Heald v. Rice
| Decision Date | 01 October 1881 |
| Citation | 26 L.Ed. 910,104 U.S. 737 |
| Parties | HEALD v. RICE |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of California.
The case is stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr. George Hardig and Mr. John H. Boalt for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. Milton A. Wheaton for the defendant in error.
This was an action at law brought by Henry W. Rice against John L. Heald to recover damages for an alleged infringement of reissued letters-patent No. 6422, granted May 4, 1875, to him for improvements in steam-boilers. The original patent was No. 146,614, dated Jan. 20, 1874. The invention, as stated in the complaint, consisted, among other things, of a combination of a straw-feeding attachment with the furnace-door of a return-flue steam-boiler, for the use of straw alone as fuel, in generating steam ample for practically operating steam-engines.
The case was tried by a jury, and resulted in a verdict and a judgment for the plaintiff; to reverse which this writ of error is prosecuted.
A bill of exceptions sets out the exceptions of the defendant to the rulings of the court below, and all the evidence. The court was asked at the close of the plaintiff's testimony, and again when all the evidence on both sides had been introduced to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant; the refusal to do which, amongst other rulings, is assigned for error; and thus the whole case on the merits is brought here for review, so far as they rest upon questions of law.
The plaintiff introduced in evidence his original and reissued patents. For the purpose of comparison,—which, in view of the questions of law raised becomes important and necessary,—the specifications and claims are exhibited here in parallel columns, using one copy for both patents when they are identical, and putting all the language that is in the original and not in the reissued patent in the left-hand column in italics, and putting in the right-hand column, in italics, all the language used in the reissued patent that is not in the original.
'Supecifications forming part of letters-patent No. 146,614, dated Jan. 20, 1874.
Reissue, No. 6422 dated May 4, 1875.
March 17, 1875.
'To all whom it may concern:
'Be it known that I, Harvey Wood Rice, Of Haywood, Alameda County, State of California, have invented new and useful improvements in steam-boilers; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawing are sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appeartains, to make and use my said invention without further invention or experiment.
'My invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of steam-boilers whereby
the combination of a straw-feeding device with the furnace door of that class of boilers which are known as return-flue boilers, by which combination I am able to provide a superior arrangement for utilizing straw as a fuel for generating steam.
Many attempts have heretofore been made, both in this country and in Europe, to successfully I am enabled to utilize straw and other light substances for fuel, so that a complete combustion of the smoke is attained, and the danger from fire in the harvest fields, where those boilers are more especially useful, is entirely
utilizes straw as a fuel for generating steam in steam boilers; but these attempts have always resulted in failures or partial failures.
When straw is fed into the furnace of an ordinary steam boiler, it burns too quickly to do much good in heating the water in the boiler, until a sufficient quantity of cinders accumulates upon the grate-bars to impede the draft; and, unless the cinders are frequently removed from between the grate-boars, they soon accumulate to such an extent as to choke the draft entirely and prevent combustion.
Many devices have been tried and patented for overcoming these troubles; but, as far as I am aware, none of them have succeeded in remedying the difficulties sufficiently to make the straw-burning engine a practical success.
My experiments however, have developed the fact that, by attaching a tube or box-door to the furnaces of that class of boilers, known as return-flue boilers, in which the chimney or stack is constructed directly above the furnace, and the heat and products of combustion from the furnace are carried along under the boiler and then returned back to the stack through flues or tubes leading through the length of the boiler, the combustion will be so complete that no sparks, and but very little smoke, will escape from obviated; and
the chimney, and the straw will be burned freely, giving out a high degree of heat without danger of choking the grate-bars.
My invention also relates
to a novel method of securing the tubes and tube-sheet within the shell of the boiler, so that they can be at any time easily removed for the purpose of cleaning or repairing, and at a much less expense than is ordinarily entailed for such work.
'Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view,
exposing the tube-sheet of one and of the boiler. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is an end view with rear head removed. Fig. 4 shows the tube and tube-sheet removed. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view showing the rear tube-sheet, flange and ring.
of my boiler from the rear end. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a rear-end view with cap removed. Fig. 4 is a view of tubes and sheet. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view, showing the manner of securing the tube-sheet in the shell.
'A is the shell of my boiler, which is more especially intended to be used for that class of engines employed in threshing and other field work where there is straw or other light material enough for fuel, but which has never been satisfactorily burned without an artificial draft or blast, and which has always been danagerous by reason of the sparks thrown out, on account of incomplete combustion.
'In order to remedy these faults, and perfectly consume all the smoke and sparks, I perforate my tube-sheet B B, so as to admit one large
tube furnace
C, near the bottom, which receives the fuel upon the grate D, and acts at the same time as a tube and fire-box.
Any suitable feeder may be employed to supply straw to the grate; but I have found the device patented by D. Morey, June 20, 1873, to be very suitable.
To the door of the furnace C. I. attach a straw-feeding tube, E, through which the straw or other light fuel is fed to the furnaces.
This tube can be constructed in the manner described by David Morey in his patents dated February 11, 1873, and May 25, 1873, for straw-feeding attachment for furnaces, or in some other similar manner for feeding the straw without admitting a draft of air.
'Above and around the sides of the large
tube furnace
C, I place small or locomotive boiler tubes e e, as shown, and these serve to return the heat and the products of combustion to the chimney F, which is located at the front end of the boiler and communicates with the chamber H, formed between the flue-sheet and the head or door G. A similar chamber H, is formed at the back end of the boiler into which the products of combustion pass from the large
tube furnace
C, before entering the return-flues e.
'By this construction the light fuel is throughly ignited in its passage through the large tube, which has plenty of air admitted for the purpose. The heat and flame will be concentrated in returning through the small flues, and the combustion will be so complete that no sparks and but very little smoke will escape from the chimney, and this latter will not even need a bonnet.
'The tube-sheets B B are made with a flange i, which is turned outward, and these flanges are pierced so as to admit screw-bolts or rivets g, as may be preferred. These bolts secure the tube-sheets in their places perfectly steam and water tight.
'Whenever, by reason of long use, there is a collection of scale or sediment, or if the tubes of h e interior of the boiler need repairing, the screw-bolts can be removed; or, if rivets are used, they can be cut off, when the two tube-sheets, with the tubes, can be removed from the shell in a body, and repairs or cleaning can be easily effected, with much less time and trouble than when the boilers are made in the ordinary manner.
'The flange on the rear tube-sheet is turned so much smaller than the interior of the shell that an iron ring, n, can be introduced between it and the shell, the bolt passing through it.
'When it is necessary to remove the tubes and sheets, this ring can be taken out after removing the nuts and rivets, and this leaves the rear tube-sheet small enough to pass any rivets or obstructions freely when taking it out.
'By this construction I am enabled to make a boiler and furnace in which straw can be used as a fuel with perfect safety, and in which repairs can be easily effected.
'Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by letters-patent is:——
1. The boiler A, having the furnace C, grate D, return-flues or tubes e e, and stack or chimney B, arranged as described, in combination with the straw-feeding furnace-door attachment, substantially as and for the purpose described.
'2. In a horizontal steam boiler, the
large tube
furnace
C, formed with a grate D, to serve as a fire-place, in combination with small return-flues e e, when the tubes and tube-sheets are secured by flanges i and bolts g, so as to be removable from the shell in a body, substantially as and for the purpose described.'
It is admitted that there had been no infringement by the defendant of the second claim of the reissued patent, which included that feature of the improvement described, which consisted in the peculiar construction by which the tubes and tube-sheets were...
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