Ludlow Manufacturing & Sales Co. v. Dolphin Jute Mills

• Decision Date: 14 June 1943
• Docket Number: No. 1096.,1096.
• Citation: 50 F. Supp. 395
• Parties: LUDLOW MANUFACTURING & SALES CO. v. DOLPHIN JUTE MILLS, Inc.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

50 F. Supp. 395

LUDLOW MANUFACTURING & SALES CO. v. DOLPHIN JUTE MILLS, Inc.

No. 1096.

District Court, D. New Jersey.

June 14, 1943.

Bernard M. Shanley, III, of Newark, N. J. (Pennie, Davis, Marvin & Edmonds, Leslie B. Young, and George E. Middleton, all of New York City, of counsel), for plaintiffs.

John W. Steward, of Paterson, N. J. (William S. Pritchard and Harry H. Levin, both of New York City, of counsel), for defendant.

SMITH, District Judge.

This is a suit under the patent laws for the infringement of claims 1 and 6 of Patent No. 1,893,809, issued on the application of Malcolm B. Stone and William P. Williamson, who, prior to the issuance thereof, assigned all right, title and interest therein to the plaintiffs. The invention, in the language of the patent, "relates to the manufacture of yarn from long fibers, such, for example, as bast fibers including jute, hemp and flax, and is concerned more particularly with a novel method for drawing and spinning fibers and apparatus by which this method may be advantageously practiced." (Emphasis by the Court). The claims in issue, however, cover only the "method of making yarn from bast and similar long fibers." This suit is directed to a method admittedly practiced in the mills of the defendant, the essential features of which are inherent in a "sliver drawing mechanism" designed and constructed for its practice, and covered by a patent to Malcolm Hain, No. 2,197,638. The defendant denies infringement and challenges the validity of the claims.

It is difficult to comprehend the nature of the purported invention without some knowledge of the art to which it pertains. The manufacture of yarn from bast fibers, such as jute, hemp, and flax, is a multiple process consisting of three successive operations which are common to both the methods of the prior art, which are hereinafter discussed, and the method of the claims in suit. These operations are identified in the industry as carding, drawing, and spinning. The nomenclature is descriptive of both the operations and the apparatus by which they are performed. The claims of the patent, and particularly the claims in suit, are expressly limited to the final operations, drawing and spinning.

There were, prior to the introduction of the method of the claims in suit, but two recognized methods of drawing and spinning bast fibers. The one, commonly known as rove spinning, consists of three successive operations: First, drawing, in which the raw material, which has been previously combed and reduced to sliver¹ in the carding operation, is subjected to draft, the fibers of the sliver thereby attenuated, the slivers of two independent but synchronous operations doubled, and the doubled sliver compressed and delivered to containers; second, roving, in which the sliver is again subjected to draft, the fibers thereof further attenuated, the attenuated fibers loosely twisted and reduced to rove,² and the rove wound on bobbins; and third, spinning, in which the fibers of the rove are finally twisted and reduced to yarn. The other, commonly known as gill spinning, although essentially similar to rove spinning, consists of but two successive operations: First, drawing, in which the raw material, which has been previously combed and reduced to sliver in the carding operation, is treated in the manner described; and second, spinning, in which the sliver is again subjected to draft, the fibers thereof further attenuated and the attenuated fibers twisted and reduced to yarn without having been first reduced to rove. The drawing operations of the respective methods are identical and may be carried out in the same apparatus. The former method differs from the latter only in the final operation, spinning. It should be noted that the method of the purported invention has not supplanted the methods of the prior art; it is conceded that the methods of the prior art are still in common use.

It is obvious that the described operations of the respective methods, as practiced commercially, are the characteristic functions of the elements of the apparatus by which these operations are performed. The apparatus utilized in the operations, although structurally complex, are identical in their basic construction. The drawing frame consists of three elements: A drawing mechanism, which comprises a set of retaining rolls and a set of drawing rolls so arranged, constructed, and operated, as to attenuate the fibers which pass through and between them; a gill bed between the said sets of rolls, which comprises a series of mechanically operated gill bars so arranged, constructed, and operated, as to support and comb the fibers while conveying them from the retaining rolls to the drawing rolls; and, a doubling plate between the drawing rolls and the delivery rolls, which, as the name implies, comprises a fixed surface so constructed as to double the slivers, the products of two independent but synchronous operations. The roving frame is identical in construction except for the doubling plate; there is substituted for this element a flyer which imparts a loose twist to the fibers of the sliver, reducing it to rove. The gill spinning frame is identical in construction with the roving frame, but in the spinning operation the flyer is operated in such a manner and at such a speed as to impart to the fibers a hard twist. The rove spinning frame is identical in construction with the gill spinning frame except for the gill bed; there is substituted for this element a breastplate which is so arranged and constructed as to support and control the fibers of the rove. The drawing mechanism is an essential element of each of the described frames, and in this device the retaining rolls and the drawing rolls are so spaced that the reach exceeds the length of the longest fiber.

It will hereinafter be seen that the apparatus claims, 9 to 13, inclusive, are directed to a drawing frame, the novel element of which, a "slip control device," is recommended as an improvement over the gill bed. The inventive concept, if any, inherent in the claims in issue, is predicated primarily upon the function of this device. It is necessary, therefore, since comparisons must be made, that we understand the most important function of the gill bed. The gill bed, in addition to combing and supporting the fibers while conveying them from the retaining rolls to the drawing rolls, retards and controls the vagrant (short) fibers in the reach of the frame. The performance of this function, in both the drawing frame and the spinning frame, prevents "gulping," a condition caused by vagrant fibers, which, if not prevented, impairs the uniformity and quality of the finished yarn. This condition is not peculiar to the manufacture of yarn from bast fibers, but is common to the manufacture of yarns from all vegetable fibers.

There are intrinsic in each of the methods of the prior art, both of which are generally regarded as efficient, advantages and disadvantages not found in the other. It seems unnecessary, however, to consider any except those which are pertinent; these affect particularly the economy of operation, the desideratum in the jute industry. Rove spinning permits the final attenuation and spinning of the fibers under high draft and at high speed, which contributes to the efficiency of the operation, but it prohibits the handling of the fibers except in small packages, the rove, which impairs the uniformity and quality of the yarn and increases the labor costs. Gill spinning permits the handling of the fibers in large packages, the sliver, which contributes to the efficiency of the operation and improves the uniformity and quality of the yarn, but it prohibits the final attenuation and spinning of the fibers under high draft and high speed, which reduces the rate of production. The principal disadvantage of gill spinning is ascribable to the gill bed.

It is obvious that when Stone and Williamson entered the field they sought not a new method of drawing and spinning bast fibers but a device or mechanism which would successfully perform all of the functions of the gill bed. Their search led to the prior art and particularly to the patents cited by the defendant, which are hereinafter discussed. These findings are amply supported by the testimony of Malcolm B. Stone, who frankly admitted the resort to the prior art and the experimentation with numerous devices there disclosed. The resultant advance over the prior art, although a tribute to their mechanical ingenuity, will not support their claim to invention.

The claims to apparatus, although not in issue here, must be considered because they clearly embrace, as the characteristic and peculiar functions of the elements of the apparatus therein defined, the successive steps of the purported method of the claims in issue. The apparatus conceived by Stone and Williamson, to which claims 9 to 13, inclusive, are directed, is defined in claim 10, which is comprehensive and typical, as follows: "In a frame for drawing fibrous products, the combination of a pair of retaining rolls for a single fibrous strand, a pair of drawing rolls for said strand, and a slip control device for said strand between said pairs of rolls, said device comprising a pair of rolls between which said strand passes, the upper roll of said pair being mounted to move freely toward and away from the lower roll in accordance with inequalities in said strand, and both rolls being fluted and having their ribs meshing during operation, the upper roll having its ribs partially cut away between its ends and said lower roll being in fixed bearings and positively driven, said device permitting fibres gripped by said drawing rolls to slip through it, while holding back other fibres." (Emphasis by the Court). The only element of the combination which may be regarded as novel is the "slip control device"; the other elements of the combination are concededly old. The "slip...