Adams v. Bellaire Stamping Co
| Decision Date | 16 November 1891 |
| Citation | 12 S.Ct. 66,141 U.S. 539,35 L.Ed. 849 |
| Parties | ADAMS v. BELLAIRE STAMPING CO. et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
J. H. Raymond, for plaintiff in error.
Lysander Hill, for defendants in error.
This is an action to recover damages for the alleged infringement of a patent for an improvement in lanterns, granted to John H. Irwin in October, 1865, and assigned to the plaintiff in October, 1874. It was brought in the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Ohio. The plaintiff is a citizen of Illinois, and the defendant is a corporation formed under the laws of Ohio.
Previous to the invention claimed, lanterns were in use constructed in a similar manner to the one upon which the alleged improvement is made. They had a like metallic bottom and top, a glass globe, and a guard formed of upright wires attached to rings at the top and bottom,—the guard, bottom, and top forming together something like a basket, into which the lamp with a glass chimney was placed, the glass protecting the flame from the wind, and the wire guard protecting the glass from injury by collision. The lantern was carried by means of a swinging bail, connected with the guard or the top. The lamp, placed inside of the globe, rested on the bottom of the lantern, which was so connected with the lower ring of the guard that it could be detached and removed when the lamp was to be trimmed or filled or the chimney to be cleaned. The top of the lantern also aided in securing the globe in place, to a lantern of this kind Irwin added his alleged improvement. In his patent he states that what he claimed was 'securing a removable lantern top to the upper part of the guard, substantially as therein specified and described.' And in his specification he says that the invention 'consists in attaching the metallic top of the lantern, in which the top of the glass globe or protector enters and by which it is held in place by a hinge, to the upper part of the wire guard surrounding the globe and securing it at the side opposite said hinge by a removable fastening or spring-catch, so that by detaching said catch from the said upper part of the lantern guard the top of the lantern may be thrown back, opening upon the aforesaid hinge, thus enabling the globe to be removed, or for any other purpose.' The terms 'removable fastening' or 'spring-catch,' as observed by counsel, cover every conceivable device applicable to lanterns, and adapted to connect one edge of the lid with the top of the lantern or guard, or to disconnect it. It was simply the application to the ordinary lantern of a lid secured by a hinge on one side, and by any kind of locking...
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...that it should be weighed and considered by the jury in the determination of the question.... Adams v. Bellaire Stamping Co., 141 U.S. 539, 541-42, 12 S.Ct. 66, 67, 35 L.Ed. 849 (1891): On the trial special questions were submitted to the jury, and they found [inter alia] that the Irwin pat......
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