Flick-Reedy Corp. v. Hydro-Line Manufacturing Co.

• Decision Date: 14 May 1964
• Docket Number: No. 59 C 25.,59 C 25.
• Citation: 241 F. Supp. 127
• Parties: FLICK-REEDY CORPORATION, a corporation, Plaintiff, v. HYDRO-LINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

241 F. Supp. 127

FLICK-REEDY CORPORATION, a corporation, Plaintiff, v. HYDRO-LINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant.

No. 59 C 25.

United States District Court N. D. Illinois, W. D.

May 14, 1964.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Hofgren, Wegner, Allen Stellman & McCord, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.

Welsh & Bradway, Chicago, Ill., for defendant.

PERRY, District Judge.

This cause heretofore having come on for trial upon the pleadings and proceedings had herein, the court has considered the evidence and has examined the exhibits introduced as well as the briefs submitted by counsel. The court observes that counsel in this case are to be complimented for the outstandingly fine manner in which they presented their cases and for the excellent briefs which they submitted.

The court finds the facts and states the conclusions of law as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

The Parties and Jurisdiction

1. Plaintiff, Flick-Reedy Corporation, is an Illinois corporation located in Bensenville, Illinois, and engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders and related products. Cylinders of this type are used as motors and include a reciprocating piston within a fluid-tight cylinder. The piston and piston rod connected thereto are moved to and fro by fluid pressure admitted to the cylinder. Plaintiff was incorporated in 1952, and was successor in business to Miller Motor Company, which was a partnership formed in 1945. Plaintiff is the owner of copyright registration certificate A-338557 for a copyright on plaintiff's Bulletin JH-104N entitled "Hydraulic Cylinders". Plaintiff also is the owner of U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,798,777 of Flick and Kudlaty for a lug mount for cylinders, and Patent No. 2,842,284 of Flick for a particular cylinder head and tube seal arrangement for cylinders.

2. Defendant, Hydro-Line Manufacturing Company, is an Illinois corporation located in Rockford, Illinois, and has been engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders since 1946.

3. This Court has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter of the complaint and counterclaim. No issue is presented as to venue.

The Issues

4. In the complaint, plaintiff charged defendant with infringement of patent No. 2,842,284, referred to hereafter as the "seal" patent, by selling and offering for sale hydraulic cylinders designated Series R-2. By stipulation at the trial, plaintiff also charged infringement by other models S-2, T-2 and N-2 of defendant, and restricted the charge to claims 1, 2 and 5. Defendant denies infringement and asserts that the patent is invalid and unenforceable.

5. Plaintiff also charges infringement of Flick and Kudlaty patent No. 2,798,777, hereafter referred to as the "lug mount" patent, by defendant's manufacture and sale of its now obsolete models NE and RE and its current models R2E and N2E. At the trial, the charge was restricted to claims 1, 2 and 4 with respect to the NE and RE mounts and restricted to claims 2 and 4 with respect to defendant's current bar type of mount, models R2E and N2E. Defendant asserts that the lug mount patent is invalid and is unenforceable. Defendant denies infringement of any claims of the patent by its current R2E and N2E models. With respect to the obsolete models RE and NE, defendant has admitted infringement if the patent should be held valid.

6. The complaint also charges defendant with infringement of copyright registration A-338,557 by the publication of defendant's bulletin SR2-57B. Plaintiff asserts that pages 9 and 10 of defendant's bulletin are copies of pages 20 and 22 of plaintiff's bulletin JH-104N. Defendant denies infringement because of its independent writing and denies that plaintiff has any exclusive rights to assert against defendant.

THE SEAL PATENT AND DEFENDANT'S CYLINDERS R2, S2, T2 AND N2

7. Flick patent No. 2,842,284 is directed primarily to the connection between the head and the barrel or tube of the cylinder shown in Figure 4 of this patent (Tr. 357,358, PX 4, DX 201, Col. 2). As is seen in Figure 4, an outer cylindrical surface 32 on the cylinder tube or barrel pilots on the outer wall 30 of a groove in the head (sometimes referred to as an O. D. pilot) and the end of the barrel presses against a resilient seal ring in the groove. A shoulder on the barrel limits the squeeze on the ring. The patent specification stresses the fluid-tight engagement of the pilot surfaces (DX 201, Col. 2, 11. 45-47). The patent specification also stresses absolute concentricity of the tube and head through use of a special tool (DX 201, Col. 3, 11. 2-5 and 19-22). The patent specification also points out that the shoulder is in abutting, surface to surface contact with the head (Col. 2, 11. 22-28). Many types of resilient seal rings can be used in this connection including Teflon rings, Vellumoid gaskets, O-rings and washers similar to hose washers (Tr. 94, 113, 344, 368, 369).

8. In all pressure cylinders, regardless of type, the pressure within the cylinder tends to expand the cylinder barrel or tube outwardly and tends to produce separation of the cylinder tube and heads (Flick Tr. 1564, Ellis Tr. 925, 965).

9. Pressure cylinders have sometimes used tie-rods between the heads at the ends of the cylinders to hold the barrel clamped therebetween and at other times have used tie-bolts which are connected between the head and barrel at each end of the cylinder (Tr. 751, 774, 865).

10. Since in or about 1957, plaintiff has manufactured and sold cylinders wherein the cylinder tube piloted on the outer wall of a groove in the head, with a seal ring in the groove at the end of the barrel, and with a shoulder limiting the squeeze on the ring by its abutting contact with the head (Tr. 38, 67). Between 1957 and 1960, plaintiff used a tapered fit with zero clearance between the pilot surfaces of the head and barrel (Tr. 75, 131, 132, 1224, 1225). From 1960 until the time of trial, the manufacturing tolerances of plaintiff's cylinders were changed to permit a clearance between the pilot surfaces of the head and barrel, even though a tapered fit was still used (Tr. 353). The cylinders made by plaintiff between 1957 and 1960 were essentially leak-proof with respect to leakage of fluid within the cylinder, even without the seal ring, due to the zero clearance and metal to metal contact at the pilot surfaces (Tr. 74, 75). The cylinders made by plaintiff between 1960 and the time of trial would not be leak-proof without the seal ring because of the increase in clearance (Flick Tr. 1223-1227).

11. Each of defendant's R2, S2, T2 and N2 cylinders has an outer wall of the cylinder tube piloting on the outer wall of a groove in the cylinder heads (DX 71, 72, Tr. 1067-1070). Defendant's R2 cylinders have a shoulder on the barrel which abuts against the head and limits the squeeze on a seal ring between the end of the barrel (or tube) and the bottom of the groove in the head (Tr. 1068, 1069). Defendant's S2, T2 and N2 cylinders position the ring within a recess on the outer wall of the barrel. The compression on the seal ring in the S2, T2, and N2 cylinders is limited by abutment of the end of the cylinder barrel with the bottom of the groove in the head. None of defendant's cylinders uses a tapered fit between the pilot surfaces (Tr. 419-421, 1091, 1092). All of defendant's cylinders have a clearance between the pilot surfaces of the cylinder barrel and head (Tr. 1090, 1273, 1274). With such clearance, defendant's cylinders lack both "absolute concentricity" and fluid-tight "sealing relation" contemplated by patent No. 2,842,284. Defendant's specifications call for this clearance to be from .002 to .006 inches (Tr. 1080). One defendant's R2 cylinders produced at trial by plaintiff showed a clearance between these pilot surfaces of .001 to .0015 inches (Tr. 148). Defendant uses an ordinary machine finish on its pilot surfaces (Tr. 1284). The finish on the pilot surfaces of defendant's cylinders is rougher than the finish on the pilot surfaces in plaintiff's cylinders (PX 71, 72, 73, Flick Tr. 1236, 1239, J. Harding 1085, 1086, Bosi 1274, 1284). Defendant's cylinders depend upon the seal ring to prevent fluid leakage (Tr. 1374). When defendant's cylinders are assembled without the seal ring, they will allow fluid leakage at fluid pressures up to at least 2700 p. s. i. (pounds per square inch). This is shown by defendant's tests of its cylinders (Tr. 1277-1283, 1354-1359). Plaintiff offered no evidence of tests of defendant's cylinders as to such leakage or as to results obtained with defendant's cylinders. Defendant commenced manufacture of the accused cylinders in 1957 (DX 74, 75, 76, Tr. 1074-1076).

12. Plaintiff's commercial cylinders above referred to are rated for operating pressures of 500 to 2500 p. s. i. for the model J and 3000 to 5000 p. s. i. for model H (PX 12). Defendant's cylinders above referred to are rated for operating pressures of 200 p. s. i. for air and 1000 p. s. i. hydraulic in the S2, T2 Series (DX 71), 200 p. s. i. air and 500-2500 p. s. i. hydraulic in the R2 series and XXXX-XXXX p. s. i. hydraulic in the N2 series (DX 72). Both plaintiff's commercial J and H cylinders and defendant's commercial R2, S2, T2 and N2 cylinders use tie-rods extending between the heads of the cylinder to clamp the cylinder tube or barrel therebetween (PX 12, DX 71, 72). The cylinders are suitable for use with either air or hydraulic fluid as the operating medium (PX 12, DX 71, 72).

13. Prior to commercial manufacture of its model J cylinders, plaintiff had manufactured hydraulic cylinders in which the inner surface of the cylinder tube was piloted on an inner wall of a groove of the cylinder head (sometimes referred to as an I. D. pilot) and with an O-ring positioned in a recess in the inner wall of the groove and engaging the inner wall of the tube (PX 2, Tr. 36, 37). These cylinders used tie-rods...