U.S. Stamping Co. v. King

• Decision Date: 23 August 1879
• Citation: 7 F. 860
• Parties: UNITED STATES STAMPING CO. v. KING and others.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

7 F. 860

4 Ban. & A. 469, 17 Blatchf. 55, 28 F.Cas. 822, No. 16793A

UNITED STATES STAMPING CO. v. KING and others.

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

August 23, 1879

Frederick H. Betts, for plaintiff.

Charles F. Blake, for defendants.

BLATCHFORD C.J.

This is a motion for a preliminary injunction founded on letters patent granted to Eugene A. Heath, October 10, 1871, for an 'improvement in cuspidors.' The specification says:

'Be it known that I, Eugene A. Heath, of New York city, in the state of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in cuspidors, of which the following is a specification setting forth what I consider the best means of carrying it into effect. The accompanying drawing forms a part of this specification. Figure 1 is a vertical section, showing the construction in its proper position and figure 2 a double view, the strong lines being a section in an upset or overturned position and the dotted lines an elevation in its upright position. Similar letters indicate like parts in both the figures. I form separately three metallic parts and unite them, after suitable preparation, tightly and strongly by soldering. The lowermost, A, is of cast iron, thick at the extreme bottom and thinner towards the top. Its upper edge is rabbeted and nicely finished to receive the lower edge of the sheet metal part, B, and form a flush exterior surface therewith as shown. B is a piece of sheet iron pressed in a Grimshaw press, or otherwise formed in the proper dome shape, and of exactly the proper diameter, and with a vertical flange at its upper edge, as shown. C is a conical piece which may be similarly formed into shape. Its lower edge has a flange which matches closely inside the flanged upper edge of B and its upper edge is turned over by the ordinary tinsmith's tools, or otherwise, and made to embrace a wire ring, D, to stiffen it; the construction of which is obvious. On soldering the several joints smoothly, and properly decorating the surfaces, there results a metallic cuspidor, not liable to fracture, and lighter than ordinary cuspidors on its upper side, and much heavier than ordinary cuspidors on its upper side. One of the important ends attained by my invention is extraordinary stability. If the cuspidor is upset by any chance, and caused to lie for a time in the position indicated by the strong lines in figure 2, the excess of weight in its base, taken in connection with its form, causes it to return again, of itself to its proper upright position, as soon as the disturbing cause is removed. I have shown the interior as formed with an offset, below which is materially thicker than above, and prefer to so cast it. The upper portions may be formed with some success by spinning suitable thin brass. The junctions of the several parts may be further secured by causing one part to cling upon a bead in addition to the soldering. In some cases rivets, or the like ordinary or suitable fastenings, may be employed. I claim a metallic cuspidor having a heavy base, A, and a light upper portion, B, C, formed and combined substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.'

It is plain that the invention claimed is a metallic cuspidor, formed of three metallic parts, the lower part being heavier than in ordinary then-existing cuspidors, and extending up to the largest diameter of the spheroid, the middle part and the upper part being lighter than in ordinary then-existing cuspidors, the middle part being of a dome shape, and being joined below to the lower part, and above to the upper part, and the upper part being an inverted cone in shape, flaring outwards, and forming a mouth; the whole structure not being liable to fracture, and having the capacity of returning to an upright position, of itself, from a position not upright, when left free, and being essentially of the form shown in the drawings of the patent. That form is a spheroidal body, with a conical mouth, flaring outwards.

Mr. Henry B. Renwick, the plaintiff's expert, says in his affidavit:

'A cuspidor is a vessel of peculiar shape, which may be defined as spheroidal, with a conical mouth, and such vessels were first seen by deponent some 25 years since. These, and all other cuspidors seen by deponent until the last few years, were made of china or porcelain, and came into use in houses of the better class, where the old-fashioned spittoons were considered vulgar and consequently inadmissible. These china cuspidors were costly and fragile, and, moreover, easily upset, as the base was small as compared with the whole diameter, and as the form of the vessel was flaring outwards and upwards from its base. In this latter respect, that is, want of stability, so far as real utility was concerned, the cuspidor was much inferior to the old-fashioned spittoon, which is so flat and wide based that it is really unupsettible or non-upsettible by accident, the only way of upsetting it being by taking it by hand and turning it over, or by some other way deliberately contrived for the purpose of upsetting it. * * * Prior to the date of Heath's invention vessels loaded at the bottom, so as to make them more stable, were well known, * * * It was easy, therefore, after the idea was once conceived, to load a cuspidor at bottom in a well-known way, so as to make it more stable, either by thickening the china at bottom, or cementing a weight into the bottom. But this would not have removed the whole difficulty. It was necessary to make them strong, not fragile like china or porcelain, and to make them cheap; and Heath conceived the idea of making them of metal, so that they should be strong, and of constructing them in at least three pieces of metal, so that they should be cheap. Owing to the peculiar form of the cuspidor, it is difficult, if not impossible, to form it of one piece of sheet metal; but Heath saw that, by dividing the body of the cuspidor at the equator, if it may be so termed, it could be formed of two pieces, each having all its flare in one direction, so that such hemispheroidal parts would be easily formed by casting, stamping, or spinning. The funnel mouth-piece he then made in a separate piece, and as it, when separate from the body, flares all in one direction, it could be easily and cheaply formed. In forming these pieces, the lower part of the body was made much the thickest, and, when the three parts were put together and attached to each other, there resulted a strong, cheap, metallic, self-righting cuspidor, as elegant in form as those made of china, and capable of being decorated, if desired. As far as deponent knows, Heath was the first to make a metallic cuspidor, or a self-righting cuspidor, but he does not claim broadly a metallic vessel in shape of a cuspidor, or a self-righting cuspidor, or a vessel made of three pieces, but the patent defines his invention as consisting in a metallic cuspidor made of three pieces of special form, viz.: one for the bottom of the body, one for the top thereof, and one for the conical mouth-piece, joined at the equator and at the small end of the mouth-piece, when the piece of metal forming the bottom or lower portion of the body is heavier than the other parts, so as to give stability and self-righting capacity. If the cuspidor was made of one piece of metal it would not be Heath's. If made of several pieces, with the lines of junction in substantially different places from those represented in Heath's patent, it would not be Heath's. For instance, the lines of seam might be vertical, and each include a part of the body and of the mouth-piece. Even if the cuspidor was made of Heath's three pieces, formed as he forms them, and joined where Heath joins them, but with the bottom piece no heavier than the others, the cuspidor would not be the one referred to in Heath's claim.'

The consideration thus set forth commend themselves as founded in good sense and sound...