimed as new in the plaintiffs’ patent. After the description of the construction of the machine, which is minutely given, the paten-tees wind up by claiming, first, “the long core or core-holder, formed and held stationary with relation to the dies, as described;” and, secondly, “the constructing of the piston B hollow, in the manner described, and the combination of the same with the long core or core-holder upon which the piston slides.” The third claim relates to the reversed arrangement of the machinery in the working machine, which it is not important to describe.

The first and third claims are not in controversy, and may be left out of the case. The dispute between the parties is confined to the second claim. It is insisted by the plaintiffs that the peculiar arrangement covered by that claim gets rid of the defect in the Burr machine, of the unsteadiness of the core in the manufacturing of pipe of the ordinary size, and also gets rid of the defect in the Hanson machine, because it dispenses with the bridge; and that this arrangement has been infringed by the defendants. The arrangement enables the plaintiffs to use a strong core or core-holder, and to fix it firmly at the cross-head, and, by the aperture in the ram and the packing, to preserve its centrality in relation to the die; by reason of which they have succeeded in making perfect pipe. This is, in substance, the new arrangement of the plaintiffs, and these are the advantages which they claim to have derived from the change, and from the improvement upon the previous machines.

Let me now call your attention to the construction of the defendants’ machine. This, also, is claimed to be an improvement on the Burr machine. It was constructed some five or six years after the plaintiffs’ improvement. It is arranged by boring the solid ram of Burr, and placing the die in the face of it, at the same time closing the bottom of Burr’s cylinder, and fixing the core firmly at the bottom, where Burr’s die was placed. The core extends through the cylinder and into the die thus fixed in the face of the ram. In the operation of the machine, the core passes through the die and into the hollow ram nearly the length of it. the pipe, of course, passing through the same aperture above.

It will be necessary for you to examine the arrangement aud construction of' these two machines, in the particulars that I have mentioned, with great care and attention, because the determination of the case will hinge mainly, if not exclusively, upon the judgment you shall form in respect to them and their operation. In other words, the case depends upon the opinion you shall form of the substantial identity or -want of identity between the two, as it respects the arrangement of the hollow* piston and the core or core-holder found in them, and the operation and effect of the same in the manufacture of pipe.

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Bluebook (online)
23 F. Cas. 709, 2 Blatchf. 474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tatham-v-le-roy-circtsdny-1852.