Computing Scale Company of America v. Automatic Scale Company

• Decision Date: 25 February 1907
• Docket Number: No. 175,175
• Parties: COMPUTING SCALE COMPANY OF AMERICA v. AUTOMATIC SCALE COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

204 U.S. 609

27 S.Ct. 307

51 L.Ed. 645

COMPUTING SCALE COMPANY OF AMERICA

v AUTOMATIC SCALE COMPANY.

No. 175.

Argued January 23, 1907.

Decided February 25, 1907.

Messrs. Melville Church and Joseph B. Church for appellant.

Messrs. H. P. Doolittle and E. Hilton Jackson for appellee.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, affirming a decree of the supreme court of the District, dismissing the bill of the Computing Scale Company of America, appellant, against the Automatic Scale Company, based upon the alleged infringement of letters patent No. 700,919, granted to the complainant as the assignee of the inventor, Austin B. Hayden, said letters bearing date May 27, 1902, for an improvement in computing scales.

The bill contained a prayer for an injunction and accounting. The answer denied the patentability of the alleged invention of the plaintiff, set up the alleged anticipating invention of one Christopher, and denied infringement.

The alleged improvement of Hayden is shown in the accompanying illustrations taken from the patent. [See next page.]

To understand these drawings they are to be viewed in the light of the description of the mechanism given by complainant's expert, which has the approval of the expert of the defendant, and was accepted as correct in the court of appeals. This description, somewhat abridged, is as follows:

'The two principal parts of the mechanism are as follows: 1st, a vertically arranged, nonrotating frame which comprises and includes a vertical cylindrical casing which incloses, conceals, and protects the major portion of the operating portions of the scale, and upon which are marked the price indications which indicate the price per pound at which the articles weighed are to be sold. As clearly shown in the drawings this external casing or frame is provided with a vertically disposed sight opening through which the coacting mechanism is observable, and along one vertical edge of this sight opening are arranged the numerals indicating the price per pound.

'The second of these principal parts is a second cylinder located within the casing, this cylinder constituting a computing cylinder or chart drum upon which are placed indications indicating the weight in pounds of the article weighed, and also having other indications indicating the price of an article weighed corresponding to the weight and to the price per pound. This chart drum or computing cylinder extends vertically within external casing and it is arranged to rotate on a vertical axis within the external casing. This casing is appropriately connected to the spring balancing mechanism and to the scale pan so that when the spring balancing mechanism moves up and down on the placing or removing of a load on the scale pan, the chart drum will be rotated in one direction or the other within the external casing or frame.

[NOTE: MATERIAL SET AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE (GRAPHIC OR TABULAR MATERIAL)]

'As shown in Fig. 2, the weight and value-indicating figures are placed in horizontal rows on the external surface or periphery of the rotatable chart drum of the computing cylinder, the weight indications being shown in a horizontal row at the bottom, and the price indications in horizontal rows above, there being as many of these horizontal rows of price indicating figures as there are 'price per pound' indicating figures on the fixed external casing. These valueindicating figures on

[Graphic from this page is combined with the graphic on page 611] the chart drum are computed at different rates corresponding to the 'price per pound' figures on the external casing. As indicated in figure 2 of the drawings of the patent, there is supposed to be a weight on the scale pan of 5 pounds, this weight being indicated on the weight scale, and it will be seen that in such instance the various value indications on the chart drum opposite the 'price per pound' indications on the fixed casing are, in each illustrated instance, five times as great as the corresponding 'price per pound' indications. The drawings illustrate only a portion of the indicating figures on the chart drum, but it will be understood in practice that this drum will be entirely covered on its external surface with figures corresponding to the weights multiplied by the figures indicating 'price per pound' on the nonrotatable external casing. Accordingly, whenever the interior chart drum is turned a distance corresponding to the load placed on the scale pan, the value of the load can be read at once opposite the figures on the external casing which correspond to the price per pound of the article weighed.

'The various price indications on the chart drum are visible through the sight opening in the external casing.

'The mechanism whereby the chart drum is rotated a distance corresponding to the weight of the load placed on the scale pan is as follows: The balancing mechanism is a spring balance comprising two springs which are suspended from a suitable portion of the nonrotating frame of the scale. To the lower ends of these springs is attached a crossbar in the middle of which depends a rod, this crossbar and rod constituting the runner of the scale. (See Fig. 3.) The scale pan is suspended from the lower end of this rod as illustrated in Figure 1. When a load is placed on the scale pan the vertical runner moves vertically downward distending the spring to an extent proportional to the weight of the load. In order to indicate the weight this vertical movement of the spring-supported runner is converted or translated into a rotary movement of the chart drum by suitable intervening mechan- ism. This intervening mechanism consists of a spiral groove of high pitch on the vertical rod and two rollers journaled in suitable bearings carried by the rotatable chart drum, the bearings of one of these rollers being spring pressed so that the rollers are held in yielding contact with the spiral groove on the rod. Consequently as the rod moves vertically the spiral groove thereof causes the chart drum or computing cylinder to rotate on its vertical axis.

'Accordingly, the mechanism is such that the vertical movement of the runner is translated into rotary movement of the chart drum, and the chart drum is rotated to an extent proportional to the vertical movement of the runner.'

In his application, Hayden, having set forth a description of his invention, disclaiming any intention to limit his invention by the precise description of the specifications, except as appears from his claims, sets forth eleven (11) claims, which he alleges as new and desires to secure by letters patent.

The claims alleged to be infringed in this case are numbered 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8. Numbers 1 and 2 are practically alike, except that in No. 2 the spring-supported, load-bearing, and cylinder-revolving rod is described as nonrotatably suspended. Claims 6, 7, and 8 have some trifling variations, but, in the view we take of this case, they are sufficiently embodied in claim No. 6. We shall, therefore, consider, in arriving at a decision, claims 1 and 6. They are as follows:

'1. In a spring-balance computing scale, the combination of a suitably-supported vertical nonrotatable casing provided with a price index, a vertical rotatable computing cylinder journaled in said casing, provided with cost computations, a spring-supported, load-bearing, and cylinder-revolving rod suspended from said casing, and connecting means between rod and computing cylinder, whereby, by longitudinal movement of the rod, rotary movement is imparted to said cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

'6. In a spring balance, the combination of a nonrotating frame providing an external casing and having means for sup- porting it from above, weighing springs secured at their upper ends to rigid parts of said frame, a vertically-movable runner which is suspended from the lower ends of said springs and is provided with depending means to support the load, a chart drum rotatably mounted within said casing on a vertical axis and having external horizontal rows of value-indicating figures computed at different rates, said casing having a sight opening through which portions of said value-indicating rows may be seen, and corresponding rate-indicating figures on the outer face of said frame adjacent to the value-indicating rows on the chart drum, and mechanism for translating the vertical movement of the runner into the rotary movements of the chart drum.'

Hayden did not assume to be a pioneer in this field of invention, but he claims to have made an improvement in computing scales of the spring-balance type, and states his object to be specially to increase the computing capacity of scales of that type.

An examination of the record discloses that computing scales have been the subject of prior inventions and were well known at the time of Hayden's application. It is true that the scales disclosed in the prior art were generally those having a horizontal axis, case, and cylinder, although it was not new to arrange a scale bertically.

If we are to read the claims as broadly as is contended for, and omit, for the present, vertical construction shown by Hayden, we shall find in the patent of Phinney, No. 106,869, of August 30, 1870, a computing scale having the general elements of a nonrotatable casing, provided with a price index and rotatable cylinder journaled in the case, and having computations thereon, a suspended, spring-supported, load-bearing, and cylinder-revolving rod, and connecting means between the rod and computing...