Eagle Mfg. Co. v. Miller

• Decision Date: 21 February 1890
• Citation: 41 F. 351
• Parties: EAGLE MANUF'G CO. v. MILLER et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa

41 F. 351

EAGLE MANUF'G CO. v. MILLER et al.

United States Circuit Court, S.D. Iowa, Eastern Division.

February 21, 1890

N French and George H. Christy, for complainant.

Wood &amp Boyd and H. A. Toulmin, for defendants.

Before SHIRAS and LOVE, JJ.

SHIRAS J.

In the bill of complaint it is charged that the defendants are infringing five several patents owned by complainant, i.e the patent of February 18, 1873, issued to John W. Swickard and John Hough; that of December 11, 1883, issued to Charles D. Reed; that of November 10, 1885, issued to E. P. Lynch that of December 16, 1879, issued to Edgar A. Wright; and that of June 7, 1881, to Edgar A. Wright. Following the order in which these patents have been discussed by counsel, we will consider, first, the questions arising under the Wright patents.

In the cases of Manufacturing Co. v. Bradley, 35 F. 295, and Same v. Moline, Milburn & Stoddard Co., Id. 299, (decided by this court,) it was held that the patent No. 242,497 was not void for want of novelty, nor has it invalidated by the issuance of the prior patent, No. 222,767; and the validity of both patents was also sustained by this court in the case of Manufacturing Co. v. Davenport Plow Co. ^[1] Under these circumstances, we shall not, in the present opinion, again discuss these questions, but shall consider only the extent and limitations of these patents, and the question of infringement

On part of the defendants, the contention is that, in view of the state of the art when Wright entered the field, his patents must be limited practically to the particular combination described in his specifications and drawings; and in support of this position reliance is had upon the inventions of Dalton, Allison, and W. P. Brown. It is not to be questioned that prior to the date of Wright's patents the desirability of some method by which the operator of a plow or cultivator could be aided in raising the plow-beams had been well recognized, and various devices for that purpose had been suggested and tried. Among such devices, springs had been used, so attached to the plow-beams as to aid in raising the beams from an operative to an inoperative position; but in the Dalton and Allison patents the springs exerted the greatest lifting effect upon the plow-beams when the plows were in the soil, and thus had a tendency to raise the plows when the same were in operation. In the W. P. Brown combination, as described in his patent of 1877, is found a spring so arranged as to exert a lifting effect upon the plow-beams, and there is also attached to the pipe-box surrounding the horizontal ends of the crank-axle an adjustable perforated projection, to which the draft attachment may be fastened. If this attachment is made above the center of the pipe-box, the draft, when the machine is in motion, will tend to raise the plows; but, if it is made below the center of the pipe-box, the draft will tend to aid in forcing the plows downward. In this combination, if the attachment of the draft to the projection named is made above the center of the pipe-box, then the effect of the spring, and that of the draft attachment, is always exercised in lifting the plows, and when in use this tendency must be counteracted. If, however, the draft attachment is fastened to the projection at a point below the center of the pipe-box, then, when in use, the tendency of the draft attachment is to pull downward, and that of the spring is to pull upwards; thus operating one against the other in their effect upon the plow-beams. This counteracting effect cannot be changed into the combined lifting effect, except by shifting the point of attachment between the draft and the pipe-box projection, which cannot be done while the machine is in motion. The problem which Wright sought to solve was the production of a practicable means whereby the operator could be aided in raising the plow-beams when the machine was operating, and also could be aided in keeping the plows in the ground. Brown had sought to solve this problem in the way already stated. Wright's solution was in the application of a double-acting spring, so connected with the frame of the cultivator and the plow-beams that in one position of the spring the effect thereof upon the plow-beams aided in keeping the plows in the ground, and in the other it aided in raising the plow-beams; such lifting effect increasing as the tension of the spring increased. Brown combined a spring action in one way, and with decreasing effect as the tension lessened with the effect of the draft attachment; but this did not embrace the idea of utilizing a double-acting spring. It is in the application of the double-acting spring that the main novelty of the Wright invention consists, and we do not think he is limited to any special form of such spring. In the specifications in both patents he expressly claims any spring so combined with the other parts of the cultivator as to produce the desired effect, which in one case is limited to exerting an increasing lifting effect when the plows are raised out of the ground, but having little or no effect when the plows are in the soil, and in the other to a lifting effect in the one position, and a downward pressure when in the other; and, if these patents are valid for any purpose, it seems that they must be held to cover the idea of using a spring so arranged as to be capable of exerting a lifting and depressing effect upon the plow-beams as the bearing of the spring is shifted. If this is the true construction of the Wright invention, the defense of want of utility has no force; nor can it be doubted that the machines sold by the defendants are an infringement thereof, for they include a spring so combined with the plow-beams as to perform the functions of the springs shown in the Wright patents.

We have considered the evidence adduced in support of the defense that Wright was not the first inventor of this combination, but was preceded by Charles A. Hague and M. L. Kissell. The evidence shows that these parties were working upon the problem about the same time that Wright was. Both applied for patents subsequent to the date of Wright's application. We do not think it is sufficiently shown by the evidence that, in fact, either one had anticipated Wright, to justify us in holding that Wright's patents must, for that reason, be held void. We conclude, therefore, that Wright's patents must be held to be valid, and that the charge of infringement is sustained.

The other patents declared upon have reference to what is termed the 'parallel movement' in cultivators; that is, a mode of construction which enables the cultivators to be moved sidewise in...