642
FEDERAL REPORTER.
SWIFl' 11. Jll:NKS
and others.
«(/ircuit OO'Wf't,N. D.
York. January 81,1887.)
Swift. for an improvement. in lubricators, are invalid by reason that the invention covered thereby was disclosed by letters patent No, 25I;i,853, issued to the same person, for an improvement in lubricators, and was abandoned to the public by failure to claim the devices set out by such claims. S. SAME-FIJ1'TB CLAIM: OF' PATENT No. 257,326. ' The fifth claim of letters patent No. .257.826. issued to Ross J. Hoffman and owned by defendants, is for the same invention as that covered by the tifth and sixth claims aforesaid, and is also void. ' I.
PATENTS FOB lNvEN'l'IONS-DISOL08UlUll OF INVENTION BY PBIOB PATENT-FAILURE TO CLADl-.A.BANDONllENT. . \ Thetifth and sixth of letters patent No, 283,981, Issued to Allen W.
In Equity. . 0. H. Duell, for complainant. Ne:ri Pine, for defendants.
CoXE, J. This is an equity action for infringement founded upon letters patent No. 283,931, granted to the complainant August 28, 1883, for an improvement in lubricators. The application was filed June 13, The bill prays for an injunctioh and an account, and for relief under section 4918 of the Revised Statutes. The invention relates to lubricators, designed chiefly for lubricating the valves and cylinders of steam-engines. , Automatic, actioIl is secured by the gradual admission of water to the interior of the oil-cup, displacing therein a corresponding quantity of oil, and forcing it, through the lubricant duct, to the steam-pipe, from whence it is carried to the steam-chest valve and cylillder of the engine. The object of the invention is to enable the engineer to ascertain, by observation, whether the lubricator is' working regularly. This is accomplished by extending the end ofthe drip-tUbe so near the wall of the oil-cup,. which at this point is made of glass, that the drops of water, as they escape from the tube, are delivered against the inner surface of the glass, and are thus plainly seen, even when the oil is alm,ostopaque. The claims in controversy are as follows: "(5) In combination with the steam-condensing duct, and its horizontal extension, c, the lubricant cup, composed of metal, and prOVided in front of the ductextensioil, c, with an observation port, ", covered with a transparent plate; substantially as and for the purposes set forth. , "(6) In combination with the oil-cup of a lubricator, the port, r, covered by a glass plate, and the pipe or tube, c, haVing an inclined end or face, subas set forth."
In March, 1884, the patent was before the court upon a motion for II preliminary injunction. Swijt,v.Jenks, 19 Fed. Rep. 641One of the defensesinterposed is that the complainailt has fully descrwed the devices covered by the claims in question in a prior patent, and, having failed to claim them there, they must be regarded as abandoned to the public.
SWIFT V. JENKS.
'643
On the twenty-first of March, 1882, letters patent No. 255,353 were granted to the complainant fol' an improvement in lubricators. The lubricator described in that patent is similar, in all essential particulars, to the one in controversy, e:x.ceptthat the cylinder of the oil-cup is made wholly of glass. It can hardly be disputed that if the metal cylinder of the present pitent were substituted for the glass cylinder of the previous patent, the structu re of March, 1882, would be almost identical with that of August, 1883. The difference, if any, would be unimportant, and entirely insufficient to support a patent. But the precise improvement oovered by the latter patent is described in the former. The substitution referred to is there suggested. In the specification of March, 1882, the complainant says: . "As previously stated. my invention is applicable to most all lubricators operating. upon this principle, and it is not essential that the cylinder should be wholly of glass, so long as that portion directly opposite the end of the tube Qr pipe. E, is transparent. to expose to view the end thereof, as hereinbefore described; and therefore, if desired, the cylinder, A. may be of metal. with or ·sight' on a line opposite the tube or It would be difficult t<? employ language which more aptly describes present lubricator. The idea intended to the important features of be conveyed is more clearly expressed than in the patent in suit. That the complainant tmderstot>d that he had previously disclosed the mechanism now claimed is clearly shown by the following quotation from the specification: "A the lubricant reservoir or cup. which. for greater strength and security aga1l\St .breakage. I construct with metal, and provide the side orfront of its upper portion with an observation port, r, by a glass or other suitable transparent plate. as intimated in my prior patent of March 21, 1882. but reserved. for special protection in· my present application for letters patent." The conclusion cannot be resisted that the claims in question are invalid, for the reason that the invention covered thereby was disclosed in a previous patent, and belonged to the public when the application was filed. These claims, and the fifth claim of letters patent No. 257,326, granted to Ross J .. Hoffman May 2, 1882, and now owned by the defendants, are for substantially the same invention. As between the complainant and Hoffman the former was the prior inventor. It follows, therefore, as a necessary result, that the fifth claim of the Hoffman patent is also void. Let a decree be drawn in accordance with these views.
644
THE JOHN THE ISAAC
S.
DARCY,
etc.l
L. ,FISHER, etc.
CoNOVER tI. THE JOHN
DARCY, ISAAC
etc.
N:ttw YORK, L. E. & W. R. Co. v. THE (J)iatrict Court, 8.
L.
FISHER,
eto.
n. New
York.
January 5, 1887.)
1.
COLLISION-FERRY-BoATS AND SLIPs-RULES OF NAVIGATION-DANGEROUfI START A FAULT·
.A tug, in navigating about the mouth of a ferry slip which a ferry·boat is approaching, is chargeable with notice of the ordinary course of the ferryboat in 11lakingher slip, and the necessary turn!! and, changes of heading. under the circumstances of the tide, in order to enable her to make her landing in manner, The rules of navigation must be applied in reference to such known and necessary changes of the ferry"boat's course, and, when a boat cannot start from the dock without risk of collision, she is bound to wait. , ,
2,
SAME-TuG
The ferry-boat J. S. D., of the Pavonia ferry, was coming up the North river; with a strong flood-tide, to make her landing at Twenty-third street. While she was still heading up river, a few streets below, and before she had made her usual turn to enter the slip in a diagonal direction, the steam-tug I. L. F., having taken a tow along-side at the Twenty-fourth street dock, headed straight down river, close to the piers, so as to go down inside of the ferryboat; each being, when the tug started, on the other's starboard hand. The J. S. D. pursued her usual course in rounding into her slip, and struck the tow of the I. L. F; a few feet from the outer end of the lower part of the slip. Held, that the J.S. D. was not bound to continue up river, starboard to starboard, but was t,o make her usual turn, at the proper time, in order to effect her entrance into the sUp in her usual manner; that the tug was chargeable with notice of the necessary change in her course, which change would make her, in effect, a crossing vessel, which the tug was bound by old rule 19 to avoid; and that the tug was therefore in fault for not going out into the river, as she wight have done, to keep out of the ferry-boat's way; or, if that was not safe, she was l;Jound not to start tiIl.all danger from the ferry-.boat was past; that she was also in fault for running unnecessarily close to the piers. and across the ferry-boat's necessary course. The ferrrboat was also held in fault, because, seeing the course of ,the tug persisted In until the 'latter ,could no longer avoid a collision, the ferry-boat did not promptly stop, as she might have done, and thereby have averted any injury.
ill
Tow-RULE 19-RULE 24-DELAY IN REVERSING.
A few minutes after 7 o'clock in the evening of December 4, 1875, as the steam ferry-boat Johp. S. Darcy, coming from the Pavonia ferry, Jersey City, with a strong flood-tide, was about entering her slip at Twenty-third street;. North river, she came into collision with the tugboat 1. L. Fisher, striking with her bows the starboard side of the tug, a little aft of the engines, doing both vessels some damage, for which the above cross-libels were filed. The entire slip from Twenty-second to Twenty-fourth street is about 536 feet wide by 650 feet deep. The two ferry landings at the head of the slip are a little below the middle of the slip, and occupy about 180 feet of its width. The ferry-boats also had lReported by Theodore M. Etting, ESQ" of the Philadelphia bar.