Firestone v. Aluminum Company of America

Citation285 F.2d 928
Decision Date22 November 1960
Docket NumberNo. 13891.,13891.
PartiesFloyd A. FIRESTONE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA, Electro Circuits, Inc. and Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Floyd A. Firestone, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., in pro. per.

Albert R. Teare; Teare, Kramer, Sturges & Fetzer,* Cleveland, Ohio, on the brief.

Carlton Hill, Chicago, Ill., and Stoddard B. Colby, Breed, Abbott & Morgan, New York City, for appellee.

Thomas J. Doran, Meyer, Baldwin, Doran & Young, Cleveland, Ohio, and Carlton Hill, Van Metre Lund, Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson, Chicago, Ill., and William L. Hanaway, Stoddard B. Colby, Egon R. Gerard, Breed, Abbott & Morgan, New York City, on the brief for Aluminum Co. of America and Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

James H. Tilberry, Williams, Tilberry & Golrick, Cleveland, Ohio, on the brief for Electrocircuits.

Before McALLISTER, Chief Judge, and MILLER and CECIL, Circuit Judges.

CECIL, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from the District Court of the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Ohio. It is a companion case in this court to appeal No. 13890, Aluminum Company of America v. Sperry Products, Inc., 285 F.2d 911.

An action was brought in the District Court by the appellees of appeal No. 13890 against the appellants in that case for the infringement of four patents. These patents in the trial court and in appeal No. 13890 were denominated, for convenience, patents numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The trial judge held that claim 7 of patent No. 2 was invalid and one of the plaintiffs, the appellant in this case, appealed. The subject matter of both of these appeals was involved in one trial in the action brought in the District Court. Reference should be had to the opinion in appeal No. 13890 for a complete understanding of the law and facts involved.

The appellant seeks a reversal of the judgment of the District Court in holding claim 7 of patent No. 2 invalid.

The claim describes a "Voltage Train Generator." This is a complete unit or device in itself and could be used in patent No. 1 in place of the "Pulse Oscillator," "High Frequency Oscillator" and "Modulator." It would also have various other uses apart from patent No. 1 and the improvements thereon by patents 3 and 4.

The elements of this patent are set forth in the claim which reads: "A voltage train generator comprising a condenser, means for charging said condenser, a grid controlled discharge tube having its plate connected to one terminal of said condenser and its cathode connected through a resistor to the other terminal of said condenser, an oscillatory circuit connected in parallel with said resistor, a pair of output terminals connected to said oscillatory circuit, and means for periodically discharging said condenser though said tube."

The defendants (as they were in the trial court) claim that the alleged invention was anticipated by prior art not cited by the patent office as follows: Langevin Patent No. 1,858,931, an article in The Hydrographic Review of 1924, the Newhouse Patent No. 2,083,344, an article by Everett in the standard textbook "Communication Engineering" published in 1937, and the Gunn Patent No. 2,461,543.

The trial judge found that Langevin and the Hydrographic Review article both disclose an oscillatory circuit similar to that in claim No. 7. These references use a spark gap or spark break and the judge held that they were not the equivalent of the grid controlled discharge tube of claim No. 7. He also found that the resistor disclosed in patent No. 2 was not disclosed in Langevin or the Hydrographic Review. He further found that the Newhouse patent discloses a grid controlled gas tube and that it would be an obvious expedient to combine such a grid controlled tube with the oscillatory circuits of Langevin or the Hydrographic Review. The court found too that, according to Dr. Firestone's testimony, the Gunn patent discloses a grid controlled gas tube connected to one terminal of the condenser with its cathode connected through a resistor to the other terminal of the condenser, as shown in claim No. 7. In this connection, he finds that these elements in Gunn perform the same function as the spark break and associated elements of Langevin and Hydrographic Review and could obviously be substituted therefor. He finds that it is equally obvious that the oscillatory circuits of Langevin and Hydrographic Review could be used in Gunn.

The trial judge found in effect that not all of the elements of the invention described in claim 7 or their equivalents were found in any one of the devices or descriptions of the prior art. We agree with these findings.

The court then concludes: "It appears, therefore, that...

To continue reading

Request your trial
24 cases
  • Ritter v. Rohm & Haas Company
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. Southern District of New York
    • June 28, 1967
    ...Co. v. Fanner Mfg. Co., 328 F.2d 265 (6 Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 846, 85 S.Ct. 56, 13 L.Ed.2d 51 (1964); Firestone v. Aluminum Co. of America, 285 F.2d 928 (6 Cir. 1960). Contra, McCullough Tool Co. v. Wells Surveys, Inc., 343 F.2d 381 (10 Cir. 1965), cert. denied, 383 U.S. 933, 86 S. ......
  • Minnesota Min. & Mfg. Co. v. Blume
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. Southern District of Ohio
    • August 7, 1979
    ...(6th Cir. 1974); Monroe Auto Equip. Co., v. Heckethorn Mfg. & Supply Co., 332 F.2d 406, 414 (6th Cir. 1964); Firestone v. Aluminum Co. of America, 285 F.2d 928 (6th Cir. 1960); Allied Wheel Products v. Rude, 206 F.2d 752, 760 (6th Cir. 1953); 1 Deller's Walker on Patents § 57, at 242-43 (2d......
  • General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court of Northern District of Ohio
    • October 3, 1972
    ...Co., 274 F.2d 224, 239 (6th Cir. 1959), cert. den. 362 U.S. 989, 80 S.Ct. 1078, 4 L.Ed.2d 1022 (1960); Firestone v. Aluminum Co. of America, 285 F.2d 928, 930 (6th Cir. 1960); FMC Corp. v. F. E. Meyers & Bro. Co., 384 F.2d 4, 8-9 (6th Cir. 1967), cert. den., 390 U.S. 988, 88 S.Ct. 1183, 19 ......
  • Marvin Glass & Associates v. Sears, Roebuck & Company
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. Southern District of Texas
    • July 30, 1970
    ...finding individual features separately in the prior art. Imhauser v. Buerk, 101 U.S. 647, 25 L.Ed. 945 (1880); Firestone v. Aluminum Co. of America, 285 F.2d 928 (6th Cir. 1960). Although defendant cites many references as prior art for the Kay patent, it only claims that one reference full......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT