Wisconsin-Minnesota Gas & Electric Household Appliance Co. v. Hirschy Co.

28 F.2d 838, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2476
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedOctober 11, 1928
DocketNos. 7852, 7853
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 28 F.2d 838 (Wisconsin-Minnesota Gas & Electric Household Appliance Co. v. Hirschy Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wisconsin-Minnesota Gas & Electric Household Appliance Co. v. Hirschy Co., 28 F.2d 838, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2476 (8th Cir. 1928).

Opinion

VAN VALKENBURGH, Circuit Judge.

Appellee is the owner of letters patent No. 1,399,482, issued December 6, 1921, to Hen-man C. Hirsehy for new and useful improvements in clothes wringers. In his specification the appellee thus described the nature and object of the invention:

“In the operation of a clothes wringer, provision is made for quick release of the action of one wringer roll upon the other to avoid injury to the fingers or hand of the operator and to enable the operator to withdraw any article from between the rolls during the wringing operation. Generally in these wringer rolls releasing devices the lower roll is positively driven and continues its operation when the rolls have been separated and it is desirable to positively stop revolution of the lower roll when the wringing operation ceases.
“The object of my invention is to provide a driving means which, when the rolls are separated, will be automatically disconnected until the two rolls are again adjusted in their working position.”

Claim 1 of the patent, which is the' only one involved, reads as follows:

“A clothes wringer comprising a frame having a normally fixed section and a movable section hinged thereto, a roll journaled in said fixed' section, a roll journaled in said movable section and adapted to be moved with said movable section to a non-working position with respect to said fixed section roll, mechanism spaced from the fixed section roll for normally driving both rolls through the shaft of the movable section roll and being rendered inactive for driving either roll upon movement of said movable section and its roll from said fixed section roll.”

In his testimony the appellee described his contribution to the art in the following language:

“The only addition that I have made to the machine of some other inventor is in the arrangement of the gears. That is, the only thing I have contributed is to arrange the gears so that power is applied to the two rolls through a gear on the shaft of the movable roll, and rearrangement of the power shaft and the gears make that possible. In the final analysis, this is my contribution:
“In two roll machines, in which one of the rolls is movable away from the other roll, I applied the power through a gear on the end of the shaft of the movable roll so that when the movable roll is lifted away from the other roll, the power is automatically thrown off both rolls. That is my contribution.”

Appellant is charged with infringement of this claim of the patent. Its defense is that the claim in suit is invalid for want of invention and for anticipation, and that if [840]*840valid it is so limited in scope that it is not infringed by defendant’s structure. In cause No. 7852 the trial’ court found the issues for the appellee. We shall consider first the defense of invalidity. At the time of the issuance of this patent there were in the prior art a number covering clothes wringers of various types; among them may be mentioned that issued to Browning, No. 180,837; to Stocking, No. 1,247,894; to Snyder, No. 1,316,601; and to Bailey and Couch, No. 34,-178. It was the general practice, prior to the device of appellee, to mount the wringer rolls, one above the other, in a suitable frame with means for applying power to the lower roll, from whieh, by means of intermeshing gearing, the upper roll was driven. These gears were originally operated by hand, but this method was ultimately succeeded by automatic power generated by electricity. This change introduced an element of danger both to the operator and to the garments passed through the machine. If the hand or the clothing of the operator were caught in the machinery, instantaneous release was necessary to avoid injury more or less serious. So, likewise, if the garments, passed through the wringer in the course of operation, should, by accident, get caught around the rolls, a quick release would be necessary to prevent the destruction of the garment and possible injury to the machinery itself. To provide such effective means was the object and gist of Hirsehy’s invention. In previous inventions means had been uniformly provided 'for applying power to the lower or stationary roll. It will be seen that, when the power is applied to the upper movable roll, it is rendered inactive for driving either roll when the movable roll is raised and separated from the fixed lower roll. In this manner a sufficiently wide space is created between the two rolls permitting the hand or garment involved to be removed without further injury. The presence of a tripping device enables the rolls to be separated thus instantly.

Appellant for anticipation relies mainly upon three prior patents: That of Snyder, numbered 1,316,601; the Fillingham patent, numbered 694,096; and the Stocking patent, numbered 1,247,894. The others may he dismissed without further consideration.

The Snyder patent was for an improvement in wringers and had a number of specified objects. Among them was the removal of much of the mechanism projecting upwardly a considerable distance among the rolls; also to avoid the necessity of displacing various springs, pressure plates, or other parts, which must be reassembled before the wringer could again be put into operative condition after releasing the tension of the wringer rolls. Another object was to provide a wringer in whieh the upper roll might be swung away and widely separated from the lower roll to lay both rolls open for inspection, cleaning, or removal of any material which may become wound in them in the operation of the machine, or for other purposes. Claim 1 of the patent fairly discloses this feature of the invention:

“A wringer comprising two pairs of arms hinged together, a wringer roll in eaeh pair of arms, resilient means for forcing said pairs of arms together and a single means for instantaneously and completely releasing one pair of said arms, whereby the same may be swung back on its hinge completely free from the other pair of arms and the releasing means.”

- It will be seen that while one pair of arms may thus be swung away from the other, no means are disclosed for simultaneously throwing the power off both rolls.

The Fillingham patent relates to a “safety stop motion for grinding machines” and may be adapted generally, as the specifications say, to machines using two heavy rolls between which the hand of an operator is liable to be caught while feeding or tending the machine. The patentee says: “The important feature of my invention is that the rolls may be stopped easily and quickly without stopping the rotation of the driving shaft.”

This result is accomplished by means of eeeentrie bearing sleeves. Because of the operation of these eccentric-sleeves the rolls are not separated and the hand released instantaneously, but a revolution of from one-fourth to one-half turn of the rolls before the rolls separate is required. This period of contact is suffieient to cause serious injury before the hand of the operator can be released. The operation of the Fillingham device differs widely from that of the patent in suit, and the result obtained is far less prompt and effective. But appellant does not seriously contend that either of these, standing alone, constitute a-complete anticipation of Hirschy’s invention.

The witness Dpughty, an engineer in appellant’s employ, and the patentee of patent numbered 1,542,439, under whieh appellant seeks to operate, makes this very clear in his testimony.

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Bluebook (online)
28 F.2d 838, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wisconsin-minnesota-gas-electric-household-appliance-co-v-hirschy-co-ca8-1928.