Miller v. Eagle Manuf Co

• Decision Date: 08 January 1894
• Docket Number: No. 143,143
• Citation: 151 U.S. 186,38 L.Ed. 121,14 S.Ct. 310
• Parties: MILLER et al. v. EAGLE MANUF'G CO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

151 U.S. 186

14 S.Ct. 310

38 L.Ed. 121

MILLER et al.

v EAGLE MANUF'G CO.

No. 143.

January 8, 1894.

John T. Morgan H. A. Toulmin, and L. L. Bond, for appellants.

Geo. H. Christy, for appellee.

Mr. Nathaniel French on the brief for appellee.

Mr. Justice JACKSON delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellee, as assignee of letters patent No. 222,767, dated December 16, 1879, and No. 242,497, dated June 7, 1881, issued to Edgar A. Wright, for certain new and useful improvements in wheeled cultivators, brought this suit against the appellants, who were the defendants in the court below, for the alleged infringement thereof.

The defenses made in that court were that Wright was not the first and original inventor of the improvements described in the patents; that the same were shown and described in previous devices and letters patent, set forth in the answer; that the invention shown in each of the patents in suit is identical; that in each the supposed improvements relate to a spring and its attachments; that the function and operation of the parts are exactly the same in each; that one or both of the letters patent in controversy were issued without authority of law, and therefore void; that, in view of the state of the art at the date of the alleged improvements of Wright, the letters patent granted to him did not exhibit any patentable invention, and for that reason are invalid; that the defendants were not engaged in the manufacture of cultivators, but have sold cultivators manufactured by P. P. Mast & Co., of Springfield, Ohio, constructed under and in accordance with various letters patent owned by that company; that they sold the cultivators of this company without notice or reason to suppose that they were an infringement of the patents of Wright, and that they do not, in fact, infringe the same.

The class of cultivators to which the Wright patents in question relate are of the ordinary character of wheeled, straddle-row cultivators, having vertical swinging beams, or drag bars, to carry the shovels or plows, suspended from an arch or frame, mounted on two wheels, a tongue fastened to the frame and beams connected with the horizontal portions of the arch, which serves as an axle for the wheels, and surrounding the axle on each side, a pipe box, to which the beam is secured, the pipe box revolving on the axle, and the beam carrying the shovels adjusted so as to swing up or down with the pipe box, according to the direction in which it is turned.

The patented device consists of a round steel rod or wire spring, having at its fixed end a coil attached to the swinging beam or plow bars, and, extending from the coil, a slightly curved arm, the outer end of which terminates in a bend or shoulder, from which the rod continues to form a short arm, terminating in a sharp bend or curl at the free end of the spring. This spring is so adjusted that the outer or free end thereof bears against the under side of an adjustable grooved roller, fixed upon an outwardly extending arm upon the upright portion of the axle. This spring, with its adjustment, is intended to have a duplex action, covering the double effect of either raising or depressing the beams carrying the shovels. The curvature of the spring is such that, as it moves along the groove of the roller, it presses against the latter at different points of its periphery, and thereby the direction of its action is shifted or changed as the position of the swinging beam is changed. Such changes in the direction of its action will assist in drawing or pulling the beam upwards in a vertical direction, giving it increased leverage as the spring is moved forward in its bearings on the roller.

In his original application, filed May 23, 1879, Wright fully described his improved device for use in connection with cultivators, and claimed for it, not only its lifting and depressing action, but also its lifting power, which increased as the beams were raised.

An interference with other pending applications being anticipated as to the broad claims of the invention, the application was divided, on November 12, 1879, for the purpose of obtaining one patent for the lifting and depressing effect of the spring on the beams, and another for the lifting power of the spring, increasing as the beams rise; the latter being sought upon the original application, while the former was based upon the divisional application of November 12, 1879. Patent No. 222,767, for the double effect or duplex action of the improved spring, was granted on December 16, 1879; and thereafter, on June 7, 1881, patent No. 242,497, for the single effect of increased lifting force in raising the plow beams, was granted, after interference had been disposed of.

The court below sustained the validity of both patents, and held that the defendants infringed the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 6th claims of patent No. 222,767, and the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th claims of the patent granted June 7, 1881, (No. 242,497.) The complainant waiving an accounting for profits and damages, a final decree was entered, enjoining the defendants from making, using, or selling to others to be used, cultivators constructed and operated in the manner and upon the principle described in the letters patent in controversy. From this decree the present appeal is prosecuted.

The appellants assign numerous errors, which need not be separately noticed and considered, as they are embraced in the general proposition that the court erred in holding that the patents sued on were valid, and that the cultivators sold by the defendants infringed the same.

In the specification forming part of the letters patent 222,767, issued December 16, 1879, under the divided application filed November 12, 1879, the patentee states:

'The object of my invention is to give the operator mechanical assistance in raising and lowering the plows without interfering with their usual action and movement, to prevent the plows from rising out of the ground accidentally, and to limit their descent; and to this end the invention consists in a spring which serves the double purpose of lifting or holding down the plows at will as may be required; in so constructing and applying a spring that it exerts a lifting action on the plow, only when the latter is raised above its usual operative position; in so constructing and applying a spring that it limits the descent of the plow; also, in details of minor importance, hereinafter described.

'In carrying out my invention, the one spring may be adapted to serve all or either one or more of the offices above enumerated, and may be modified in its form, construction, and arrangement, as desired, provided its mode of action is retained.'

It further stated that the improved springs may be attached to either the plows, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or to the axle, as shown in Fig. 3.

The improvements are described in the specification as follows:

'As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, each spring consists of a round steel rod or wire having at the fixed end a coil, a, and extending from the coil a long slightly-curved arm, b, the outer end of which terminates in a sharp bend or shoulder, c, from which the rod continues to form a short arm, d, the end of which has a sharp bend or curl, e, as represented in Figs. 2 and 3.

'When the spring is to be applied to the plow beam, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I first provide the upright portion of the axle with an outwardly extending arm or rod, E, carrying a laterally adjustable grooved roller, F, to serve as a bearing for the free end of the spring. The coiled end of the spring is then seated in a metal bearing plate, G, which is secured rigidly but adjustably to the beam by means of a bolt, H, as shown, the free end of the spring being at the same time seated against the under side of the roller, and the parts so adjusted that when the beam is in its lowermost position the extreme end, e, of the spring, will bear against the front of the roller, and the spring be under a strong tension.

'When the beam and its shovels are down in an operative position, so that the shovels enter the ground, the portion, d of the spring bears beneath the roller, as shown in Fig. 1, and serves to hold the beam down, so as to keep the shovels in the ground, but at the same time allows them a limited vertical movement when required.

'Whenever the shovels enter to the full depth desired, the end, e, of the spring, encounters the roller, and serves to check the descent and to suspend the beams.

'When the beam is raised, the spring continues to urge or hold them down until the bend or angle, e, of the spring, passes the roller, whereupon the spring instantly changes its action, and tends to lift the beam.'

The specification then proceeds to state:

'I am aware that cultivator plows have been heretofore suspended when in action by springs which exerted little or no lifting force when the shovels were lifted above the ground, and which exerted an increasing lifting force as the shovels descended.

'I am also aware that springs actuated by manual devices, and not automatic, have been employed to force cultivator shovels into the ground.

'I am not aware, however, that any one has hitherto applied a spring in such a manner that it served both to elevate and hold down the beam or shovels, nor that any one has suspended the beams by a spring which would lift the whole or the greatest part of the weight to the highest point required, and still permit an easy motion of the shovels in the ground, with little or no tendency to rise therefrom; neither am I aware that any one has ever caused a lifting or depressing spring, which permitted a movement of the beam and shovels, to limit their descent.

'I therefore claim to be the inventor of each and all of said features, broadly considered; and it is obvious that they may be changed, modified, or altered in the form of embodiment as desired, it being obvious to the skilled mechanic...