De Wilde v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1955
Citation profile
How this case has been cited
Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently October 1970
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on A. Pines & Son, Inc. v. United States
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The only function of the involved vises is to “hold.” They, therefore, fall squarely within the language of said paragraph 352, excluding from the provisions of that paragraph “holding * * * devices.” The next question is: Are these vises hand tools ? As supporting their contention that these vises are not hand tools, plaintiffs quote the following definition of a hand drill from Web-ter’s New International Dictionary: hand drill, a. A small portable drilling machine, resembling a breast drill, designed to be held and operated by hand. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 22, page 286, we find the following: In beginning a survey of tools it is necessary to draw the distinction between hand and machine tools. The former class includes any tool which is held and operated by the unaided hands; e.g., a chisel, plane or saw. In view of the fact that counsel have not cited to us, nor has our own research revealed any judicial definition of a hand tool, we shall accept for the purpose of this case the definition of that term, quoted above from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Under the above definition, the involved vises are not hand tools, because they are not held and operated by the unaided hands * * *.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“* *■ * an ordinary vise has two straight sets of jaws where this sevo vise has three sets of laminated jaws which are independently hinged so as to give a three point suspension compared to a two point suspension with a conventional type of vise. * * * The vise is particularly suited to hold a put-shaped object. * * * the jaws are so arranged that through laminations they go around the work and can then be locked like cams in a rigid position so as to furnish a jig for small products.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“In explaining the operation of these vises, the witness testified that: The operator operates the crank handle which in turn slides the jaws, the jaws adjust themselves around the shaped object, around the piece to be worked and then are bolted by cam action by way of handles and an eccentric and from there on in after the jaws are set, he only moves the set of jaws to facilitate the taking out of the work piece.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.