EWART MANUF'G CO. t1. MOLINE MALLEABLE mON CO.

871

EWART MANU]"G CO.

v.

MOLINE MALLEABLE IRON CO. and others.

(Oircuit Oourt, N. D. Illinois. March 21, 1887.)

1.

PATENTS FOR INVENTIONS-,NOVEL DEVICE-IMPROVEMENT IN DRIVE CHAINS.

Letters.patent were granted October 16, 1877, to one William B. Ewart, for an in drive chains, the object of the same being to improve the construction of the link described in letters patent No. 154,595, previOuslY granted to said Ewart on September 1, 1874, and reissued Apri 20, 1875. The improvement consisted in .casting the link with a hook in permanent hook which might be form, and also in casting a small projection upon turned down around the end of the link fo1' a fastening. Before the tion was made for the patent in question, other patents were granted for cast links. and the mode of casting a projection upon the hook flliled to show!}novel dj)vice. Held, that a bill to restrain an infringement of said must be dismissed. . . Said 'patent could not be sustained as a patent for a new process of manufacture.as it in no manner described any process for the same. '

I.

8A:ME'-N'EW PROCESS·

,In Equity. Offield, Towle & Phelps, (B. F. Thurston, of counsel,) for complainants. We8t Bond, for defendants.
BtoDGETT, J. This is a bill for an acconnting and injunction by reaS()n of the allegedinfringement of a patent granted October 16, 1877, to William B. Ewart, for "an improvement in drive-chains." The patentee says: . "The object of my invention ,is to improve the construction of the link d&scribed in letters patent No.154,595, granted to me September 1,1874, and reissued Apri120, 1875. The invention (that is, as I understand, theinverition of the patent now in question) consists in casting the link with a hook in permanent form, and also in casting a small projection upon the hook which may be turned down around the end of the link for a fastening. In constructing the link described in my patent of September 1, 1874, I make the piece intended for the hook angUlar in form, and then bend the end of this piece down, to give the hook the proper form, after casting the links. This bending of the hook after casting, however, weakens it, and I have found, after experiment, that I can cast the link with the hook in permanent form, as shown in the so that no change is made in the form of the link after the link leaves the mould. As an additional precaution, there may be cast upon the end of the hook a small projection, of soft metal, which may be turned down around the end of the link, clasped by the hook, so as to prevent the links from being detached. The use of this device is optional, however, for without it the attachment of the links is sufficiently secure for ordinary purposes. If desired, the hook of the link may be cast upon a chill by the introduction into the mould of the metallic core. In making the link and hook as described I secure certain valuable results. By casting the hOPk in permanent form tpe cost of manufacture is reduced, by saVing the labf?r,and time expended in bending, a.nd the waste occasioned by breakage. ,The may also be made of metal which will not admit of bending, and; the in,ner surface of the hook may be caB.t upon a chill, so asto secure a perfectly fitting joint and ahard:wearing surface. The hookm'ay also be cast with ribs, so as to brace it against stretching, which the principal objection to the use of chains for transporting power. The ribs on the hook also serve togqide the chain upon the

FEDERAL REPORTER.

wheels, the sprockets of which may be made to wear entirely between these ribs." The patent contains three claims: "(1) A link for' drive-chains,having a ceptral opening to reCeive the sprockor teeth of the drive-wheels,provided with an open hook cast thereon, uncoll pled from other centrally-open links and aqapted to be coupled witb01J.tl;llJnding the hook, sl;l.hstantially as described·.. (2) The liook, B, provided,wit'.9 ribS,bb, and for the purposes setfol'th. (3) A sprocket-link for drive-chains, ·constructed with an.open hook, B, on one end bar,and"a smaJI supplementary strip of soft metal,c. attached to the hook. so thatit may' be bent down acr0SS the Qpening of the' latter in coupling links as described. " . ' " " TM defenses interposed are (i) ·that the patent is void for of noveltYiand (2) that the defendant does notiI1fringe. . .' ' . As I understand this patent, stripped of the somewllat vague and leading terms in which it.is described and its devices claimed, it is nothing more nOr less than for a link of: a sprocket-chaiti cast with the hook in the form in which it is to be used, with ribs upon the hook portion of the link to strengthen the hook, and l). small proJection castupbn the end of the 'hook whleh· may be bent or turned down 80 as to. the links from separating when turned or thrown into any position by the use. ()fthe chl,tin. It would hardly seem to introd\.lce proof the fact thafthete\vllS nothing new .in casting the link of the chain, if'Yoll could cast:!t'sQ as to uJlite or articulate the linkS together 'fora working purpos'e aftet'ifnad been cast in rigid form.' Once of uniting these links by any method so as to make a'workgiven a ing chairi;' r()u 'hflveribthing more'nor lesstllan riseries of east-iron links and hooks,capable of being united into a ,drive-chain by simply bringa,nd hooks into such a P9Sition that they can be' articulated ing the ",' , or united. - In the Anderson patent,granted, May 2, 1865, a cast link is shown, but it is stated they are to be made of malleable iron, so that the hooks lllay be east partly in form, and afterwards bent so as to completelY" grasp the end bars of the and in the Ewait patent of September 1, 1874, of which the patent now under consideration is said to be an improvement, it is stated thatthelinks "never need to be bent, riveted, or altered, after they are made. If the links are made of malleable metal, the end's of their hooks will be properly bent after casting the links. JJ In the LeValley patent of August, 1876, application for which was filed Decemb,er 3, 1874, a ,cast link is shown., So that upon the question of novelty it was certainly not new to cast a link for a sJirocketchain inpel'manent, or substantially permanent, format the time this patent waS applied for. Some of the'hooks shown being cast of malleableiron, were partly',turned or bent 'down so as to gripe the end bar more securely ,after articulation hild effeptedjand the proof in thi:s Qase shows that Mmplainant,in constructing sprocket-chains \Uider the patEmtiDolV in question, slightly Closes the throat of the, hook ·aft.er the linksaI'e articulated, so as to prevent their ready separation without the appli'catio'n of some force. '

EWART MANUF'G CO. '/I. MOLI,N,E. MALLEABLE IRON CO.

873

As a patent for a casting by a new process of manufacture, certainly this. patent in no manner describes a process by' whicb the casting is wade,. and must be held void as a process patent f"r a new article of manufacture for want of specifications as to the process. The casting of ribsj"rsome additional material, upon the hooks,;fof the purpose of making them stronger, is certainly not It patentable device. It is simply nothing more than the addition of more material ipa particular form l or in the form of ribs. for,the purpose of giving additioilal strength to device ::ts old, perhaps, as the hooks to the old-fashiont;d the chain. of soft metal l;:ovel,'ed by the second claim xpight .well be disposedofin the same manner. It is nothing more than to leave ,a portion oithe hook attenuated or drawn out so that it will readily bend underpressurej or, by the application of the hammer, to close· up the hook and. p'revent ·the ret$ction of the links.' It :'seemstome,therefore, thilt'fromno has been suggested can this patent be sustained as a new invention. It was old to cast even links'for sprocket--whl\lels; but, ifit·hadnot been old to do this; it )Vas old to make castings of cast ir"n or malleable iron, light and small like these,.@il which, 'when as . small as ,these links. are, were EIlightly flexible, and into various forms, especially if the hook ,was subjected to1the processofa:nnealing. The bill istherefore,dismissedfofwant of equity.

EWAltT MANtril"a

Co.

'/7. MOLINE MALLEABLE IRON

Co. and others·

. (Oircuit (Jourt, N, D. fllinQia.

March21.1887.)

1.

FOR' INVENTIONS - NEW DEVICE .... IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAIN- L'm1ts. Letters patent were granted to one Sylvanus Locke, February 23, 1675, for an improvement in chain-links and chams, being a method of constrncting a chain with links detachable from the adjoining links, and so arranged that the links, when turned iJitoworking position, could not become disengaged The device effected an aJ;'ticulation of the links by thrusting an .en,d,bar with a forward movement into the jaws of a hook, when. the llnks, being tilrn!;Q backward, became safely united for working purposes. The proof showed . that a patent was· previously granted to one :mwart for· a similaJ;:de:vice,. but. the articulation was accot,nplished by a sidewise movement. He'll" on a bUl .:tiled to restrain. infringement, that the device described in the Locke patent was new in art, and said patent 'Wits not defeated by the prior Ewart patent, altl!.ougl!. its scope was lilhited. by the prior state of the. art as shown by lIflid Ewart.
PATENTS

2,

'T\1e manufacture of links With the use of an end-bar arranged to enter the' of a hook bya forward movement, the links being slightly fastened togather by bending down the point of the hook so as tp narrow the throat ot thll/lame,the links admitting a severance by a small amount offorce, isto aU'interits such a Use of' the characteristics of the said Locke patent as will be:deemed an infrinjtement of the ssme. . .

IN CHAIN-LINKs-INFlUNGEMENT.

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