Chicago Lock Co. v. Tratsch
| Decision Date | 01 October 1934 |
| Docket Number | No. 5179,5180.,5179 |
| Parties | CHICAGO LOCK CO. v. TRATSCH et al. TRATSCH et al. v. CHICAGO LOCK CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Fred Gerlach and Norman H. Gerlach, both of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Clarence E. Threedy and Charles B. Cannon, both of Chicago, Ill., for appellee.
Before EVANS, SPARKS, and FITZ HENRY, Circuit Judges.
This action was instituted by Walter A. Tratsch and the Monarch Tool & Manufacturing Company against the Chicago Lock Company for infringement of Tratsch patent, No. 1,908,380, issued May 9, 1933, and Louis Hall patent, No. 1,908,752, issued May 16, 1933. Hall had assigned his entire interest in his patent to the Monarch Company, and Tratsch had assigned one-half interest in his patent to the Monarch Company, and the company had in turn assigned one-half interest in the Hall patent to Tratsch. Both patents relate to a coin slide or coin-controlled device for vending machines. The Chicago Lock Company pleaded invalidity and non-infringement.
The District Court dismissed the bill for want of equity, in so far as the Tratsch patent was concerned, and from that part of the decree the appeal of Tratsch and the Monarch Company is prosecuted under cause No. 5180.
The District Court further held that claims 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, and 25 of the Hall patent were valid and infringed by the Chicago Lock Company's devices, Exhibits I and 10, and from that part of the decree the Chicago Lock Company prosecutes its appeal under cause No. 5179. The court further held that all the claims of the Hall patent were valid and infringed by Chicago Lock Company's device, Exhibit H, which was practically a duplicate of Hall's device, and from that part of the decree there is no appeal. We shall consider the appeals in the order of their numbers.
The Hall invention relates to a coin-controlled device adapted to use with various mechanical devices which release one or more objects to the operator upon deposit of a coin and operation of the device. It is designed to preclude improper operation of the device, and at the same time to return to the operator any other coin but the one which is adapted to successfully operate the mechanism.
Figures of the patent are here produced, as well as separate figures of the guide and slide as drawn by appellant:
The device comprises a guide plate 12, having a coin release aperture 18, adjacent the inner end of which is a depressed ledge 19. The guide plate slidably supports the slide member 26, which is provided with a coin-receiving aperture 27, and slots 29 and 30 in which is extended a finger 50 carried by the guide plate 12. Over the slots is a magnet 53 which cooperates with the finger 50 in the manner hereinafter referred to.
The slide member 26 further includes projections 46 and 47 which function to move the coin out of the pocket formed by the depressed ledge 19 and to prevent retraction of the slide after having moved a predetermined distance relative to the guide. A pivotally mounted pawl 40 operates in the coin aperture to prevent operation of the slide 26 when containing no coin or a substitute. When a substitute such as a magnetic coin is mounted in the coin aperture, and slide member 26 is moved inwardly, it will bring the substitute into the magnetic field, and the substitute when thus attracted will be held in the path of the finger 50, and will not be deposited in pocket 19. When a proper coin is used, not being magnetic, it will not be held in the plane of the slide by attraction, but it will be deposited in the pocket 19, thereby missing the finger 50, and thus permitting a full operative stroke of the slide. When a coin is once deposited in the pocket portion 19 of the guide plate 12, it cannot be retracted because element 46 of the slide will engage the coin and wedge it against the opposite wall of the pocket.
The claims of the patent which are alleged to be infringed are divided into two groups, and are so treated by the parties. Group 1 includes claims 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 19, and 20, and each specifies (1) a pocket or depressed portion 19 formed in the guide to receive the coin from the aperture in the slide; and (2) means (teeth 46 and 47) for moving the coin in either direction in the pocket after it has dropped from the coin aperture in the slide. Claim 8 is typical.1 Group 2 includes claims 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, and 25, and each specifies (1) a slot 29 and 30 in the slide, and (2) a member (stop 49 and 50 fixed to the guide) extending into the slot in the slide to limit the travel of the slide when a magnetic token is used. Claims 14 and 25 are typical.2
The guide and the slide of appellant's commercial device are illustrated by the following figures:
It comprises a guide plate G which is fixedly held, and has formed therein an elongated slot D at the inner end of which is a discharge opening D1. A coin slide S with a coin-receiving aperture A is slidably mounted on top of and supported by the guide G. Pivoted pawls positioned over the slide and supported by the guide are adapted to engage the coin aperture A to prevent inward movement of the slide when no coin is present or when a paper or a perforated or slotted slug is used.
A discharge opening D1 through which the coin from A will fall, is formed at the inner end of D in the inner portion of the guide G. A disk S1 is rotably mounted in the slide at the back of and in communication with the coin aperture A. It has a curved notch in its periphery which registers with the aperture A when the slide is in its normal position, and is adapted to abut the coin or magnetic token, and so long as the coin or magnetic token engages the curved notch in disk S1 rotation of S1 is prevented. The rotation of S1 normally occurs when the finger or pin P on the disk strikes the angular side C1 of the slot in the guide as the pin is about to enter the narrowest portion of the slot in completion of the full stroke of the slide. This rotation of the disk can only occur when a proper coin is used and in the following manner: When by the action of the slide S the valid coin is positioned over the ledge L, which is beyond the center of the coin, and which occurs just before the pin P strikes the angular side of the slot, that part of the coin not supported by the ledge L drops by force of gravity sufficiently for the disk to rotate beneath it, thus aiding gravity in discharging the coin and thus permitting the full stroke of the slide. When the coin once tilts over the ledge, even before the disk begins to rotate, it is impossible to retract the slide, and an effort to do so will result in jamming the coin against the opposite side of the guide at C2. A pivoted spring-pressed two-way dog, attached to the guide, coacts as a ratchet with notches in one side of the slide, to prevent withdrawal of the slide after its initial movement, thus requiring a full stroke of the slide for the discharge of the coin through the discharge opening in the guide before the slide can be retracted. It is to be observed, however, that after the coin begins to tilt over the ledge L, which is before the ratchet begins to function, it is impossible to withdraw the slide on account of disk S1 jamming the coin against the opposite side of the guide. This jamming of the coin is just as effective in preventing the retraction of the slide as is the ratchet, and it continues until the coin drops from the device which does not occur until the dog of the ratchet has engaged the second or third tooth. Attached to the guide is a magnet which is above the coin slide over the slot, and, when a magnetic token is used, it is carried to the ledge L in the same manner as a valid coin, but, instead of tilting over the ledge, it is attracted by the magnet and thereby kept in line with the plane of the slide and prevents the disk S1 from rotating, and the token from being discharged, and also prevents the full operative stroke of the slide S. When slide S is retracted from a full operative stroke the disk S1 and the pin P remain in the same position into which they have been shifted by cam C1 until P strikes cam C2, which reversely rotates P and S1 to their normal position. The function of the elongated slot D is to permit the pin P of the disk S1 to extend into slot D and co-operate with the magnet to limit the full travel of the slide when a magnetic token is used. It also functions to permit the pin P to move a full stroke with the slide and to be acted upon by cams C1 and C2.
The first group of Hall's claims includes, as a part of the combination, a pocket 19, and means 46 and 47 for moving a coin forwardly through it, in which pocket the coin is trapped to prevent the withdrawal of the coin or the slide, thus thwarting what is known as "milking the machine."
That appellant's devices I and 10 include all the elements of the Hall patent, as set forth in the claims in issue, we think cannot well be doubted. A reading of claim 8 in connection with Figs. A and C is quite reassuring of that conclusion: "In a device of the character described the combination of a slide (S) provided with an aperture ...
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