Deere & Co. v. International Harvester Co.
| Decision Date | 19 October 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. RI-CIV-76-20.,RI-CIV-76-20. |
| Parties | DEERE & COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Illinois |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Virgil Bozeman and John Patton, Moline, Ill., Robert H. Fraser and Louis A. Mok, Los Angeles, Cal., Harold V. Harsha, William A. Murray and Raymond L. Hollister, Deere & Co., Moline, Ill., for plaintiff.
Stuart R. Lefstein, Rock Island, Ill., Howard W. Clement, Melvin F. Jager and Thomas G. Scavone, Chicago, Ill., Floyd B. Harman and F. David AuBuchon, International Harvester Co., Chicago, Ill., for defendant.
DECISION AND ORDER
Jurisdiction in this suit for patent infringement rests upon 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a).
Plaintiff, Deere & Company, is a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business in Moline, Illinois, in this district. Defendant, International Harvester Company, is a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business in Chicago, Illinois. Both parties are manufacturers of agricultural equipment.
Letters Patent No. 3,589,110 was issued June 29, 1971, upon an application by Lester Dale Schreiner and Joseph John Shindelar, to Deere, as assignee of those applicants. It is entitled "Gear Drive and Support for Corn-Harvesting Unit." The complaint alleges that defendant is infringing that patent by its manufacture and sale of its 800 series corn head. Claims 1-10, 14 and 17 are asserted.
In general terms, the patent in suit relates to a corn harvesting mechanism designed for mounting on the forward end of a combine. Such mechanisms are commonly referred to as corn heads. It describes a mechanism embodying a multiplicity of side-by-side row units for the simultaneous harvesting of a multiplicity of parallel rows of corn.
Typically, the spaces intervening between adjacent row units are bridged by sheet metal gatherer points which guide the stalks of corn into the row unit as a combine, with attached corn head, is propelled through a field of corn. Each row unit consists of a pair of gatherer chains, two stripper or deck plates, and two harvesting rolls. As the combine moves through the field, the stalks of corn are guided by the gatherer points and gathering chains into and through a restricted passage between the deck plates. Simultaneously, the counter-rotating harvesting rolls pull the stalks of corn downward between the deck plates. The ears of corn are snapped from the stalk as they reach the restricted deck plate passage, after which the ears are moved rearwardly by the gathering chains into an auger device which, in turn, carries the ears of corn into the combine for processing. After the ears are snapped from the stalks, the stalks are pulled downward through the deck plates and out of the mechanism, to remain in the field.
The structure as envisioned by the patent may be briefly described as follows. Each row unit is a self-contained structure encompassing a gear housing upon which the rigid framework of the row unit is attached in cantilever fashion. That housing encloses gears which drive the entire unit, i. e., the gathering chains and the harvesting rollers. The gear housing for each row unit is the means through which such unit is incorporated into the complete corn head. The combine has a transverse beam which extends across a plurality of rows. The structure of the gear housing of each row unit is designed to be detachably secured to the main transverse beam by the use of bolts, and that structure, in turn, carries the unit framework in cantilever fashion.
A main horizontal drive shaft, which is driven by the combine, extends across a plurality of rows to simultaneously drive the number of row units which comprise the corn head.1 The gear train of each row unit is comprised of a main drive gear rotatable relative to the main drive shaft and thereto connected by a slip clutch which protects the gear train in the event that the unit becomes clogged. The main drive gear activates other gears within the housing which drive the gathering chains and harvesting rolls by means of shafts extending through the gear housing.
Since about 1969 plaintiff has manufactured and sold its 40 Series Corn Head, hereinafter D 40. It is not claimed by the defendant that that embodiment does not exemplify the teachings of the patent in suit.
Since early 1974, defendant has manufactured and sold its 800 Series Corn Head, hereinafter IH 800, which is alleged to infringe the patent in suit.
The D 40 embraces the features and components hereinabove described. The unitary main drive shaft extends across the gross number of row units incorporated in any given corn head. The unit is so constructed that this unitary drive shaft extends through the gear housing on each row unit. The gear housings are fully enclosed. When adjustment for row width is required, it is only necessary to loosen the bolts which lock the gear housing of each row unit to the transverse beam, and then to move the whole unit to right or to left along that beam. The unitary drive shaft is so constructed that the shaft will slide through each gear housing as the unit is moved to right or left. The drive shaft then will engage the main drive gear when the gear housing is resecured upon the transverse beam in the desired position.
It must be found that there is only one distinction between the D 40 and the IH 800. The IH 800 employs a sectionalized drive shaft. A drive shaft unit is rigidly fixed into, and extended through, each gear housing unit. Sectional members in continuation of that shaft are then attached to extend the drive shaft from one row unit to the next and ultimately to achieve a continuous main drive shaft coextensive with the total width of the corn head. The IH 800 is spaceable to accommodate the row units to varying row widths by moving the whole row unit along the transverse beam. In the process, the sectionalized main drive shaft must be disassembled and then reassembled by insertion therein of shaft segments which conform in length to the row width desired.
Defendant denies infringement. Defendant also argues that the claimed invention was obvious to persons skilled in the art, in view of the prior art, and also that the claimed invention consists of a combination of old elements which produce no synergistic effect. It therefore contends that the patent should be held to be invalid.
Following a bench trial which produced a voluminous transcript and a large number of exhibits, followed by able briefing by each party and the submission by each of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, the cause is now before the court for decision.
The defendant contends that an essential element of the patent is what defendant terms "self-contained adjustability." It contends that the patent claims must be construed to incorporate the element of a single unitary drive shaft extending transversely across the corn head and through each gear box, with the result that adjustment for row width is attained by sliding each gear box transversely along that unitary shaft without interrupting the power train. It contends that its IH 800 series does not infringe because it contains a segmented main drive shaft requiring disassembly of the shaft and reassembly thereof with different components, to achieve adjustment of its unit to accommodate row width.
Plaintiff's response to that contention, in effect, asserts that "self-contained adjustability" is a red herring devised by the defendant with an intent to delude the court to read into the claims an element which is not therein included.2
Analysis of the claims reveals that each party is right, in part. It must be found and concluded that asserted claims 4, 5, 10, 14 and 17, inclusive, are limited in the manner for which defendant contends. It must be further found and concluded that asserted claims 1 through 3, inclusive, and 6 through 9, inclusive, are not so limited.
By way of cataloging the asserted claims, claims 1, 9 and 10, inclusive, are independent claims. Claims 2 through 8, inclusive, are dependent upon claim 1. Claims 14 and 17 are dependent upon claim 10.
Claim 1 defines a corn head as above described, supported forwardly of and on a mobile combine, the combine having a transverse horizontal beam extending across a plurality of corn rows. The inventive improvement is stated to comprise the following elements:
A. A main, rotatable, horizontal drive shaft extending across a plurality of corn rows and supported on the supporting structure;
B. A plurality of corn harvesting units each comprised of:
Dependent claims 2 and 3 and 6 through 8, inclusive, each add one or more further limitations to claim 1, those claims being further descriptive of the various elements of the harvesting mechanism.
Independent claim 9 substantially follows the language of claim 1, adding limitations:
1. That the gear housing have "mechanism for supporting the gear housing on the beam";
2. That each unit have a forwardly projecting rigid framework with a rear end portion fixedly attached to the gear housing "to support the...
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