General Electric Co v. Jewel Incandescent Lamp Co

• Decision Date: 05 November 1945
• Docket Number: No. 46,46
• Citation: 66 S.Ct. 81,90 L.Ed. 43,67 USPQ 155,326 U.S. 242
• Parties: GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. v. JEWEL INCANDESCENT LAMP CO. et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

326 U.S. 242

66 S.Ct. 81

90 L.Ed. 43

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.

v JEWEL INCANDESCENT LAMP CO. et al.

No. 46.

Argued Oct. 18, 19, 1945.

Decided Nov. 5, 1945.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 3, 1945.

See 326 U.S. 810, 66 S.Ct. 227.

'Mr. Alexander C. Neave, of New York City, for petitioner.

Mr. Samuel E. Darby, Jr., of New York City, for respondents.

Mr. Justice DOUGLAS delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit for infringement of Pipkin Patent No. 1,687,510 issued to petitioner, assignee of Marvin Pipkin on October 16, 1928. The District Court found the patent to be invalid and also that the accused structure did not infringe. It accordingly dismissed the bill. 47 F.Supp. 818. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding the patent invalid. 146 F.2d 414. The case is here on a petition for writ of certiorari which we granted, 324 U.S. 838, 65 S.Ct. 1017, because of a conflict of decision among the Circuit Courts of Appeals.¹

The patent relates to a frosted glass bulb for electric lamps. It is defended here as a product not a process patent. The product is described in the first claim as follows:

'A glass electric lamp bulb having its interior surface frosted by etching so that the maximum brightness of an ordinary incandescent lamp comprising such a bulb will be less than twenty-five per cent of that of said lamp with a clear bulb, said interior bulb surface being characterized by the presence of rounded as distinguished from sharp angular crevices to such an extent that the strength to resist breakage by impact is greater than twenty per cent of that of the clear bulb.'

Many years prior to the Pipkin patent, efforts had been made to reduce the glare produced by the brilliant filament of an incandescent lamp having a clear bulb. The most common method of reducing the glare was to frost the outside surface with an acid frosting solution. While bulbs so treated reduced the glare, the rough outside surface collected dirt and was difficult to clean, with the result that the light output was further reduced. Twenty-five years before Pipkin, Kennedy (patent No. 733,972 issued July 21, 1903) had showed an inside frosted bulb. But a difficulty appeared. When the outside surface of a bulb was frosted the strength of the bulb was not materially affected. When the inside surface, however, was frosted, the strength of the bulb was substantially reduced, making it unfit for practical use. Pipkin recited these facts in his specifications and stated, 'The object of my invention is to produce an inside frosted glass bulb which will be much stronger than those heretofore produced.' He went on to state that the preferred method of frosting was by use of a chemical medium which, when applied so as to produce the proper light diffusion, made the bulb extremely fragile. And he added: 'I have found, however, that if the bulb is given a further treatment, which I term a strengthening treatment, in which it is subjected to an etching or frosting treatment of lower degree than that to which it was first subjected, it becomes quite strong. Indeed, it may be made practically as stong as the original clear glass bulb.' He gave as the probable explanation the fact that the first treatment produced sharp, angular crevices or pits in the glass, while the second or strengthening treatment ate away additional glass and rounded out the angular crevices into saucer-shaped pits.² The fact that the bulb was strengthened when additional glass was dissolved was referred to by the court below as 'Pipkin's paradox'. The patent contains charts showing the relative extent to which the strength of the bulb is weakened by the first frosting treatment and its strength restored by the second treatment. The patent also shows that while the bulb of the patent materially reduced the glare obtained in a clear bulb, the lighting efficiency of the two is substantially the same for any given wattage.

As the first claim of the patent indicates, the characteristic feature of the patented bulb is the fact that the interior surface is 'characterized by the presence of rounded as distinguished from sharp angular crevices.' It is that feature which is responsible for the bulb's strength. Now, an electric bulb frosted on the inside was old in the art. Kennedy had disclosed such a product twenty-five years earlier. Moreover, it had long been known in the art that successive acid treatments of glass rounded out the sharp angular crevices produced by the first etching. That was shown in particularity by Reinitzer³ in 1887 and by Tillotson⁴ in 1917. And it was shown in Sprechsaal of 1907 (a German trade paper) that if hollow glass was subjected to a second etching, the surface would have a silk-like appearance, the finish being called satin etching or silk mat.⁵ It is true that these prior publications were concerned with frosting for the purpose of obtaining a decorative finish in glass ware or desired optical effects in focusing screens for cameras and the like. But Sprechsaal in 1912 specifically described the application of successive etchings to electric bulbs. And that publication recommended, as Pipkin did years later, that a weaker or diluted etching solution be used for the second etching. Moreover, Wood (patent No. 1,240,398 issued September 18, 1917) observed that successive acid treatments of glass rounded out the sharp angular crevices produced by the first etching, and he applied that idea to electric bulbs as well as to other glass articles. His patent covered the making of light-diffusing screens. He noted that if glass was etched once, the surface was cut into irregular crevices, pits and grooves with the result that only a portion of the light was transmitted. But if after the first etching (which he accomplished by a blast of air charged with a fine dust of flour emery or carborundum) the surface was flowed with acid, the crevices and pits were enlarged and smoothed out into minute concave lenses. These microscopical lenses diffused the light perfectly and transmitted practically all of it. He noted that his process was especially valuable in the case of certain types of cameras. But he added, 'Such a screen is also useful for rendering the bulbs of incandescent lamps diffusing without at the same time causing the very marked loss in the efficiency of the lamp, which results from frosting the bulbs in the usual manner.' Wood, to be sure, did not describe frosting the inside of the bulb. Kennedy, however, had shown that. Moreover, prior to Wood it was well known in the art, as we have noted, that successive acid treatments of glass produced a surface characterized by the presence of rounded as distinguished from sharp angular crevices or pits. If there was novelty in applying that process to electric bulbs, Wood achieved it. At least since Kennedy, it was known that...