Application of Chandler

• Decision Date: 23 April 1958
• Docket Number: Patent Appeal No. 6341.
• Citation: 117 USPQ 361,254 F.2d 396
• Court: U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA)
• Parties: Application of Milton E. CHANDLER.

117 USPQ 361, 254 F.2d 396 (1958)

Application of Milton E. CHANDLER.

Patent Appeal No. 6341.

United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

April 23, 1958.

A. M. Prentiss, West Hartford, Conn., for appellant.

Clarence W. Moore, Washington, D. C. (S. Wm. Cochran, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for Commissioner of Patents.

Before JOHNSON, Chief Judge, and O'CONNELL, WORLEY, RICH and JACKSON, retired, Judges.

O'CONNELL, Judge.

This is an appeal from the decision of the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office affirming the rejection by the Primary Examiner of all the claims of appellant's application No. 23,936 for a patent on an automatic control for jet engines. Claims 2 and 12, which are typical of the rejected claims, are as follows:

"2. In an aircraft propelled by a jet engine, means for controlling the speed of flight in accordance with the reaction thrust of the engine jet, comprising; means for mounting the engine so that it is movable relative to said aircraft in proportion to the reaction thrust of its jet, throughout the range of said movement; and means responsive to said movement for regulating the propulsive power of said engine, in accordance with said movement, so that said aircraft is propelled at a definite, selected speed, corresponding to the position of said engine relative to said aircraft, throughout the speed range of said aircraft."

"12. In an aircraft propelled by multiple jet engines, means for controlling the speed of flight in accordance with the jet reaction thrust of each engine, comprising; means for mounting each engine so that it is movable relative to said aircraft in proportion to the reactive thrust of its jet, throughout the range of said movement; and means for regulating the propulsive power of all the engines by varying the fuel supply to each engine in accordance with the movement of one engine selected as a master, so that said aircraft is propelled at a definite, selected speed, corresponding to the position of said engine relative to said aircraft, throughout the speed range of said aircraft."

The references relied on are:

Goddard 2,397,658 April 2, 1956; Griffith (British) 578,311 June 24, 1946.

Appellant's invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the speed of an aircraft driven by one or more jet engines and preventing it from veering off its course because of unequal thrusts from the several engines. The engines are provided with individual manually adjustable control devices of identical construction, which are connected to respond to the reaction thrusts of the respective engines to vary correspondingly the fuel flow or, alternatively, the cross-sectional area of the air intake or exhaust gas discharge of the engines. The several control devices are connected with each other by a single fluid pressure line, so that all the engines may be controlled in accordance with the performance of one of them, employed as a master engine. Each control mechanism includes a bellows for compensating for changes in density of the atmosphere, which is normally a function of the altitude of the plane, and also includes means for preventing the engine speed or temperature from exceeding safe limits. Since the appealed claims are broadly drawn, we deem it unnecessary to consider the specific mechanisms by which the results above described are accomplished.

The Goddard patent relates to a jet engine primarily designed for the propulsion of rockets or rocket craft. It discloses a combustion chamber supported on the frame of the craft by springs in such a manner that the springs are compressed by an amount dependent upon the total jet thrust of the engine. The resultant movement of the combustion chamber causes a corresponding movement of one sleeve of a sleeve valve which controls the supply of fuel to the combustion chamber. The other sleeve of the valve may be adjusted manually as desired and a manually actuated valve for completely cutting off the fuel supply is also provided.

The British patent to Griffith discloses a control system for a multi-engine jet aircraft in which each engine is provided with a tube facing upstream in the path of the exhaust gases and transmitting the pressure resulting from the impact of the gases to one side of a diaphragm in a pressure differential device. The opposite sides of the diaphragms associated with the several engines are subjected to a common fluid pressure controlled by a valve in a by-pass around a fluid pump. The diaphragm of each engine regulates the fuel supply of that engine so that changes in the engine exhaust pressure will cause an appropriate adjustment in the fuel supply to balance the thrust to that of the other engine or engines.

In another embodiment shown by Griffith, four engines are employed, one of which is manually controlled, and the pressure from the exhaust of that engine is transmitted to one side of each of three diaphragms, the other sides of the diaphragms being each subjected to the exhaust pressure of one of the other engines. The movements of the diaphragms control the fuel supplies of the engines with which they are associated to bring them into balance with the manually controlled master engine.

There are fifty claims involved in this appeal and all of them have been rejected on the ground of multiplicity. Both the examiner an the board considered the number of claims presented to be greatly in excess of that necessary to point out and protect appellant's invention, and the examiner was of the opinion that twenty claims would be adequate for that purpose.

Appellant argues that fifty claims are necessary because "The invention herein disclosed is pioneer in scope, there being no reference cited which even broadly anticipates applicant's basic inventive concept of controlling the speed of flight of a jet engined aircraft by means of the jet reaction thrust of the engine"; and because "the invention herein disclosed is a very complex one, involving the combination of a large number of novel elements."

Assuming appellant's invention to be of a pioneer nature, it is not clear why fifty claims should be necessary to define such an invention which is succinctly described in a single sentence, as quoted above. It may be noted that eight claims were considered sufficient for the basic patent covering both the electromagnetic telegraph and the Morse code. O'Reilly v. Morse, 15 How. 62, 56 U.S. 62, 14 L.Ed. 601.

Appellant's invention is not of an exceptionally complex nature. The application includes three sheets of drawings and the specification covers less than nineteen pages of the printed record here. Applications of substantially greater complexity are frequently before this court and are adequately defined in a number of claims much less than the number presented here. Moreover, as pointed out by the board, the appealed claims do not specify the various detailed features, but are broadly drawn. Accordingly, the alleged complexity of the specific apparatus disclosed affords no basis for an excessive number of claims.

As was pointed out in In re Barnett, 155 F.2d 540, 33 C.C.P.A., Patents, 1119, it is proper to allow applicants a reasonable latitude in setting forth their inventive concepts in different phraseology, but it is the purpose of claims to point out and define what an applicant regards as his invention, and that purpose is not served if, as the result of frequent repetitions, they present to the mind a blur rather than a definition. Ex parte Duncan, 1920 C.D. 36, 276 O.G. 207, affirmed 49 App.D.C. 372, 265 F. 1012.

Appellant seeks to justify his presentation of fifty claims by dividing them into ten categories, as follows:

(a) broad apparatus claims involving a single engine;

(b) broad apparatus claims involving a plurality of engines;

(c) narrow apparatus claims involving a single engine;

(d) narrow apparatus claims involving a plurality of engines;

(e) broad method claims involving a single engine;

(f) broad method claims involving a plurality of engines;

(g) narrow method claims involving a single engine;

(h) narrow method claims involving a plurality of engines;

(i) broad apparatus claims involving a subcombination of elements of applicant's invention; and

(k) narrow apparatus claims involving a subcombination of elements of applicant's invention.

Such an arbitrary division does not establish that there are material differences between the claims. Whether a claim is broad or narrow is a matter of degree and opinion, and it does not...