Minton Mfg. Co. v. Continental Briar Pipe Co., 99.
| Decision Date | 06 December 1937 |
| Docket Number | No. 99.,99. |
| Parties | MINTON MFG. CO. et al. v. CONTINENTAL BRIAR PIPE CO., Inc. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Abraham Sarasohn, of New York City (W. Lee Helms, of New York City, of counsel), for appellant.
Thomas J. Byrne and George D. Richards, both of New York City, for appellees.
Before MANTON, L. HAND, and SWAN, Circuit Judges.
This is a suit for patent infringement brought by Minton Manufacturing Company, as owner, and S. M. Frank & Co., Inc., as exclusive licensee, of patent No. 1,919,959, issued to Paul H. Minton, July 25, 1933, on an application filed February 6, 1932. The patent is for a removable absorbent filter cartridge for pipes, cigarette holders and similar tobacco-smoking appliances. Claim 8, the only claim in suit, was held valid and infringed. It reads as follows:
The specifications recite that the materials used in making the filter cartridge are, preferably, strips of unsized absorbent paper spirally wound to form the tubular body, and a strip of cellophane wrapped around the body and secured by any suitable adhesive or cement. They also recite that the cellophane wrapper, being substantially moisture-proof and transparent, retains within the body of the cartridge the tobacco tars and moisture absorbed by it — thereby preventing the adjacent walls of the pipestem from becoming wet and dirty — and permits the user to see when the cartridge needs changing and to remove it without soiling the fingers. The appellant contends that claim 8 is invalid for lack of invention.
The idea of an absorbent filter cartridge for smoking appliances did not originate with Minton. The Demuth cartridge was marketed in substantial quantities from about 1910 to 1915. It had an absorbent paper body and was covered with a paper wrapper secured by cement. The structure was identical with that called for by claim 8, except that the latter has substituted for the paper wrapper of Demuth a wrapper of "substantially moisture proof and transparent cellulosic material," i. e., cellophane. It is true that after about five years of popularity the Demuth cartridge disappeared from use. Perhaps it was just a fad which had run its course; perhaps, as the plaintiffs argue, it lost its appeal because of defects inherent in a paper wrapper; namely, the tendency to swell with moisture and to clog and make dirty the shank of the pipe into which it was inserted. However that may be, claim 8 adds nothing to the old Demuth cartridge except...
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