Wilson v. Singer

30 F. Cas. 217, 1860 U.S. App. LEXIS 643

This text of 30 F. Cas. 217 (Wilson v. Singer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Singer, 30 F. Cas. 217, 1860 U.S. App. LEXIS 643 (circtddc 1860).

Opinion

DUNLOP, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal by James G. Wilson from the decision of the commissioner, refusing to Wilson, as as-signee, a reissue of the patent of Aikins & Felthousen of date the 5th August, 1851, with amended specifications and claims. An interference was declared by the office on the 15th April, 1S59, between the application of Wilson, assignee of Aikins & Felthousen’s patent of the 5th August, 1851, and the patent of I. M. Singer, dated the 12th August, 1S51, reissued October 3, 1S54, all relating to improvements in sewing machines. Wilson, as as-signee, surrendered the patent of Aikins & Felthousen, under the 13th section of the act of July 4, 1S3G [5 Stat. 122] for reissue with amended description and claims. The invention at issue, in this interference, is one of the approved devices in the sewing machine, and the commissioner in his decision says: “The main feature in controversy is a feeding device, consisting of a wheel, with a roughened surface projecting a little above the surface of the table, and a spring pressure pad, between which the cloth to be sewed is placed, and moved automatically forward, to receive the stitches, so that seams of any desired length may be sewed either in straight lines or curves, at the will ot the operator.” The original specification, on which the original patent to Aikins & Felthousen was granted, relating to the feeding device, is in these words: “To the front end of the shaft, K, [218]*218and within the circular shaped rest, W, is arranged a toothed feeding wheel, the teeth of which project sufficiently far through a. slot in the top of said rest, W, to catch the cloth, and feed it under the needle, as said toothed feeding wheel is turned, by the operation of the pawl and rag wheel, before described; said feeding wheel* running right or left, as the pawl may be set working, carrying the cloth in either direction.”

The original fourth claim (struck out by the office) in the original patent of Aikins & Felthousen is in these words: “We claim feeding the cloth, under the needle, from right to left, or vice versa without stopping the machine, as fully set forth.”

The claims of Wilson, on • the reissue, as finally modified (they were at first fourteen), are ten in number. Of these the office allowed the 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, and 7th, about which there is no dispute. The 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, and 10th relate to the feed apparatus of the sewing machine, and are as follows:

1st. I claim the employment, in combination with a reciprocating needle, and a flat surface which supports the material to be sewed, of a rotating toothed feeding wheel, or other equivalent feeding device, to which the cloth is not attached, and a holder, which holds the material against the said feeding device, with a yielding pressure, substantially as and for the purposes herein specified.”

“4th. I claim the employment in a sewing machine, of a table, which presents a surface for the support of the material to be sewed, on every side of, or all around, the needle, in combination with a feeding device, substantially as herein described.”

“8th. I claim a sewing machine feeding the cloth or other substance, to determine the space between the stitches, by the friction of the surface of the periphery of the feed wheel, or any equivalent feeding device, substantially as specified, in combination with a spring pressure plate or pad, which gripes, or other substance against such feeding surface, substantially as specified, and for the purpose set forth.

“9th. I claim projecting the operating part of the surface of the feeding apparatus through the surface of the table, substantially as described, so that such feeding surface may act on a portion of the under surface of the material, to give the required motion to space the stitches, while the other portions of said material slide on the table, which answers the purpose of freeing the said material from the feeding surface, and to cover and protect the parts of the feeding device which are below the table.

“,10th. I also claim the combination of mechanism substantially such as is herein described, so that the cloth or other material to be sewed, being placed upon the machine under the pressure pad. will be automatically carried forward, to receive the stitches, substantially as herein described, and so that seams of any desired length may be conveniently sewed into curves or figures at the will of the operator.”

At the fourth page of the examiner’s report of the 8th December, 1859, he says: “The invention involved in the patent of I. M.' Singer, reissued Oct. 3rd, 1854, covers the combination in question, so far, at least, as the moving feeding mechanism is concerned. One clause of his claim is: ‘In a sewing machine, feeding the cloth or other substance, to determine the space between the stitches, by the friction of the surface of the periphery of the feed wheel, or any equivalent feeding surface, substantially as specified, in combination with the spring pressure plate or pad, which gripes the cloth or other substance against such feeding surface, substantially as specified, and for the purpose set forth.’ This reissue is based on a patent to I. M. Singer of the 12th August, 1851, and the specifications, drawings, and models in that patent clearly developed a complete anticipation of the invention now claimed by the applicant for this reissue, and this, toof in a perfectly operative machine.”

That Wilson’s amended claims, on his application for reissue, as assignee of Aikins & Felthousen, were covered by the original patent, specification, model, and drawings of Aikins & Felthousen of 5th August, 1851, I now proceed to show, by the official action of the office, at page 6 of the examiner’s report of the 8th December, 1859. He says: “A reissue, therefore, can only properly be granted for the same invention as the one originally patented. Aikins & Felthousen have sworn that they are the original and first inventors of the sewing machine described in their patent, and, as the reissue now asked for purports but to correct the inadvertences, accidents, or mistakes in the original patent, the-necessity or propriety of making the requirement of a new oath, on the part of the inventors. cannot be perceived.” A new oath, would have been necessary if Wilson, in his amended claims, had been seeking anything new, and not embraced in “the same invention.” This is a judgment of the office that the amended claims of Wilson covered only “the same invention” patented, or rather patentable, by right to Aikins & Felthousen on the 5th August, 1851, but then struck out by the office wrongfully. Again, at page 7 of the same report, the examiner says: “In this case there would be a liability to serious inconvenience to the applicant, in such a requirement (meaning a new oath), as his assignors seem, from the testimony, now to occupy an antagonistic position, and, besides, the machine, to some extent, seems to give-sanction to the scope of the amended claim the assignee now seeks to have granted. I am, therefore, of opinion that, while cases may arise, where such a requirement might be just, and even necessary, it is not called for in this case.” Again, at page 9 of the-same report, the examiner says: “The facts here recited show, that Aikins & Felthousen. [219]

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Bluebook (online)
30 F. Cas. 217, 1860 U.S. App. LEXIS 643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-singer-circtddc-1860.