Haffcke v. Clark

• Decision Date: 25 May 1892
• Docket Number: 4.
• Citation: 50 F. 531
• Parties: HAFFCKE v. CLARK.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

50 F. 531

HAFFCKE v. CLARK.

No. 4.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

May 25, 1892

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Maryland.

The specification contains the following statements:

'The third part of the said invention relates to means for absorbing moisture from the air in the frigerating chamber and diffusing throughout the said chamber a saline atmosphere, which has antiseptic qualities, and thereby assists in the preservation of meats placed in the chamber.'

'E is a hopper, formed of some perforate material, preferably galvanized woven wire, to contain salt; and it may extend partially or entirely around the chamber, as may be preferred. The salt in the hopper, E, absorbs moisture from the air in the chamber, which air becomes strongly saline, and an effective preservative agent. Water resulting from the absorption of moisture by the salt falls to the pan, h, from which it escapes through the pipe, i.'

'Further, I am aware that chloride of calcium has been exposed in a frigerating chamber to absorb moisture from the air therein; but this salt will not answer the purpose which I have in view, partly owing to its extreme deliquescence, but principally for the reason that it will not diffuse a saline atmosphere in the chamber. Instead of chloride of calcium, I employ chloride of sodium, which I find is sufficiently deliquescent for all practical purposes; and by its use I am enabled to obtain a saline atmosphere in the chamber, which, in itself, is a preserving agent.'

I disclaim the use of combined ice and salt in a frigerating chamber, as also an exposed body of chloride of calcium.'

The claims alleged to be infringed are as follows:

'(4) In combination with a frigerating chamber, an exposed body of chloride of sodium, arranged to absorb moisture from the air in the chamber, and to establish in the said chamber a saline atmosphere, as and for the purpose specified. (5) In combination with a frigerating chamber, a perforate hopper, containing a body of chloride of sodium, arranged to absorb moisture from the air in the chamber, and to establish in the said chamber a saline atmosphere, substantially as and for the purpose specified. (6) In a frigerating chamber, a perforate hopper, containing chloride of sodium, secured to the wall of the said chamber, substantially as and for the purpose specified.'

Price & Steuart, (Arthur Steuart, of counsel,) for appellant.

Albert S. J. Owens, for appellee.

Before GOFF, Circuit Judge, and HUGHES, District Judge.

HUGHES District Judge.

Charles Haffcke, the appellant in this case, devised and constructed a refrigerator upon a pattern differing in material particulars from any before used. What one witness says of its capacity for preserving meat and other articles liable to decay, for a long time, in a high degree of atmospheric temperature, is corroborated by numerous others. This witness says, in substance, that he has seen meat in perfect preservation, which has been preserved in one of these refrigerators for six weeks, in the hottest summer weather, in a place where heat was reflected on the refrigerator from the street, under the rays of the summer sun. He testifies that meat kept in this refrigerator at a temperature (inside of its chamber) of 38 to 50 degrees, for six weeks, remains in sweet condition; and that it could not have been kept in an ordinary refrigerator in like condition for more than four or five days. He adds that this result is accomplished by the consumption of much less ice than is ordinarily required for such a purpose. An undertaker testifies that a refrigerator constructed on the same principle, but in casket form, has kept a human corpse for 35 days in a condition as perfect at the end of the period as at the death, in a temperature of 52 degrees; whereas, by the means ordinarily used such a body could not be kept longer than 10 days, with a larger consumption of ice. Other extraordinary instances of like preservation of substances liable to decay are proved to have been accomplished by the Haffcke refrigerator, by testimony which leaves no doubt of the exceptional utility and value of this contrivance for the important purposes for which it is designed.

The form of the structure by which these results are produced is in several respects novel. In the upper part of it is a bowl or rack, with open bottom, for the reception of ice. The bottom is formed of two sets of slats, the upper set convex, the lower concave, so arranged that the melting of the ice drips from the convex into the concave set of slats, and is carried off by the latter. The lower slats or troughs may or may not be filled with salt, at the pleasure of the user. The ice bowl or rack is made of smaller dimensions than that part of the chamber of the refrigerator in which it is placed, in order that between it and the walls of the chamber space may be allowed for the free circulation of air. The receptacle for ice, thus described, differs from those in common use in the fact that it does not touch the walls of the refrigerator, and that its bottom is open for the free descent of air, directly from contact with the ice above, into the chamber below.

The second distinguishing feature of the Haffcke refrigerator consists of contrivances for holding quantities of chloride of sodium or salt in the chamber below the ice, in such manner as to permit the cooled air which descends from the ice to pervade and permeate, with the least possible obstruction, these salt depositories, as well as the open space of the lower chamber. The salt depositories just mentioned, called improperly 'hoppers' in the appellant's specifications for the patent,...