110 F. 980 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania | 1901
The striking practical results obtained in the lighting of dark interiors by the use of the plaintiffs’ “daylight prism glass” are full proof of its utility, and are strongly persuasive of its novelty as well. This glass is manufactured by the complainants under patent No. 593,045, issued to George K. Cummings November 2, 1897, on an application filed May 28th of the same year, for an improvement in light transmitters. The glass consists of panes or tiles, one side of which is made up of a series of parallel triangular projections or prisms, and the other of parallel and uniform convex projections or lenses placed edge to edge. By the one the rays of light falling from the sky are refracted or deflected into the room or place to be lighted; and by the other these rays, instead of remaining in a single beam, are focused and diffused, thereby utilizing Ihem to the greatest possible extent, and effecting a uniformity of light throughout the whole place. This is not merely the theoretical effect. It is what has been demonstrated by actual installation and use.
The first question is with regard to the novelty of the invention. There is no novelty in the use of a pane of glass as a light transmitter, one side of which is made up of ribs or projections in the shape of prisms, nor is it so claimed. This is found in the Boughton English patent (1880), the Pennycuick (1885), and the Jacobs (1891). It also appears in the three Basquins and the Soper, all of July, 1897, now owned by the Huxfer Company; but, as they are subsequent in date to the Cummings application, they need no further notice. In all of these, however, the surface of the opposite side is plane, while in the Cummings, as already stated, it is composed ol a series of convex projections or lenses; and it is in the combination of the two — prisms on one side, and lenses on the other, parallel to and co-operating with each other — that the whole invention consists. This combination, 1 am persuaded, is not anticipated by anything found in the prior state of the art. The Johnson patent (1866), on which much reliance seems to be placed, is far different. Neither in purpose nor construction does it touch the patent in suit. It is a device for vault lights or covers, to be put in sidewalks or floors where light is to be transmitted directly from above to a vault or area below, at the same time that the space given up to it is freely used for ordinary transit or passage. We may assume that one of the points sought to be gained and actually accomplished by it is an increase of light over that of the ordinary bull’s-eye, although no stress is laid on this feature by the patentee; but this is attained by an enlargement of the glass area, and not by any particular form given to either of its surfaces. As constructed, the vault cover is made up of a metallic frame in which narrow strips of heavy glass are set and kept in place by 'metal girders, the joints being made water-tight by cement, and further pro
The question of anticipation being thus disposed of, that of infringement remains. That the defendants at the time this suit was brought were manufacturing a glass which was a direct imitation of one pattern of that manufactured by the plaintiffs, under the Cummings patent, is established by an inspection and comparison of the two, as found among the exhibits (Exhibits 5 and 10). Persuasive evidence also of an express intent to copy the plaintiff’s glass appears in the advertisement taken from the Philadelphia Times, and in the illustrated cut on the outside of the defendants’ circulars, in both of which the glass which the defendants offer to the public is represented as made up of a combination of parallel convex projections on one side, and prisms on the other, — the very feature which distinguishes the patent in suit. Further than this, in the body of these same circulars not only have the defendants adopted the line of argument found in similar circulars sent out by the plaintiffs, but they have ab
“The convex projections are placed, edge to edge, so that the end or edge of one convex surface meets the end or edge of the adjoining surface, and so on; or, to describe this feature in other -words, the convex surface of each projection is bounded by an arc of a circle, the arc of each projection joining or intersecting the arcs of the adjacent projections, as a result of which there are no intervening spaces between the convex projections, and these projections cover the entire face of the plate.”
But this quotation from the specifications is to receive a reasonable interpretation. It does not mean that .the edges must meet, or the arcs intersect with the precision insisted upon, and no one versed in the art would so understand it. While a patent is not to be carried beyond its terms, it is not to be made impracticable within them, having regard to the subject with which it deals. Molten glass will flow more or less in molding, and it is impossible to handle it so that it will not; and even in cut glass the edges and intersections, while somewhat more sharply defined, cannot be fashioned to a hair; and the same is true of every material, even the hardest. To require a nicety of construction, such as is contended for, would practically bar any manufacturing under this or any other similar patent. The terms employed to describe an invention are to be interpreted with reference to the art to which it relates, and what a mechanic skilled in the art would be able to do with it. All that is fairly meant in the patent in suit is that the convex ribs on the one side and the prisms on the other jut up against each other, so as to leave no substantial intervening spaces in between. A glass having a distinctly sinusoidal or undulating surface no doubt does not infringe upon it; but that in which the circumscribing convex arcs intersect as closely as the character of the material or the skill of manufacture will permit, certainly does. It has not escaped my notice in reaching this conclusion that the patentee, through his counsel, in renewing his application for the patent, which was at first rejected, specifically declared that the circumscribing arcs touched at their edges, “so as to leave no intervening spaces of any kind whatever, either flat, concave, or otherwise.” But this,, it is- to be remembered, was advanced by way of argument, and is not to be carried beyond the occasion which gave rise to it. The examiner had decided- that the invention of Cum
Without further discussion, I hold the patent to be valid, and that it has been infringed. The extent of the infringement may not be great, as the defendants have ceased to manufacture glass of this character, and substituted one of their own design, with concave depressions instead of convex ridges. If so, they will have the less to account for. Let a decree be drawn sustaining the bill and referring the case to a master.
Of Middle district, specially assigned,