Chiplets, Inc. v. June Dairy Products Co.

• Decision Date: 20 July 1953
• Docket Number: 443-50.,Civ. No. 11444
• Citation: 114 F. Supp. 129
• Parties: CHIPLETS, Inc. v. JUNE DAIRY PRODUCTS CO., Inc. et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

114 F. Supp. 129

CHIPLETS, Inc. v. JUNE DAIRY PRODUCTS CO., Inc. et al.

Civ. Nos. 11444, 443-50.

United States District Court D. New Jersey.

July 20, 1953.

John H. Glaccum, New York City (Thorn Lord, Newark, N. J., of counsel), for plaintiff.

Harry C. Alberts, Chicago, Ill. (Harry Sommers, Newark, N. J., of counsel), for defendants and counter claimants.

SMITH, District Judge.

The plaintiff filed a complaint in which it charged the defendant June Dairy Products Co., Inc., with the infringement of two patents, Patent 1,967,972, hereinafter identified as '972, and Patent 2,201,872, hereinafter identified as '872. The defendant C. Doering & Sons, Inc., the manufacturer of the accused machines, herein after identified as the intervenor, intervened in the action and filed an answer and counterclaim in which it challenged the validity of the patents and denied infringement. The intervenor in its counterclaim joined claims for damages and injunctive relief under Sections 4 and 16 of the antitrust laws, Sections 15 and 26 of Title 15, U.S.C.A.

The intervenor thereafter filed a supplemental counterclaim in which it charged the plaintiff with the infringement of two patents, Patent 2,321,188, hereinafter identified as '188, and Patent 2,323,523, hereinafter identified as '523. The plaintiff filed a reply in which it challenged the validity of the patents and denied infringement.

Rottenberg Patent. ('972)

The plaintiff is the owner of this patent, which issued July 24, 1934 on an application filed June 4, 1932. The original application covered a "Butter Printing and Cutting Machine," fully described in the specification, and contained twenty claims. The only claims allowed, however, were those which were limited to a single element of the machine, to wit, a combination Cutter and Stripper. The other claims were rejected on the ground, among others, that they covered nothing more than an aggregation of old elements known in the art and disclosed in earlier patents.

The only claims here in issue are 1, 5 and 6, and these are clearly limited to a positively actuated machine which cuts and divides a slice of butter into small segments or pats suitable for table use. The invention is defined in claim 5, which is typical, as follows: "In a machine of the class described, the combination of a cutter mounted for up and down movement, a block arranged to strip material being cut by said cutter from the cutter in the up movement of the latter, and means to heat said block to prevent said material from adhering thereto." It is admitted that the invention of claim 1 differs from that of claim 5 in that it does not include "means to heat said block."

The alleged invention of the quoted claim comprises the following elements: (a) a Reciprocating Carrier Frame disposed between and slidably mounted in vertical guideways; (b) a Cutter Frame secured to the lower sides of the carrier frame and horizontally disposed over a conveyor; (c) a Plurality of Longitudinal and Transverse Knives, intersecting at right angles, supported within and on the cutter frame; (d) a Stationary Stripper Block horizontally disposed within the carrier frame and immediately over the cutter frame but independently mounted to permit the reciprocal movement hereinafter described; (e) a Plurality of Stripper Heads, formed by a plurality of longitudinal and transverse channels in the under surface of the stripper block, so disposed as to permit the reciprocal movement of the knives in the channels and in relation to the stripper heads; and (f) an Electric Heater disposed within the stripper block. The specification discloses independent means to heat the cutter frame, but this is not claimed as an element of the invention.

The operation of this machine is fully and adequately described in the specification. The slice of butter is cut into segments on the downward stroke of the knives and these segments are thereafter ejected by the stripper heads on the upward stroke of the knives. The heated stripper heads, a feature only of claims 5 and 6, overcome the tendency of the chilled butter to adhere to these elements and thus facilitate the stripping operation.

Prior art.

The Lary Patent—683,693—issued October 1, 1901, covers a manually operated machine utilized to cut and divide a block of butter into a plurality of prints of equal size and weight. The invention of this patent is broadly defined in claim 7 as follows: "An apparatus for cutting and molding butter comprising a support, a movable frame having intersecting cutting-ribs for forming pockets, the upper end of the pockets being closed by a transverse wall fixed to the movable frame, said wall having an aperture for each of the pockets, plungers or followers movable in the pockets and provided with stems projecting through the apertures, said plungers being movable independently of each other, means movable independently of the plungers and adapted to operate said plungers to discharge the butter from the pockets, and an additional means to raise and lower the frame."

When the quoted claim is interpreted in the light of the specification it is obvious that the invention of Lary comprises the following structural elements: (a) a Reciprocating Cutter Frame slidably mounted in vertical guideways and horizontally disposed over a receptacle in which the butter is placed; (b) a Plurality of Longitudinal and Transverse Knives, intersecting at right angles, supported within and on the cutter frame; (c) a Reciprocating Stripper Plate slidably mounted on a vertical guideway or bearing and horizontally disposed over the cutter frame; and (d) a Plurality of Stripper Heads secured to the under surface of the stripper plate. The cutter frame and the stripper plate are independently mounted to permit not only the reciprocal movement of the knives in relation to the stripper heads but also the reciprocal movement of the stripper heads in relation to the knives.

The Powell Patent—1,399,873—issued December 13, 1921, covers a positively actuated machine utilized to imprint a plurality of designs or legends on a sheet of dough and then cut the sheet of dough into small cakes. The invention of this patent is defined in claim 3 thereof as "the combination of a platen, a plurality of design stamps carried thereby, in a staggered row, and a plurality of peripheral cutters carried by said platen in a staggered row, parallel to and spaced apart from said stamps, a clear plate below said platen, having openings through which said stamps and cutters are adapted to pass, a back plate above the platen, means for rigidly securing the back plate and clear plate together, strippers mounted inside said cutters, secured to said back plate and movable relatively to said platen, and spring means between said platen and clear plate."

The invention of Powell comprises, in addition to other structural elements, the following: (a) a Reciprocating Cutter Frame or plate slidably mounted on vertical guideways and horizontally disposed over a conveyor; (b) a Plurality of Circular Knives secured to the under surface of the cutter frame or plate; (c) a Reciprocating Stripper Plate horizontally disposed immediately over the cutter frame but independently mounted to permit the reciprocal movement hereinafter described; (d) a Plurality of Stripper Heads secured to the under surface of the stripper plate and slidably mounted within the circular knives. The cutter frame and the stripper plate are independently mounted to permit not only the reciprocal movement of the knives in relation to the stripper heads but also the reciprocal movement of the stripper heads in relation to the knives, a feature disclosed also by the Lary patent, supra.

The Raia Patent—1,343,932—issued June 22, 1920, covers a treadle actuated machine utilized to cut a block of ice cream "into a large number of portions." It is therein stated that an object of the invention "is to provide a machine * * * including a plurality of vertically movable knives designed to cut the ice cream, and means for heating said knives whereby they may accomplish their work more effectively."

The invention defined in each of the claims of this patent comprises the following structural elements: (a) a Reciprocating Carrier Frame disposed between and slidably mounted in vertical guideways; (b) a Cutter Frame secured to the upper sides of the carrier frame and horizontally disposed over a table; (c) a Plurality of Longitudinal and Transverse Knives, intersecting at right angles, supported within and on the cutter frame; (d) a Stationary Frame horizontally disposed over the cutter frame but independently mounted to permit the reciprocal movement hereinafter described; (e) a Plurality of Hollow Blocks secured to the under surface of the stationary plate and spaced to form a plurality of longitudinal and transverse channels, which are so disposed as to permit the reciprocal movement of the knives in the channels and in relation to the blocks; and (f) a Plurality of Gas or Electric Heaters disposed within the hollow blocks.

The specifications of the patents to both Lary and Powell disclose that their inventions operate in the same manner as the alleged invention of Rottenberg. The plastic material, either butter or dough, is cut into segments on the downward stroke of the knives and the segments are thereafter ejected by the stripper heads on the upward stroke of the knives, after the cutting operation has been completed. The reciprocal movement of the knives in relation to the stripper heads is essential in the inventions of Lary, Powell and Rottenberg, and in each of them this reciprocal movement is effected in substantially the same manner.

The utilization of an electric heater as "means" to heat the knives, in a combination similar to Rottenberg's, is clearly taught by Raia. The heated Stripper Heads employed by Rottenberg are similar to the heated Hollow Blocks disclosed by Raia, and it...