Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Corp.
| Decision Date | 19 July 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-540,KIMBERLY-CLARK,83-540 |
| Citation | 218 USPQ 781,713 F.2d 760 |
| Parties | Peter Gabor KALMAN, Appellee, v.CORPORATION, Appellant. Appeal |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Leonard J. Santisi, New York City, argued for appellant. With him on the brief was Gerald T. Bodner, New York City, of counsel.
I. Irving Silverman, Chicago, Ill., argued for appellee. With him on the brief were Myron C. Cass and Lawrence J. Bassuk, Chicago, Ill.
Before RICH, DAVIS, BENNETT, SMITH and NIES, Circuit Judges.
This appeal is from the September 17, 1982, judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, sitting without a jury, holding claims 1, 3, 15, 18, 20, 23, and 25 of appellee Kalman's U.S. Patent No. 3,471,017, issued October 7, 1969, entitled "Filtering Process and Apparatus," valid and infringed by appellant Kimberly-Clark Corp. ("KC"). 561 F.Supp. 628. We affirm.
The Kalman patent describes and claims a process and apparatus for filtering a heat-softened substance, for example, a thermoplastic, by introducing a filter ribbon across a passage through which the substance flows. Figs. 1 and 2 of the patent are here reproduced.
Important to the device are sealing ports 3 and 4 where, through control of heaters 6, 7, 10, and 11, and water cooling channels 8, 9, 12, and 13, the temperature is kept within a lower range than that of the enclosure containing the hot plastics melt so that "the quantities of rigid and semi-rigid plastics material situated within the channels of these ports act as self replacing sealing plugs at the entry and exit zones of the filter ribbon." The filter ribbon or screen is shown at 1. The filtering device is for use in plastics extruders between the feed screw or ram and the outlet die.
A significant feature of the invention is that the extrusion process need not, as with some prior devices, be interrupted to change filters. Nor does it utilize methods such as redirecting flow or incorporation of two filters on a slide to be reciprocated as one filter becomes clogged or damaged. The patent describes two primary methods of advancing the filter ribbon, which rests against and is supported by breaker plate 17, continuous and intermittent. The filter may be
* * * forwarded through the filtering enclosure in steps by periodically shutting off the water supply to ports 3 and 4 by means of a valve, not shown, and by raising the temperatures of these ports by means of the cartridge heaters * * *. As the outer skins of the substantially solid plastics plugs within ports 3 and 4 gradually soften ribbon 1 becomes free to move. Since the cross-sectional area of exit slot 15 is larger than that of inlet slot 14 and since both plugs are still keyed onto ribbon 1 a net hydrostatic force exists which forwards ribbon 1 in the direction of arrow c together with the two plugs.
Continuing, Kalman emphasizes that it
* * * will be ready [sic] seen by those skilled in the art that the invention lends itself also to continuous rather than periodic operation; in this method of operating the invention ports 3 and 4 are maintained at intermediate temperatures which facilitate the required slow but continuous forwarding of ribbon 1 through the apparatus.
Kalman also notes that "Economy in the consumption of filter cloth may be achieved by using an endless, recirculating filter ribbon loop; the impurities are filtered out as in the preceding embodiments of the invention and the surrounding solidified plastics material forming the sleeve 22 may be continuously removed, together with the entrapped impurities for example by melting or by solvent extraction."
Kalman concludes that
* * * the essential feature of the invention [is] that the filter is provided in the form of an extended ribbon which passes through a filtering enclosure sealed by partially or fully solidified end plugs formed of the material which is being filtered. Replacement of the clogged filter areas and removal of the impurities from the stream of the material being filtered is achieved by a substantially transverse movement of the filter ribbon. This may most simply be brought about by utilizing the hydrostatic pressure present in extruders but may also be caused, enhanced or retarded by direct mechanical pull at either end of the ribbon.
The claims in issue read as follows (paragraphing of steps or elements as used in KC's stipulation):
effecting movement of said filter through said ports under conditions providing for self-maintenance of said sealing plugs to introduce another part of said filter band or ribbon into said passage.
3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein movement of said filter is effected intermittently.
15. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which said substance is a heat-softened plastics material.
said ports being adapted for the formation therein, in use, of sealing plugs of the substance being filtered permitting movement of said filter through said slots without substantial leakage of said substance, and
means to provide temperature conditions at said ports to form said plugs.
20. A filtering device as claimed in claim 18 wherein each slotted port defines an extended channel through which said filter passes.
23. A filtering device as claimed in claim 20 including means for controlling the temperature of each port.
25. A filtering device as claimed in claim 20 wherein the channel of at least one of said ports is parallel sided over at least part of its length.
The accused infringing devices are Berlyn Continuous Filters Model Nos. CF3539 and CF4549, purchased and installed by KC in 1977. These devices, one of which is depicted below, are essentially identical and differ only in size. They use a hydraulic ram to incrementally push a series of three interlocked filter plates across the extrusion passage. The Berlyn brochure states that
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
A simplified visual comparison of the patented and accused infringing screen changers is provided by an attorney's sketches reproduced below, patented changer at the top, accused Berlyn structure at the bottom, the latter employing the interlocking filter plates shown above pushed through the unit from right to left by the ram.
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
The principal prior art reference relied upon, which is not listed in the Kalman patent, is U.S. Patent No. 3,112,525, issued December 3, 1963, to Moziek for an "Apparatus for Extruding Thermoplastic Material." The patent describes an extrusion device that utilizes single slidable cartridge filter assemblies each of which consists of a perforated screen holder, a screen, and a ribbed screen retainer. The filter is said to be changed without interrupting extrusion, but changing is done by opening valve means located on either side of the filter receiving passage and inserting a fresh filter cartridge, which pushes the clogged filter cartridge out through the opposite valve means. The Moziek device is shown below, 32 being the slidable cartridge assembly and 36a and 36b the rotatable valves:
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
Moziek states that
The tendency of most thermoplastic materials to leak past the valve means is generally dependent on the fluid viscosity of the thermoplastic material at the temperature of the extrusion. For materials of low fluid viscosity, it has been found that leakage can be further reduced by supplemental cooling of the valves. This may be most conveniently done by hollowing or jacketing portions of the valve means to permit circulation of a cooling medium.
Garrahan, U.S. Patent No. 1,195,576, issued August 22, 1916, describes and claims a "Rubber-Reclaiming Machine." The "invention relates to means for straining scrap rubber and the like materials to remove therefrom foreign bodies, such as metal, wood, stone or other hard pieces or particles that have been incorporated therein in the previous uses to which the material may have been put." The patent shows a long filter plate m extending out of the filtering device. This construction, shown below, enables the operator to move the strainer "from time to time so as to shift one part of the straining area out of the straining position and another into straining position to enable cleaning of the former while the straining operation proceeds uninterrupted." Movement is accomplished through attached screw z.
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
U.S. Patent No. 3,007,199, issued November 7, 1961, to Curtis...
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