243 F. 588 | 6th Cir. | 1917
The defendants (appellants) seek a reversal of the decree of the District Court adjudging them infringers of the Thompson patent, No. 1,072,791, issued in 1913, of which the plaintiff (appellee) is the owner.
The desirability of shock-absorbers has been such as to tempt many inventors to cultivate the field pertaining to that particular art, and, as is quite usual in patent cases, the defense of anticipation as well as of nonpatentability is interposed. The Williams device for a wagon spring, No. 203,863 (1878), which defendants’ expert thinks most closely approaches that of the plaintiff, differs so radically as to prevent its adaptability to an automobile. The auxiliary spring, whether it be rubber or steel, is not mounted and cannot be mounted on or interposed between the axle and leaf spring, as is essentially necessary in tlie Thompson device, hut is attached on its outer side to side bars extending about the length of the wagon bed and secured to and supported by the axles, which are remote from the spring, and is connected by a rod directly to the rather remote leaf spring below. As the side liars possess some degree of flexibility, a third spring element is also thus introduced. Haskins, whose patent, No. 330,023 (1885), is also relied on by defendants as anticipatory, distinguishes his spring arrangement from and claims an improvement on that of Williams. His purpose was to overcome in vehicles the motion or jolt caused by the movement of the horses. In his form, shown in Fig. 5, to which the defendants’ expert directs special attention, the leaf spring connects immediately to the helical spring, which in turn is attached by a body loop to the platform or bed of the vehicle. The shock from the wheels passes through the leaf spring first. The coiled .spring is not between the axle and the leaf spring, and no one suggests how, within the terms of the patent, a construction is permissible or possible thus to place it. The result which he obtains and his manner of obtaining it are not the
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. Its further proceedings will be in accordance with the conclusion here reached.