116 F.2d 235 | 3rd Cir. | 1940
The court below held that the defendant’s engine did not infringe Franz Lang’s United States Patent No. 1,803,262 issued in April, 1931, upon an application filed in March, 1926. The Lang patent here in issue discloses a compression ignition oil engine. The plaintiffs, respectively, are the owners of the legal title to the Lang patent and the exclusive licensee thereunder and have appealed.
We have appended to this opinion simplified drawings showing the engine of the patent in suit and the defendant’s engine. An examination of the first of these shows a compression space divided into three chambers, marked severally d, g and b. Between b and g is a throttling constriction /. The letter c, indicates a nozzle through which the fuel is injected into the chamber g toward the end of the compression stroke. The District Court found each of the three chambers to perform a separate and distinct function, co-operating to create an engine embodying the combination claimed by the patent. Claims 1 and 2 are in issue and we have set them forth in the margin.
The defendant contends that the feature of its engine is a “Dual Combustion” system which makes use of the main combustion chamber 5 and the auxiliary combustion chamber 2, connected by the passage 3-4, the engiue being activated by fuel sprayed into the system by a special “throttling” type of nozzle. The evidence shows clearly that the defendant’s engine operates by means of a main and an auxiliary combustion chamber.
We cannot agree with the view expressed by the District Court that chamber b of the engine of the patent is an auxiliary combustion chamber for Lang does not describe it as such in his patent. Ilis specifications state in part, “This invention relates to self-igniting motors in which the chamber wherein the air is compressed by the piston on its compression-stroke is sub-divided into at least two chambers which communicate by at least one aperture having a throttling cross-sectional area. One of the chambers at least is arranged to be reduced in size or volume as the compression proceeds so as to force a flow of compressed air into the other chamber or chambers through a throttling constriction of the aperture or communication. According to the invention the parts are so arranged and constructed that fuel injected into 1he chamber before the end of the compression-stroke in a direction toward, or practically toward, the constriction meets such air-flow in a funnel-shaped space tapering toward and arranged in advance of the constriction.” The specifications also state, “The air entering into the cylinder during the suction stroke is compressed during the next stroke, whereby a brisk flow of air through the throttling constriction f into the supplemental compartment b arranged on the cylinder is produced. The fuel nozzle c has the same longitudinal axis as said constriction, so that at' least a portion of the fuel is injected into the core of the air current. This fuel injected through the nozzle towards the end of the compression stroke contacts already in the mixing funnel g, that means before the constriction /, with the air flowing into the compartment b and being heated and ignited on account of the compression, the compressed air stored in said compartment b flowing through the constriction into contact with the mixture to support and maintain the combustion as the piston recedes.”
There is not a word in the patent which says that combustion, or ignition takes place in chamber b. The fact is that Lang has described a method of compressing air in chamber b whereby it may flow into chamber g during the combustion period “to support and maintain the combustion as the piston recedes”. Lang has described chamber b as an air cell and the engine of his patent is of the “air cell” type.
This claim as well as all claims originally filed were rejected upon prior art patents, viz., White’s British Patent No. 170,433, and Rundolf’s Swedish Patent No. 28,055. Lang then amended his specifications and eliminated any reference to chamber b serving as a combustion space and substituted claims in which it was described merely as a second compartment. His “Remarks” accompanying these changes are set out in the margin.
The plaintiffs, citing the decision of this court in Jacobs v. Iodent Chemical Company, 3 Cir., 41 F.2d 637, 638, expressed' doubt as to whether the doctrine of file-wrapper estoppel may be invoked here since the court below found that chamber b was an auxiliary combustion chamber.
Claims 1 and 2 of the patent in suit are as follows:
“1. In an oil-motor for self-ignition comprising a cylinder and a piston cooperating to form a compartment arranged to be reduced in volume by the piston, said cylinder being provided with a second compartment of fixed dimensions communicating with the first compartment by a passage tapering from the first compartment toward the second compartment and a throttling constriction between the tapering passage and the second compartment, in combination with a fuel-injector arranged in advance of the tapering passage to inject fuel into and toward the same substantially at the end of the compression-stroke of the piston, said piston being arranged to compress the air in said compartments so highly as to ignite by the heat of compression fuel injected into said highly compressed air.
“2. In an oil-motor for self-ignition comprising a cylinder and a piston cooperating to form a compartment arranged to be reduced in volume by the piston, said cylinder being provided with a second compartment of fixed dimensions communicating with the first compartment by a passage tapering from the first compartment toward the second compartment and a throttling constriction between the tapering passage and the second compartment, in combination with a fuel-injector whose axis coincides with the axis of the tapering passage in which is arranged in advance of the tapering passage to inject fuel into and toward the same substantially at the end of the compression-stroke of the piston, said piston being arranged to compress the air in said compartments so highly as to ignite by the heat of compression fuel injected into said highly compressed air.”
Dr. V. L. Maleev testified, "The term ‘air cell’ seems to be rather definite. This is a cell into which air is forced during the compression stroke and which discharges it back into the main combustion space when the piston moves away during the working stroke.”
Claim No. 1 of the original application. We have italicized words of particular importance in this and the quotations which follow.
“The claims have been redrawn to remove the formal objection noted in the official letter.
“These claims are all distinguished from the references cited by the office by the funnel-shaped passage connecting the air-compressed compartment of varying volume with the supplemental compartment, said passage tapering toward the latter compartment. By this arrangement, as applicant has found, a more complete intermingling of the fuel injected into the compressed air in the compression-chamber and a greater certainty of proper auto-ignition are attained, while the supplemental compartment acts in conjunction with the funnel-shaped passage to maintain the combustion as the piston recedes.”
Emphasized by italics in the original document.
See the thirteenth finding.
Though there are circumstances under which a party may appeal from adverse findings of fact even though he is the recipient of a decree in his favor, such circumstances are not present in the case at bar.