127 F. 341 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey | 1904
This suit is based on letters patent issued to E. B: Beecher, September 11,1888, for a machine for making matches, which the defendants are charged with infringing. Starting with the block from which the match splints are to be produced, the machine in one continuous operation, by means, of its various devices and appliances, is able to,complete and deliver, ready fox
As early as 1854, Gates and Harwood, of Utica, N. Y., secured a patent for an endless chain match machine, in which the carrier consisted of a continuous series of short wooden clamps or slats in pairs, each pair being pressed together by an intermediate bow-shaped metal spring, and having their contiguous faces lined with felt, in order to more effectively retain the match splints between them. These clamps, as they were fed over the cutters in pairs, were opened by a wedge, a row of match splints cut from the block by the cutters was carried up and inserted in them, the wedge was withdrawn) a hammer from abové descended’and evened the row, and the carrier moved on. Conveyed in this way, the splints were taken to other parts of the machine, where they were treated with friction heads, and after a sufficient interval brought back to the point of ejection, where a hammer, similar to that ‘which (evened the row, knocked the matches loose. The qüe.stioh, is raised' as to the character of the feed motion, whether intermittent, or continuous, but it is clearly the latter. To make it otherwise, the gear or worm at the head of the shaft, z, must be an irregular qridrúhkénworm, of whiqh there is no indication, and without this’‘it must be' assumed to be of the ordínáry and natural character. Moreover, the wedge which opens the clamp is said to have a
The, Miller and Gates, and the Newton, its English representative, which immediately followed (1858), was merely an improvement on the Gates and Harwood. It had, the same as the other, an endless carrier made up of wooden felt-lined clamps, the principal change, as already intimated, being from a continuous to an intermittent motion. This was followed at some distance by the three Stebers — two in 1883 and one in 1884 — in which the same motion as the last, and the general features of both the preceding machines, were' retained, which is all that needs to be noted of it.
In the meantime, however, a somewhat different type had been evolved by McClintock Young. The endless slat carrier was abandoned, and a succession of perforated plates substituted, each of which, as filled, was removed and dipped by hand into a composition bath to affix the heads. In its original form (1871) the perforated plates were.of wood, and were adapted to be used as a permanent holder or back for the finished matches, if desired, or they could be ejected, and the plates used again. But later (1877) the plates were made of metal, and furnished with handles, and for the more effective feeding of them into and through the machine they were provided with couplings to make a continued series. When filled, however, they were detached again, and taken out singly or in sections, and the match splints dipped by hand into the composition head bath, as before; so that, while an endless series is spoken of in the patent, it is only in this sense, each .
This represents the art in matchmaking machines prior to the invention of Beecher, so far. as we are tconcerned. In it, as will be seen, are two distinct types, each having merits of its own, and Beecher manifestly gleaned from both. Discarding the wooden slats of the earlier type, with their limited capacity, exposure to fire, and high percentage of loss of splints, he made up his carrier of a succession of perforated plates such as were used by Young, but handled them automatically and in endless chain, combining an intermittent and a continuous motion in the way described in order to accomplish it. However old the elements so made use of, he certainly was the first to' bring them together as they here appear, supplying the necessary adaptation to make them operative, and producing as the result a machine of the largest capacity and highest efficiency so far known. For the patentable novelty thus devised he is entitled to the protection of the law, if it is found to have been infringed.
To sustain the charge of infringement, three claims of the patent in suit are relied upon, the fourth, fifteenth, and seventeenth, as follows:
“(4) In a machine for making matches, the combination of the following elements :- A cutter head and cutter adapted to Cut rows of match sticks and insert them into.a corresponding row of perforations, an endless chain having plates with rows of perforations formed therein, a driver for moving the chain, and a corresponding row of punches for discharging the completed matches.”
“(15) In a machine for making matches, the combination of an endless chain having á slack portion, plates with rows of perforations, a main driving mechanism for communicating to a portion of the chain an intermittent movement, and. an auxiliary driving mechanism for communicating to a portion of the chain a continuous movement.”
“(17) In a machine for making matches, the combination of the endless chain having the plate with rows of perforations, with the paraffine wheel, and mechanism for giving the wheel vertical movement, as and for the purpose described.”
The last of these covers a distinct and separable feature not so far-alluded to, and will therefore be considered later by itself. The other two fall under that which has been discussed. The defendants manufacture under patents to Alexander Kelley, one of July 5, 1898, and the oth.er of July 31; 1900. The existence of these patents affords, of course, no' protection if they invade the terms of the one in suit, even though they may improve upon it. Kelley for many years was a foreman in the plaintiffs’ employ;, and his machine in its general outlines
The remaining element is the discharge mechanism by which the completed match is removed from the carrier. In the Beecher it consists of a single row óf punches, which corresponds with the rows of perforations in the plates, and by appropriate motion from behind, while the plates are held vertical, drives out the matches row by row, as each is brought into position opposite. In the Kelley the same thing is accomplished by so-called separators and a cleaner bar. As the bars of the carrier are dis.engaged from the endless chain at the point where removal is to be effected, the one in advance is forced forward by the descending wedge of the separators — or in the later Kelley by the auxiliary chain — and the matches are ejected by the cleaner bar, carried down between the separators. It is said that the matches drop as the carrier bars are opened, and that the sole function of the cleaner bar is to remove any that may chance to be left — a position which is advanced in the first Kelley, and has something, it must be confessed, to sustain it. But, on the other hand, it is expressly declared in the second Kelley that the cleaner bar descends into the space between the carrier bars as they are separated, “and forces the matches therefrom.” This, as the last word on the subject, must be accepted as its intended function, and, being the same as that of the row of punches in the Beecher, the two are equivalent, the variation between them being one of form only. The fourth claim is therefore infringed.
The seventeenth claim remains to be considered. The distinctive feature here is the mechanism for giving the paraffine wheel vertical motion, in order to raise the match splints out of the bath. This is important when, for any reason, the machine is stopped, so that the splints will not absorb more of the preparation than they ought;. and the arrangement contributes to the effectiveness of the machine by preventing imperfect matches from being turned out with the others, throwing discredit on the whole product. The means to accomplish this in the Beecher consists in a bar under the hand of the operator at the forward end of the machine, and a lever actuated by it, journaled on the shaft of the paraffine wheel, and having a cam surface at the lower end bearing on a stud pin. By drawing the bar forward, the lever is thrown and the wheel raised qut of the bath by the cam, and, reversing the operation, it is depressed into it again. Numerous references
But there is still another difficulty. The mechanism for raising the wheel is not made the subject of a distinct claim, but appears as one element of a combination of which the - others are the endless chain, having a plate with rows of perforations, and the paraffine wheel. But there is no co-operation in what is thus brought together to produce a common result, and it is therefore a mere aggregation. 22 Am. & Eng. Enc. Raw (2d Ed.) p. 294. No doubt they are all factors to make up a complete machine and turn out good matches, and in that remote sense may-be said to work together. But mechanically they are distinct parts, acting separately, there being no more connection between the carrier and the mechanism for raising the paraffine wheel under which it passes than between that and the steam boiler or the standards of the supporting frame. To make the raising mechanism effective, a-, human factor, the hand of the operator, guided by his judgment, must intervene, and without this it has no influence on the product. Unless he sees occasion to act, the match produced will be equally good or equally bad, whether the wheel-raising mechanism is there or not. It is not as though it were automatic, raising the matches out of the bath on the stoppage of the carrier, and lowering that again on the resumption of its course. That might be regarded as directly cooperating with the other parts named to effect the general result. But, as it stands, I do not see that it does. Whether we look at the claim, therefore, from the one standpoint or the other, there is nothing on which the defendants can be held.
, As the result of these conclusions, the fourteenth and fifteenth claims of the patent are sustained and held to be infringed, but as to-the seventeenth claim the bill must be1 dismissed. Ret, a decree be