Kenney Mfg. Co. v. J.L. Mott Iron Works

• Decision Date: 02 May 1905
• Citation: 137 F. 431
• Parties: KENNEY MFG. CO. v. J. L. MOTT IRON WORKS.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

137 F. 431

KENNEY MFG. CO. v. J. L. MOTT IRON WORKS.

United States Circuit Court, S.D. New York.

May 2, 1905

Frank L. Crawford and J. Adriance Bush, for complainant.

W. P Preble, Jr., for defendant.

COXE Circuit Judge.

This action is based upon two letters patent, granted to William S. Cooper and David T. Kenney, respectively, for improvements in water-closets. Claims 1 and 2 of the Cooper patent, No 371,431, were sustained by this court upon a record substantially similar to the one at bar. Kenney v. Newton (C.C.) 135 F. 101. This decision should be followed, but as the Cooper patent expired in October, 1904, the decree can only be for an accounting.

The Kenney patent, No. 566,770, granted September 1, 1895, is for improvements in water-closet cisterns consisting of alleged novel combination of parts by which the closet is flushed. The defenses are defect of title, lack of invention noninfringement and invalidity of the claim in controversy for the reason that it does not disclose an operative structure. It is unnecessary to discuss the question of title as the answer expressly admits the title to be in the complainant.

The first claim is the only one involved. It is as follows:

'(1) The combination, with a hollow and substantially buoyant main valve, of a casing inclosing the main valve and provided with a water inlet at its lower part and a water passage connecting its upper and lower parts, a weighted vent valve slidable in the said main valve and operating to depress it after having closed, and a stem operating positively to raise first the vent valve and then the main valve, substantially as set forth.'

The claim is for a valve having the following elements: First. A hollow and substantially buoyant main valve. Second. A casing inclosing the main valve provided with a water inlet at its lower part and a water passage connecting its upper and lower parts. Third. A weighted vent valve slidable in the main valve and operating to depress it after having closed. Fourth. A stem operating positively to raise first, the vent valve and then the main valve.

The drawing shows this valve attached to the lower end of a receptacle for water, hung a little above the closet by means of a hooked bracket secured to the wall, the outer valve casing being surrounded by water.

It is not denied that the combination is inoperative when separated from its environment, but this may be said of any valve, whether designed for water, air or steam. If the claim shows a combination of parts forming a workable device when attached to a structure for which it is evidently intended, it is enough. Taylor v. Sawyer Spindle Co., 75 F. 301, 309, 22 C.C.A. 203. The engineer's brake valve is inoperative until connected with the air system of the train, but any one skilled in the art would know at once how to make such connection. The question is whether the combination of the claim, if in other respects patentable, can be used, without material changes, in other water-closet systems?

The Kenney closet is flushed by depressing the hand lever which raises the vent valve. The main valve, thus relieved of the pressures above it, is then raised. As soon as the main valve begins to rise the water rushes under it, buoys it up, and passes directly from the holes in the periphery of the casing through the main-valve seat. The water above the main valve is forced from the upper part of the casing past the slidable vent valve and into the downward current of water. When the lever has been depressed one full stroke the handle is released and the two valves descend automatically. The weighted vent valve closes first by gravity, the hollow main valve being buoyed up by the water passing under it. When the vent valve has closed its weight depresses the main valve slowly and permits water, sufficient to flush the closet, to pass through it. 'The small annular passage around the main valve permits the water to be sucked up into the space above it by the weight of the descending valves. ' The compressed air in the receptacle or cistern assists in forcing the water through the flushing pipe into the closet.

Few if any valves were made in exact accordance with the patent, and it may be said that no structure embodying all the details of the drawing was ever constructed; certainly no structure having the suspended cistern was a commercial success. In practice it was found necessary to make several changes in the Kenney valve. There have been added a regulating ring, intended to cut down the flow of water under high pressure, a relief screw, a 'controller' and a small hole in the side of the casing. These are minor changes but they furnish a fair presumption, at least, that the device of the patent, if commercially operative at all, could not be transported to the so-called T-fitting in the condition shown and described in the specification.

Water-closets have been known for more than a century and the art of flushing them is very old. Numerous devices have been used for this purpose employing a great variety of valves. Many of these are shown in the record. For twenty years the defendant has been using the so-called 'Premier valve,' which is said to be, and certainly...