Foseco Intern. Ltd. v. Fireline Inc.
| Decision Date | 06 December 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. C80-595A.,C80-595A. |
| Citation | 607 F. Supp. 1537 |
| Parties | FOSECO INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, Plaintiff, v. FIRELINE INC., Gallis, Inc., Randall Gallatin, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Hal D. Cooper, Robt. C. Kahrl, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Cleveland, Ohio, John J. McArdle, Jr., Stephen G. Rudisill, Leydig, Voit, Osann, Mayer & Holt, Ltd. Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.
Walter J. Blenko, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa., Wayne D. Porter, Jr., Burge & Porter Co. LPA, Cleveland, Ohio, Chester E. Gordon, Lakewood, Ohio, for defendants.
This patent infringement action came before the Court for a bench trial on July 18-19, 1983. At the close of the trial, the Court deferred decision pending the filing of the transcript and post-trial briefs. Briefing was completed on May 25, 1984. Based upon the evidence presented at trial and the post trial briefs of the parties, the Court enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.
This action involves United States Patent 4,041,199 issued on August 9, 1977. The '199 patent is entitled "Refractory Heat-Insulating Materials" and describes a heat-insulating riser sleeve used for lining the riser of a mold used for casting steel. Risers, riser sleeves and their use in steel making are discussed in more detail later in this opinion.
John E. Cartwright was the original patentee on the '199 patent. He subsequently assigned the '199 patent to his employer, the plaintiff, Foseco International Limited (FIL), an English Company having a principal place of business in Birmingham, England. FIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Foseco Minsep Ltd. (Minsep), another English corporation. In the United States, Foseco, Inc., (US Foseco), a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business in Cleveland, Ohio, is licensed to practice the '199 patent. US Foseco is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Minsep. The relationships between this family of companies, fortunately, are not particularly relevant to determination of the issues before the Court. Unless otherwise noted, therefore, the Court will refer to the companies individually and collectively as Foseco.
Fireline, Inc. (Fireline), is an Ohio corporation with its principal place of business in Youngstown, Ohio. Among other activities, Fireline manufactures and sells riser sleeves used in the casting of metals. One of these riser sleeves, marketed under the trade name "Steeline," is accused to infringe upon the '199 patent.
Randal C. Gallatin is an individual residing in Brunswick, Ohio. A former Foseco employee, Mr. Gallatin is the founder and president of Gallis, Inc., (Gallis) an Ohio corporation. Gallatin and Gallis' business activities include the sale of riser sleeves, particularly the Steeline sleeve involved in this case. Further, Foseco alleges that Gallis and Gallatin induced Fireline to initially develop and manufacture the Steeline sleeve.
The defendants have presented a common defense. For ease of reference, the Court will refer to the defendants collectively as Fireline.
A general understanding of metal casting operations and the use of riser sleeves in these operations is necessary to understand the '199 patent. To be marketable, finished metal castings must be made of a uniform density. Any cavities within the casting render the finished product unmarketable. The industry, therefore, must produce cavity-free castings. Production of cavity free castings, however, is complicated by the physical fact that molten metal occupies more space than solid metal. As a result, if molten metal fills a mold in its liquid state, the contraction of the metal during the cooling process will leave cavities within the hardened casting. Because castings uniformly cool from the outside, a single "shrinkage cavity" will develop in the center of the casting unless some remedial action is taken. This process is depicted below:
The industry has developed the use of "risers" as a solution to this problem. A riser is a reservoir of molten metal placed above the desired casting. As the metal in the mold cools and contracts, the molten metal from the riser flows down into the mold, thereby preventing the development of a shrinkage cavity. Ultimately, the casting and the riser solidify into a single piece, with the shrinkage cavity in the riser, not the casting. The riser is then cut away from the casting and remelted for later use, leaving a uniformly solid metal casting.
Two factors influence the design of a riser. The riser has to be designed so that the metal in the riser remains molten longer than the metal in the casting mold. In addition, cost efficiencies require as small a riser as possible. As such, the industry seeks to use the smallest possible riser which will take longer to harden than the metal in the mold.
In practice, the industry uses riser sleeves to help achieve these goals. A riser sleeve is a cylindrically shaped device which surrounds and contains the riser. To perform its function of keeping the metal within the riser molten, the riser sleeve must insulate or heat the molten metal in the riser. Riser sleeves are made of refractory material1 capable of withstanding the high temperature of molten metal, yet are sufficiently inexpensive that they can be disposed of after a single use. The riser sleeve reduces the cost of casting molten metal by allowing the use a smaller riser while maintaining the integrity of the casting.
The drawing below shows the use of a riser sleeve in making a metal casting.
Molten metal is poured into the casting and the riser through the gating system indicated at left. The riser sleeve surrounds the riser and sits on top of the desired casting. The rest of the system, including the mold for the casting, is encased in sand. After the metal hardens, the entire system is opened, the finished casting and riser are removed from the system and the riser sleeve is thrown away.
In the years preceding the '199 patent, three different types of riser sleeves were in common use — exothermic, non-exothermic and mildly exothermic. An exothermic riser sleeve contains a fuel which either burns or chemically reacts to generate heat and keep the metal in the riser in molten form. A non-exothermic or insulating sleeve produces little or no heat, but keeps the metal in the riser in molten form through an insulating process. A mildly exothermic sleeve combines both of these properties; the sleeve generates heat, but also acts as a reasonably good insulator after the heat producing fuel is expended.
The riser sleeves involved in this lawsuit are all manufactured through a similar process. The various chemical ingredients are poured into water to form a slurry solution. The riser sleeve is then formed on a mesh mold by using a suction device to draw the slurry through the mesh. The water is drawn through the mesh by the suction pump, leaving the solid materials on mesh in the shape of a finished riser sleeve. The riser sleeve is then removed from the slurry solution, the mesh mold is cut away and the riser sleeve is dried by baking in a special oven.
Riser sleeves are made from a combination of chemical substances. A principal ingredient in riser sleeves is a high temperature fiber such as aluminum silicate, calcium silicate or asbestos. These fibers are easily molded into the various shapes needed for riser sleeves and produce a porous structure providing excellent insulation. Riser sleeves also contain refractory fillers such as aluminum oxide (alumina). These smaller particles add strength to the riser sleeve and allow it to withstand the effects of exposure to molten metal. All riser sleeves also include binders which act as the glue which holds the other ingredients in the desired shape at both low and high temperatures. Low temperature binders include starches and resins; high temperature binders include colloidal silica.
Exothermic riser sleeves add fuel and initiators to these substances. A typical fuel, such as aluminum, undergoes a chemical reaction which produces heat when exposed to the high temperatures of molten metal. Initiators such as fluorides and oxygen are needed to create the chemical environment which allows the fuel to engage in this reaction.
During the 20 years preceding the development of the '199 patent, Foseco has manufactured and marketed exothermic, non-exothermic and mildly exothermic riser sleeves.
Beginning in 1950, Foseco has sold a "Feedex" sleeve, a relatively conventional exothermic riser sleeve. The Feedex sleeve uses aluminum as its fuel. The utility of the Feedex sleeve is limited, however, because it is a poor insulator, brittle, expensive, and produces objectionable fumes. Further, like all exothermic riser sleeves, it does not generate enough heat to allow its use with large diameter risers.
Beginning in 1965, Foseco began marketing its Kalminex sleeve, a mildly exothermic riser sleeve. This sleeve eliminated the problems with brittleness and fumes and adaptability for large diameter risers, but was still relatively high in cost and poorly designed for use with "rangy" castings.2
Foseco also markets a Kalmin 15 sleeve, a non-exothermic riser sleeve for use with low-temperature, non-steel casting operations. The Kalmin 15 sleeve is made from a mixture of aluminosilicate fiber, starch, colloidal silica sol, and aluminum sulfate. The Kalmin 15 sleeve was used in casting iron, brass and aluminum, but proved unacceptable for use with steel.
As this discussion indicates, the existing riser sleeves were not well suited for use in casting steel. The existing exothermic and mildly exothermic riser sleeves were relatively expensive and...
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