Wormer v. Champion Paper & Fibre Co.

129 F.2d 428, 54 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 159, 1942 U.S. App. LEXIS 3391
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 29, 1942
DocketNo. 9051
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 129 F.2d 428 (Wormer v. Champion Paper & Fibre Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wormer v. Champion Paper & Fibre Co., 129 F.2d 428, 54 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 159, 1942 U.S. App. LEXIS 3391 (6th Cir. 1942).

Opinion

ALLEN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a de’cree which held Claim 1 of Van Wormer Patent 1,947,-748, for a paper cleaning machine, not infringed by appellee. The patent was issued to appellant February 20, 1934, and subsequently modified by a disclaimer filed September 26, 1938. As originally issued, Claim 1, which is the only claim in issue, read as follows;

“A paper cleaning machine comprising a casing, means to move thin paper web into, across and out of the casing including substantially continuous paper supporting means above and below the path of the paper in the casing, paper brushing devices therein arranged and including exceedingly attenuated and flexible paper surface engaging members to engage a moving sheet in the casing, means to exhaust air from the casing, and air inlet means to admit air to the casing in such location that an air current will be formed across the surface of paper moving through the machine, whereby the air current will entrain the detritus without passing through the web materially.”

The disclaimer released the appellant’s exclusive right “to the part of claim 1 * * * that relates to the paper brush[429]*429ing devices arranged to engage a moving sheet, except where the brushes are made of fairly heavy hog bristle and are arranged to rotate in the direction in which the sheet is moving.” It' is agreed that the effect of the disclaimer is to modify the pertinent part of Claim 1 so that it reads as follows: “ * * * paper brushing devices therein arranged to rotate in the direction in which the sheet is moving and including exceedingly attenuated and flexible paper surface engaging members made of a fairly heavy hog bristle to engage a moving sheet in the casing * *

The machine described by the specifications'is a combination including an enclosed central chamber or casing extending transversely of an upright frame on which are transversely mounted a number of rolls and rotary brushes designed to be propelled by a system of pulleys and sprocket wheels connected to a motor. Four pairs of the rolls and three alternate pairs of brushes are oppositely disposed within the cleaning chamber along two adjacent horizontal lines. Other rolls support and move two series of tapes which provide endless conveyors underneath paper moving towards and away from the cleaning chamber, and a similar series of endless catgut strings extending from near one end of the machine to the other, the lower reaches of ■vfchich pass adjacent to or at the level of the tapes carried on the lower rollers. All the lower rolls and brushes move clockwise and the upper ones counter-clockwise. The cleaning chamber is provided with air inlets and nozzles for introducing compressed air into the chamber near the brushes and a conventional hood and exhaust fan, for removing the detritus from the chamber.

About May 1, 1931, while employed by the Beckett Paper Company, a manufacturer of paper in Hamilton, Ohio, appellant commenced preparations to construct such a machine to be used on what is known as “plated” paper. Plated paper is made by subjecting several sheets of paper placed between alternate layers of cloth to heavy pressure by means of plates and rollers so as to impress the paper with a finish re-' sembling the special fabric used, such as ripple, corduroy, or morocco finish. Lint from the cloths used adheres to the paper and causes difficulty in printing. Appellant testified that his machine eliminates not only the dirt, lint and foreign matter on the surface of the paper but also that which is indented into the surface by the plating process. Preparation of a patent application was commenced while the machine was under construction, and the application was filed in the Patent Office November 12, 1931. The machine was completed and in operation on July 10, 1931.

Appellant claims that the officials of appellee corporation, which manufactures paper on an extensive scale at Hamilton, Ohio, saw his machine in operation in the summer of 1931, and later built and installed in appellee’s plant the “brush finish machine” and the “delinting machine,” the use of which appellant claims constitutes infringement of Claim 1. Each of these machines ceased to be used in 1939 because of changes in the process which eliminated the need for this particular cleaning operation.

The District Court [37 F.Supp. 18, 19] was of the opinion that the brush finish machine differed structurally and in purpose and function from the machine described in the patent; that neither of appellee’s machines embodied the elements of “substantially continuous paper supporting means above and below the path of the paper in the casing;” that such element was to be regarded as a material limitation on the scope of the claim because of the file-wrapper history, and that “air inlet means to admit air to the casing in such location that an air current will be formed across the surface of paper” were likewise absent from both accused machines. The court concluded that appellant had failed to establish infringement.

Appellant contends that such restriction of the scope of the claim was not justified, and that appellee’s machines embody substantial equivalents of both elements held to be lacking. Appellee urges that (I) the file-wrapper history requires the conclusion adopted by the District Court that the patent, if valid, is not broad enough to cover the accused machines, (2) the disclaimer added new elements and thereby invalidated the claim, and (3) prior art, not before the Patent Office, requires a holding that the claim presents no patentable novelty.

No paper cleaning patent was cited by the Patent Office, but when the claims were in broad form the patent application was rejected on a number of patents for carpet cleaning apparatus which described similar arrangements of brushes, cleaning chamber and exhaust means. Patents to Hill, 628,-[430]*430538, and Drew, 99,073, were particularly-emphasized. Rejection of the original Claim 1 was repeated despite amendments limiting the claim to a machine for use on “thin paper web” and the air inlet means to inlets “in such location that an air current is produced moving across the surface of the paper in the casing.” It was only after the element of “substantially continuous paper supporting means above and below the path of the paper in the casing” and the description of the paper brushing devices so as to include “exceedingly attenuated and flexible paper surface engaging members” were added that the claim was allowed.

While both of appellee’s machines use bristle brushes and the delinting machine resembles the patent in respect to the course of movement of paper, neither machine has the air inlet or continuous paper-supporting means called for by the claim in suit. We agree with the District Court that if the patent is valid it is not infringed because by amendment in the Patent Office the appellant introduced essential elements which are not employed in the accused devices.

Moreover, we think that appellee’s contention that the disclaimer introduced a new element into the claim and hence invalidates it must be sustained. The limitation in the disclaimer to the use of a brush composed of hog bristles does not extend the claim. It originally specified paper brushing devices, and such devices might be either of camel’s hair or bristles, or of any proper brush material. However, the claim as originally written does not include the rotation of the brushes. It is quite conceivable that under the broad phrase “paper brushing devices therein arranged” the brushes might be vibrated instead of rotated.

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Bluebook (online)
129 F.2d 428, 54 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 159, 1942 U.S. App. LEXIS 3391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wormer-v-champion-paper-fibre-co-ca6-1942.