THOMAS fl. WILI.IAMS.
71
THOMAS
et al.
'I).
WILLIAMS.
(<Jif'cuit Oourt, D. Oonnectiot't.
May 4; 1888.)
PATENTS FOR lNvENTIONS-1NFRINGEMENT-BUSTLES.
The first claim of pateritNo. 164,840. issued June 8, 1875, to Amos W. Thomas, for an improvement in bustles, is as follows: "In a bustle, a base -bow· formed or combined with upright extensions or ribs, which rest against the person of the wearer, and provided with spiral curves arranged SQ as to permit said bow to fold upwardly towards the waistband, and cause it to spring downwardly when impact is released." Held, that defendant's bustle, which has an upper rib as one of a series of ribs which compose the bustle, but which has not the upright extension of the Thomas patent, does not iil· fringe it. On motion forinjune-
In Equity. Bill for infringement of patent. tion. pendente lite. Sherman H. Hubbard, for plaintiffs. John P. Bartlett, for defendant.
SHIPMAN, J. This is a motion for an injunction, pendente lite, to re.strain the defendant from the alleged infringement of letters patent No. 164,340, dated June 8,1875, todAmos W. Thomas, for an hnprovement in bustles or toumures. The patentee says,in his speoification, that his invention has particular reference-" First, to forming the lower bow with a circle at the point where it bends upwardly to the waistband; and, second},y, to the combination, with this spring bow, of the upper bows, which are attached to it by tape or equivalent means, in such manner that they will be caused to expand when it springs outwardly,;" The base bow is bent to form coiled springs at the two comers, whence it proceeds in upright extensions, which rest against the person of the wearer, to their points of attachment at the waistbands. The base bow, with its upright side extensions, thus forms a frame work which supports the other bows, and, by means of the coiled springs at its gives elasticity to the whole device. The bustle has "a series of contour bows," the ends of which are attached to a strip which extends along the upright extensions, and the points of the attachment are in a row parallel to said exten::Jions.A tape or cord proceeds from the waistband to the oasebow, being secured intermediately to each one of the contour bows, which, by means of this oonnection, are drawn out when the base bow expands. The first claim and the only one which is said to be infringed, is as follows: "(1) In a bustle, a base bow, F, formed or combined with upright extensions or ribs, F, which rest against the person of the wearer, and prOVided with spiral curves, f, f, arranged so as to permit said bow to fold upwardly towards the waistband, and cause it to spring downwal'dly when impact is r&leased, substantially as shown and set forth." The defendant's bustle consists of a series of bows. The ends of the lower and upper bows are fastened to the arms of a pair of coiled springs, and by means of this connection the bustle is expanded. All the bows
72
FEDERAL REPORTER.
are loosely jointed to the coils of these springs and radiate from a common center. The series of bows is secured by the top bow to a waistband, and is connected together at the centers of the bows by a tape which is secured to each of them. The upper and the lower bows are directly and firmly connected to each other by the arms of the coiled springs, but the upper bow is simply a bow, and not an upright extension of the base bow, and in that manner forming part of a frame-work by which the contour bows are supported. I do not regard the fact that the upper and lower bows are not integral as of importance. As this patent has never been judicially construed, I shall not undertake, upon this motion, to construe it definitely, but I shall simply state what now seems to be the proper meaning of the first claim. It is stated in one of the affidavits, and, I have no doubt, with correctness, that the Thomas bustle first used coiled springs to produre the required elasticity, and further that the validity of the patent has been recognized, after careful investigation, by skilled solicitors and lawyers. The important question upon this motion is not whether the patent is valid, but whether it is clear that the Williams bustle is an infringement of it. It is urged that the upper rib of the Williams device necessarily. rests against the person of the Wearer, and is combined and connected with the base bow by means of the coiled springs, with which the latter is also provided, and which act solely to permit the lower bow to fly upwardly towards the waistband, and to cause it to spring downwardly when impact is released. This is and if no additional requisites to an infringement are necessary, the patent covers the Williams device, and would, in effect, cover any bustle wherein the upper and lower ribs are connected together, and made elastic, by coiled springs. My present impression is that the first claim of the patent, reasonably construed, requires that the base bow should be formed on or combined with upright extensions, thus making a framework for the bustle, and that the claim is for a frame-work composed of one or more pieces of wire, one portion to serve as a lower bow, another portion, being an upright extension of the base bow, to extend upward to the waistband, and rest against the person of the wearer, with intermediate portions or coiled springs, acting as elastic joints for the purpose named in the .claims, the frame-work furnishing a support for the separate contour bows. The Williams device has no upright extension or :r:ib in the sense in which those words are used in the patent. It has an upper rib, which is one of the series of ribs which compose the bustle; but it has not the upright extension of the Thomas patent, which is a different thing from its upper rib. The motion is denied.
CONSOLIDATED BUKGING APP. CU. V. P. SCHOENHOFEN BREWING CO.
73
CoNSOLIDATED BUNGING ApPARATUS CO. V.
P. SCHOENHOFEN
BREWING CO.
(Oirouit Oourt, No D. lllinoi8. May 21, 1888.)
1.
PATENTS FOR INvENTIONS-PATENTABILITy-NOVELTY.
Reissued letters patent No. 10,284, granted February 6, 1883, to J. M. Pfaudler and others, for apparatus for regulating the pressure of gas in a series of fermenting vessels, by a pipe leading from each vessel to a common receptacle, whence the gas, on reaching a certain pressure, is allowed to escape, are void for want of novelty, similar devices having been well known in the IIrt IonA' before, as shown in patent granted in July, 1841, to V. O. Walpers, for a "fermenting apparatus," and in patent A'ranted in March, 1867, to George Wallace for a "fermenting vat;" apparatus similar in operation and result having also been used by H. Sturm, in Indianapolis, in 1861, and by Peter An' drews, at Covington, In t867. The contention that the gas-pipes in complainant's patent are designed to extend only into the gas chambers of the vessels. and not into the fermenting liquor as in the prior devices, if borne out by the claims of the patent, would not show the accomplishment of any other purpose than that of said devices, in equalizing the pressure, and in any case such an arrangement is anticipated by the device of F. M. Horning, patented in 1868, for regulating the pressur/3 in aeeries of steam-boilers by pipes leading from their steam-spaces to a CQUl' mon receptacle. . .
2. SAME.
In Equity. .Bill for infringement. W. W. Leggett, Banning & Banning, and Dyrenfurfh complainant. B. F. Thurston and P. Jacob8, for defendant.
« Dyrenfurth, for
a.
BLODGE'rl', J. The bill in this case charges the defendant with the infringement of reissued letters patent No. 10,284, granted February 6, 1883, to J. M. Pfaudler, E. J. Kelsey, J. Sullivan, and J. Sargent, "for apparatus for regulating the pressure in a series of fermenting vessels," the original patent having been granted to Pfaudler on the 2d dayofcTuly, 1878, and the application for the reissue having been filed August 26, 1879. The invention is stated in the specifications to have for its object "to provide an effective apparatus for equalizing the pressure in a series of hogsheads or other vessels containing beer, wines,· or other liquids in a state of fermentation, and for regulating the pressure of the gas caused by such femlentatiun, so that it shall not exceed a certain number of pounds to the square inch, previously determined and gauged in said apparatus.» The apparatus described in the specification consists of pipes leading from two or more fermenting tubs or vessels into a common. gas receptacle or holder, from which the gas will be allowed to escape when .the pressure reaches a certain limit, this limit being determined either by the ordinary pressure gauge, or by a water column, or any other device which will regulate the pressure, and allow a discharge when that .pressure limit is exceeded; it being claimed that by the operation of this device the fermentation in the connected vessels is equalized, so that the contents .of the connected vessels are kept in substantially the same fermenting.condition. The patent contains seven claims, but infringement