Chase v. Gartner

• Decision Date: 22 June 1967
• Docket Number: Patent Appeals No. 7886,7887.
• Parties: John A. CHASE, Roy K. Wolke, Frank J. Pilas and Daniel K. Battstone, Appellants, v. Stanley J. GARTNER, Appellee. Roy K. WOLKE, John A. Chase, and Frank J. Pilas, Appellants, v. Stanley J. GARTNER, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA)

54 CCPA 1385, 374 F.2d 914 (1967)

John A. CHASE, Roy K. Wolke, Frank J. Pilas and Daniel K. Battstone, Appellants, v. Stanley J. GARTNER, Appellee.

Roy K. WOLKE, John A. Chase, and Frank J. Pilas, Appellants, v. Stanley J. GARTNER, Appellee.

Patent Appeals Nos. 7886, 7887.

United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

March 30, 1967.

Rehearing Denied June 22, 1967.

A. Russinoff, Princeton, N. J., for appellants.

Amster & Rothstein, New York City (Morton Amster, New York City, of counsel), for appellee.

Before WORLEY, Chief Judge, RICH, SMITH and ALMOND, Judges, and WILLIAM H. KIRKPATRICK.^*

RICH, Judge.

These appeals are from decisions of the Board of Patent Interferences awarding priority of invention to Gartner in interferences Nos. 92,264 and 92,265.

Each interference involves Gartner's application serial No. 790,570 filed December 9, 1947, entitled "Assembling Machine and Method," assigned to Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.

Interference No. 92,264 also involves a patent to Chase et al. No. 2,842,832, issued July 15, 1958, on an application filed April 2, 1951, entitled "Apparatus for and Method of Automatic Assembly of Electron Tube Parts to Form an Electrode Cage," assigned to Radio Corporation of America.

Interference No. 92,265 involves a patent to Wolke et al., No. 2,884,684, issued May 5, 1959, on an application filed February 2, 1954, entitled "Apparatus for Automatically Assembling Electron Tube Parts to Form an Electrode Cage," also assigned to Radio Corporation of America.

These interferences are concerned with apparatus for the assembly of a part of an electron tube known as an "electrode cage."¹ The issue in each is whether Gartner has a right to make the counts.

The apparatus in question includes an endless conveyor chain which carries several "jigs" or "mica blocks" to loading stations. At each station a different component of the "electrode cage" is loaded onto the jig. The conveyor chain positions the jigs roughly at each loading station. It is then necessary to align the jig very precisely with respect to the loading mechanism. The means by which this final orientation is effected is at the center of this controversy.

The respective appellants, Chase et al. and Wolke et al., disclose the need for precise orientation and the means for its accomplishment. The Chase et al. disclosure reads in part:

An important feature of the invention is a resilient support for the jigs * * *. Each of the jigs is supported on a bracket * * * by means of a screw * * * extending through an oversize opening * * * in the bracket. A washer * * * made of resilient material, such as rubber is interposed between the head of the screw * * * and the bracket * *.

This resilient mounting of the jigs is advantageous in correctly positioning a jig in accurate registry with a loading mechanism. Thus when slight inaccuracies in the chain * * * dispose a jig out of registry with a loading mechanism, the jig is permitted relative movement with respect to the chain when acted on by the positioning and locking mechanisms to be described. This relative movement is important, since the chain may be incapable of movement during stationary portions of its cycles of operation, to permit correction by the positioning and locating mechanism of a faulty registry. Reference numbers omitted.

The jigs are thus mounted in such a way that finer alignment at the loading station is possible in both the vertical direction (because of the resilient mounting) and the horizontal direction (because of the oversize openings in the brackets).

The Gartner application also discloses at least some aspects of the final orientation problem:

When mechanically assembling relatively small parts such as are employed in radio tubes, comparatively accurately spacing or positioning the parts before relative movement thereof into the assembled position is an imporant consideration. Where a fixture is used as in the illustrative machine, and it is conveyed past multiple assembling units in succession, it is desirable to include a fixture-orienting mechanism adjacent each unit.

It elaborates as follows: See Fig. 10 of the Gartner application, reproduced below.

The conveyor transports the several carriers to positions opposite the various units, but is of limited efficacy in accurately orienting the mica blocks 38. The mechanism for locating the mica blocks and the construction of the blocks themselves is illustrated in detail in Figs. 9 to 15 inclusive. Each mica block 38 comprises several rigidly assembled portions including studs 100 by means of which the block is suspended from its carrying plate 36 * * *. Hardened inserts 104 and 106 are also provided in block 38, the first having a bore and the latter having a groove for engagement by locating pins that are projected against the block at the end of each conveyor indexing operation. * * * Emphasis added.

* * * * * *

It will be observed that the diameters of the bellows are unequal. An extension 134 is provided on the movable end of the larger bellows, in this instance on the lower bellows 128, for engagement with adjustable stop 136 in frame 114. By virtue of this arrangement the mica block opposite pins 130 and 132 will be accurately centered by those pins and the level to which the mica block is finally driven by the opposing pair of pneumatic bellows is determined by coaction of extension 134 and 136. The pneumatic acutating means may evidently be replaced by other suitable operating mechanism, and mica blocks 38 are representative of any work-supporting fixtures suitable to the assembly being made. Emphasis added.

Pins 130 and 132, actuated by means not here relevant, slide into "inserts" 104 and 106. It is manifest that the mica block or jig 38 is so mounted on the plate 36 that orientation in the vertical direction can be effected by manipulation of the pins 130 and 132. The question arises over the possibility of orientation in the horizontal direction.

Each interference involves several counts. Counts 1, 7, and 11 of interference No. 92,264 read:

1. An apparatus for automatically assembling electron tube parts to form an electrode cage, including a movable flexible conveyor, a plurality of loaders disposed along said conveyor, a plurality of jigs mounted on said conveyor for movement therewith, means for intermittently moving said conveyor to dispose said jigs into approximate loading positions adjacent said loaders, means for more accurately disposing said jigs in said loading positions, said last-named means including relatively movable members on opposite sides of said jigs for moving the jigs with respect to said conveyor into said more accurate loading positions.

7. Apparatus for processing electron tube parts, comprising a first member movable in a predetermined path, a second member mounted on said first member and movable with respect to said first member in a plurality of normal paths including said predetermined path, and adapted to receive said parts, a plurality of processing mechanisms spaced in said path, means for intermittently moving said members in said path, whereby said members are intermittently stopped in positions successively to dispose said second member in approximate registry with said mechanisms, means for locking said first member against movement when said second member is in said approximate registry with one of said mechanisms, and means adjacent said second member in said approximate registry for moving said second member with respect to said first member in at least one of said paths into a more accurate registry with said one of said mechanisms and for locking said second member in said more accurate registry for accurately loading said parts on said second member.

11. Method of locating a first part accurately in a loading position for build-up thereon of a

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