J.D. Randall Co. v. Foglesong Mach. Co.

• Decision Date: 14 February 1913
• Docket Number: 2,410.
• Citation: 203 F. 41
• Parties: J. D. RANDALL CO. v. FOGLESONG MACH. CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

203 F. 41

J. D. RANDALL CO. v. FOGLESONG MACH. CO.

No. 2,410.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

February 14, 1913

Murray & McCallister, of Cincinnati, Ohio (W. F. Murray, of Cincinnati, Ohio, of counsel), for appellant.

Border Bowman, of Springfield, Ohio (Paul A. Staley, of Springfield Ohio, of counsel), for appellee.

Before WARRINGTON and DENISON, Circuit Judges, and SATER, District judge.

SATER District Judge.

The appellee (hereinafter called the plaintiff) is the owner of patent No. 949,293, issued to Collett and Rennie February 15 1910, for a machine for stuffing horse collars with tangled straw. The trial court having decreed that the machine made by the appellant (hereinafter called the defendant) infringed the first, second, third, and fifth claims of such patent the case is brought here to secure a reversal. It will be sufficient to quote the first claim:

'In a stuffing machine, the combination of a rotatable hopper, a feed pipe, a reciprocating feed rod extending below said hopper and into said feed pipe, means for rotating said hopper, and means for reciprocating the feed rod during the rotation of the hopper.'

In the stuffing of horse collars by means of devices antedating that of Collett and Rennie, straw of short lengths only, costing from $18 to $24 per ton, can be used. The preparation of the straw by cutting it into lengths involves loss of time and much expense. The hoppers in which the straw is placed are in some such devices circular, as shown in the Estes patent, No. 916,543, issued March 30, 1909, the Allen patent, No. 767,196, issued August 9, 1904, and the original Randall machine. In others they are rectangular, as shown in the Foglesong patent, No. 275,624, issued April 10, 1883. In all of the foregoing prior mechanisms the hopper is stationary, and not rotatable, and is obstructed by means located within it to bring the straw in contact with the toothed reciprocating stuffing rod at its bottom, which delivers the straw in a doubled condition through a tube to and packs it in the collar. Estes, in his invention, for instance, to feed the straw downwardly against the rod, employs a series of bars or fingers so arranged in planes one above another at an appropriate angle as to constitute a spiral formation whereby the straw at the upper portion of the hopper moves downwardly from within the plane of one finger into that of the next, until it reaches the rod. Allen avails himself of horizontally disposed arms on whose lower sides are a series of teeth. These arms move the straw to the passage leading to the feeding chamber, to which chamber it is then carried by feed saws, where it is caught by the stuffing rod. Foglesong's patent calls for a pair of reciprocating toothed bars, which, pushing back by their forward movement a swinging flap on the front side of the hopper, permits the straw, which has been brought into contact with them, to fall to the bottom of the hopper, where it is caught by the hooks on the feed rod, and is then drawn into the stuffing tube for delivery to and packing in the collar.

The principal object sought by Collett and Rennie in stuffing horse collars was to substitute for prepared straw tangled or machine-threshed straw, costing only about one-third as much and involving no expense in cutting it into required lengths. They employed, as did their predecessors in the art, a feed tube, reciprocating feed rod and hopper, but, to accomplish their purpose, they made marked changes in the hopper and its manner of operation. On the outer end of a heavy frame they affix a circular stationary base, so located with reference to the right side of the frame as to permit a power-driven toothed reciprocating rod, which is also on the right side of the frame, to cross such base at the center of its bottom in a recess or groove. On the front of the base is attached the tube through which the straw is fed into the collar. The hopper, preferably circular in form, is mounted on the base, and, instead of being stationary, is rotated by means of gear teeth or cogs on a ring which extends around the lower periphery of the hopper and rides upon the base member, the teeth meshing with those of a power-driven pinion at the rear of the hopper and to the left of and above the reciprocating rod. The interior of the hopper is freed from all central obstructions in the form of devices for working the straw down to the reciprocating rod-- a condition essential to the use of tangled straw as it comes from the bale. After the tangled straw is put in the hopper, it is so compactly pressed down by a heavy metallic disc or iron plate, counterbalanced by a weight regulated by pulleys, that the friction between the straw and the hopper causes them to rotate together. The importance of the disc to the successful operation of their device is such that the friction of the straw against the hopper, in the absence of such disc or induced by one that is too light, would be so slight that the straw would remain stationary as the hopper revolves. Three small pins...