Bassick Mfg Co v. Hollingshead Co Rogers v. Alemite Corporation, s. 23 and 31

Citation298 U.S. 415,80 L.Ed. 1251,56 S.Ct. 787
Decision Date18 May 1936
Docket NumberNos. 23 and 31,s. 23 and 31
PartiesBASSICK MFG. CO. v. R. M. HOLLINGSHEAD CO. ROGERS et al. v. ALEMITE CORPORATION
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Mr. Lynn A. Williams, of Chicago, Ill., for petitioner in No. 23 and respondent in No. 31.

Messrs. L onard L. Kalish, of Philadelphia, Pa., and W. G. Doolittle, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for petitioners in No. 31.

Messrs. Frank S. Busser and Leonard L. Kalish, both of Philadelphia, Pa., for respondent in No. 23.

Mr. Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court.

In these cases writs of certiorari were granted (295 U.S. 726, 55 S.Ct. 833, 79 L.Ed. 1677; 295 U.S. 726, 55 S.Ct. 835, 79 L.Ed. 1678) to resolve conflicts with respect to the scope and alleged infringement of claims 1 to 6, 8, 10, 14, and 15 of the Gullborg patent, No. 1,307,734. In No. 23 the Circuit Court of Appeals, while holding the claims valid, so construed them as to exculpate the accused devices from the charge of contributory infringement.1 In No. 31 the Circuit Court of Appeals gave the claims a broader construction and adjudged that the petitioners were guilty of contributory infringement.2

The subject of the patent is a device for lubricating metal bearings, particularly those of automobiles. It has occasioned much litigation.3 Before the date of Gull- borg's invention grease cups were used for bearing lubrication. The cup was connected with the bearing by a tube and oil or grease was forced through the tube into the bearing by screwing down a cap or plunger which was part of the cup. It became common to substitute, in place of the grease cup, a tubular fitting and to force grease through the fitting by means of a 'gun' consisting of a compression chamber and an attached hose, the latter coupled to the fitting by a screw thread or bayonet coupling. In the case of the bayonet coupler the fitting had lugs or pins and the coupler device had slots which engaged such lugs or pins to form a tight union. The grease would then be forced from the chamber of the gun into the bearing by the use of a plunger or pump. In some of the prior art appliances the aperture of the fitting was kept closed when greasing was not being done by a ball or capsule held against the opening of the fitting by a spring. This closure is opened, during the greasing operation, by the pressure of the grease. Gullborg conceived the idea of a fitting in which, instead of pins or lugs set on either side, there should be a pin running directly through the tube and extending out on either side. He used that portion of the pin which bisected the tube as the base of a spring to hold in place a metal ball which closed the aperture of the fitting. This invention was novel in the respect that while others had similarly closed the aperture of the fitting none had employed the pin both to form the lugs for engaging the slots of the coupler and to form the base of the spring supporting the ball closure. For this invention he applied for and obtained a patent, No. 1,307,733, which is not here in suit. Recognizing that when a bayonet coupler is secured to the pin fitting, and the grease is forced through the fitting into the bearing under great pressure, upon uncoupling the gun from the fitting some grease will remain around the end of the fitting and the orifice of the coupler which is not only useless but likely to soil the clothing of the operator or others using the machine, and litter the place where the greasing is done, Gullborg set about to devise a means for eliminating this residuum of grease. He conceived the idea of placing a movable perforated cup-shaped disk or washer in the barrel of the coupler held by a spring against the orifice of the coupler. The intended operation of his device was that when the coupler had been fastened over the pin fitting the spring should press the washer against the ball in the pin fitting so that the tube in the fitting would be open to receive the grease and, upon aplication of pressure to the grease, the washer would thereby be firmly pressed against the opening of the pin fitting, thus causing a tight union and preventing exudation of grease. His specif cation asserts that the invention makes possible the injection of grease under very high pressure. The design of the bayonet slots is such that, in uncoupling, the coupling member of the gun will at first be moved slightly forward on the pin fitting thus backing up the perforated washer in the bore of the coupler. As the two parts are then drawn apart by the retraction of the coupler, the cup-shaped washer will be forced forward by the spring. This will cause a vacuum behind the washer and the air rushing in through the perforation in the washer will draw with it any grease which would otherwise adhere about the orifices of the fitting and the coupling.

While Gullborg's invention was confined to an improvement in the hose coupler, which is but one element in the old and well understood combination of a compression chamber or pump, a hose, a hose-coupler, and a grease cup or fitting connected to the bearing to be lubricated, his claims are not for the improvement as such but all are for a combination of the old elements with the improved form of coupler. They are too long to set forth in full. Claim 2 may be taken as typical of a number of them. It reads:

'2. The combination with a hollow coupling member having a pin projecting from one side thereof and a spring-pressed closure, of a pump, a discharge conduit having one end secured to the outlet of said pump, a second hollow coupling member for receiving the closed end of said first named coupling member secured to the other end of said conduit and provided with a bayonet slot adapted to co-act with said pin, a perforated sealing disk mounted to reciprocate in the bore of said coupling member, means for yieldingly urging said sealing disk against the closed end of said first named coupling member, and means for limiting the movement of said sealing disk in the direction of said second coupling member.'

The claimed combination is, therefore, of four things: (1) A type of pin fitting which was old in the art; (2) a pump for creating pressure, which was old; (3) a hose to connect the two; and (4) a well-known type of coupler, the only novel feature of which is the perforated sealing disk mounted to reciprocate in the bore of the coupler with means for yieldingly pressing the disk against the end of the pin fitting and means for limiting the movement of the disk in the direction of the pin fitting (which signifies merely some sort of shoulder at the orifice of the coupler to prevent the spring from forcing the disk out of the end of the bore).

Nothing is said in specification or claims concerning the release of the high pressure in the gun before uncoupling, but evidently this must be done if the movement of the perforated disk is to create a vacuum. The petitioner concedes that if the high pressure is maintained the grease packed behind the washer will move forward with it and not only prevent the creation of a vacuum back of the washer but continue to exude from the coupler through the perforation in the washer. It is explained that the pressure may be released by a slight retraction of the pl nger in the grease gun so as to permit the spring and washer to perform their function of creating a suction when the pin and coupler are disengaged.

Claims 1 to 6, inclusive, and 8 and 10, have been repeatedly held valid, but the invention has generally been limited to the novel means whereby upon the uncoupling of the gun from the pin fitting a suction is produced which removes excess lubricant from the point of contact of the two members. Although in the instant cases the validity of the claims is denied, we think they disclose novelty and invention to the extent indicated.

Claims 14 and 15 are of a different order. Claim 15 may be taken as typical. It is:

'15. The combination with a grease cup comprising a tubular member having a closure seat, a closure, a pin extending through said tubular member and from both sides thereof, and a spring confined between said pin and closure, and tending to hold said closure on its seat, of a grease pump having a discharge conduit, and means co-acting with the ends of said pin for detachably connecting the discharge end of said conduit with said grease cup.'

It will be noted that this claim describes a combination consisting of the pin fitting of Gullborg's patent No. 1,307,733, with any grease pump having a bayonet type coupler. Nothing in the claim discloses the cup shaped reciprocating disk yieldingly pressed forward against the closure of the pin fitting. Grease guns having such a bayonet coupling were old in the art. The question is whether claims 14 and 15, unless restricted to the combination of a grease gun and coupler and a pin fitting such as are described in the specifications of the patent, are void as attempting to extend the monopoly of Gullborg's patent No. 1,307,733, to exclude the use therewith of any grease gun except one having the suction device of the patent in suit.

With this background we pass to consideration of the specific cases presented.

No. 23.

The petitioner, as owner of the Gullborg patent, filed a bill in the district court to restrain alleged infringement by the respondent. The latter did not sell pin fitings but did sell two types of grease pumps. The slotted coupler of the first has no slidably mounted cup-shaped perforated disk in its bore. Confessedly there is no means for producing the suction effect claimed for Gullborg's invention. The Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing the decision of the district court, held that in view of the limited scope of the invention disclosed in claims 1 to 6, inclusive, and 8 and 10, this device did not infringe. It...

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