JAMES P. MARSH CORP. v. United States Gauge Co., 1664.

• Decision Date: 31 July 1941
• Docket Number: No. 1664.,1664.
• Citation: 42 F. Supp. 998
• Parties: JAMES P. MARSH CORPORATION v. UNITED STATES GAUGE CO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

42 F. Supp. 998

JAMES P. MARSH CORPORATION v. UNITED STATES GAUGE CO.

No. 1664.

District Court, N. D. Illinois, E. D.

July 31, 1941.

Thiess, Olson & Mecklenburger, Geo. W. Hansen, and M. Hudson Rathburn, all of Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.

Mann, Brown & Cox, of Chicago, Ill., and Strauch & Hoffman, of Washington, D. C., for defendant.

CAMPBELL, District Judge.

Findings of Fact

1. Plaintiff, James P. Marsh Corporation, is a corporation of the State of Illinois.

2. Defendant, United States Gauge Company, is a corporation of the State of Pennsylvania and is licensed as a foreign corporation to do business in the State of Illinois.

3. William Rapp, of 804 West Washington Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, was, prior to the filing of the Complaint herein, designated by defendant as its registered

agent in the State of Illinois in accordance with the applicable statutes under which defendant is licensed to do business.

4. Defendant maintains a regular and established place of business at 804 West Washington Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, at which place defendant makes cash sales and deliveries of defendant's products from a stock maintained at that place.

5. Plaintiff and defendant are each engaged in the manufacture and sale of competing internal siphon steam pressure gauges of the Bourdon tube type.

6. The accused gauge of Plaintiff's Exhibit 5 was manufactured by defendant at defendant's factory located in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, and was sold by defendant to J. J. Babka of Chicago, Illinois, at defendant's place of business, 804 West Washington Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, on an order entered April 19, 1940, and was delivered by defendant to the said J. J. Babka at that place on May 4, 1940.

7. Plaintiff is the owner of the Joyce patent No. 2,170,561 in suit and relies upon claims 4, 6, 8, 11, and 12 of the said patent in support of its charge of infringement by the defendant's accused gauge. Claims 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 10 are not here in suit.

8. A Bourdon tube is a well known pressure-responsive device comprising a hollow tubular member which is longitudinally curved and closed at one end. When the tubular member is rigidly fixed at a point remote from the closed end and the interior of the tubular member subjected to either pressure or vacuum, the free end thereof is caused to move due to changes in the curvature of the portion of the tubular member between the fixed point and the closed end. The fixed point is the "end" of the Bourdon tube regardless of whether the tubular member from which the Bourdon tube is formed terminates at that point or extends beyond that point.

9. Bourdon tubes are generally formed of materials which will anneal and cause the Bourdon tubes to lose their accuracy if subjected to high temperatures over any extended period of time. In steam pressure gauges the Bourdon tube must be protected by a siphon or trap from direct contact with live or high temperature steam.

10. The Joyce patent in suit relates to internal siphon steam pressure gauges in which a siphon or trap for protecting the Bourdon tube is built into the gauge itself and is entirely contained within the gauge casing. The Joyce patent discloses a gauge construction comprising a post for supporting all of the operating mechanism of the gauge, the post having a longitudinal bore for connection to a source of pressure and a transverse passageway in nonintercepting relation to the bore for supporting a combined Bourdon tube and siphon tube or trap on the post. One end of the Bourdon tube is secured by solder in the transverse passageway and the other or free end is connected to the gauge mechanism which is also supported on the post. The fixed end of the Bourdon tube is placed in communication with the bore of the post through the siphon tube, one end of which is positioned in the transverse passageway by solder and the other end of which is positioned in the bore and secured to the gauge post at that point by solder. The siphon tube is curbed and is concentrically arranged outside of the Bourdon tube to form with the Bourdon tube a trap between the longitudinal bore and the free end of the Bourdon tube thus to protect the Bourdon tube from the excessive temperature of live steam. In the embodiment shown in the Joyce patent the Bourdon tube and the siphon tube are formed from separate pieces of tubing and the respective ends of these pieces of tubing, which are positioned in the passageway in the post, are spaced apart, communication there-between being established through the passageway which is in the form of a tubular bore.

11. The passageway in the post of the Joyce patent establishes communication between the Bourdon tube and the siphon tube. Said passageway may assume any shape, size or length that will effect such communication.

12. The accused gauge embodies the same major elements combined in an equivalent manner to accomplish the same result as the preferred construction shown in the Joyce patent. The accused gauge differs in that two of the major elements (the Bourdon tube and siphon tube) are integrally formed from a single piece of tubing and are thus in communication with each other, both before and after being mounted on the gauge post. In the accused gauge the passageway through the post is in the form of an open groove or slot rather than a bore, and the continuous tube which forms the Bourdon tube and the siphon...