Moore v. Finberg

• Decision Date: 10 May 1938
• Docket Number: No. 4441.,4441.
• Citation: 23 F. Supp. 368
• Parties: MOORE v. FINBERG.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

23 F. Supp. 368

MOORE v. FINBERG.

No. 4441.

District Court, D. Massachusetts.

May 10, 1938.

Herbert A. Baker and Alan B. Bagley, both of Boston, Mass., for plaintiff.

Max N. Lebowitz, of Boston, Mass., for defendant.

BREWSTER, District Judge.

This is a suit for infringement of United States patent No. 1,857,209, granted May 10, 1932, to George A. Moore of Boston, the present plaintiff, upon an application filed March 2, 1932. The defendant has not attempted to attack the validity of the patent as provided by statute, see U.S. C., title 35, § 69, 35 U.S.C.A. § 69, and the only issue here presented is that of infringement. The plaintiff seeks an injunction and an accounting.

The following, in so far as it contains statements of fact or conclusions of law, may be deemed a compliance with Equity Rule 70½, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723.

The invention protected by the patent in suit is designed to provide a set of toy motor parts of such a nature that they may be put together by a young person with little or no mechanical skill, thus providing a toy electric motor which, when assembled, will operate from an ordinary dry cell battery and will demonstrate on a miniature scale all the fundamental principles involved in the construction and operation of a direct current motor. Because of its educational possibilities, the device is not only useful as a toy but has found wide acceptance in schools.

The toy motor made by the plaintiff in accordance with the teachings of his patent is packed for sale in a small cardboard box about five inches long, three inches wide, and one-half inch deep. The cover of this box serves as a base for the assembled motor. The various parts supplied are mounted on this base by means of staple shaped fasteners. Slits are punched in the base at proper places to receive these fasteners, thus helping the operator to mount his parts in their correct positions. The parts provided include a field magnet, and core, with its winding; an armature, including core, winding and shaft; a commutator mounted on the shaft; bearings to support the shaft; and brushes. These parts are mounted and assembled in the manner indicated below.

Seated on the base are two bearings, so-called, consisting of pieces of three-eighths inch stiff metal ribbon, bent at right angles so as to provide feet for mounting, and vertical standards pierced with holes near the top to serve as bearings for an armature shaft. When properly mounted, these bearings serve to hold the armature shaft about seven-eighths of an inch above the base and permit it to rotate freely.

The armature is mounted near one end of this shaft and consists of a core of two pieces of metal ribbon, each about an inch long, having recessed portions adapted to clamp on either side of the shaft. The pieces are held together by the armature winding, so that the whole armature is thus clamped to the shaft by friction. The armature winding has five turns of enameled copper wire wound around the core pieces on each side of the shaft, making ten turns in all. The ends of the armature winding are then scraped bare of their enamel insulation and passed through holes in two disks of insulating material, frictionally mounted on the shaft at the other end from the armature. The holes in these disks are so arranged that the bare ends of the wires are held parallel to the shaft, but on opposite sides thereof and separated from the shaft itself. Thus the portion of the bare wires extending between the two insulating disks forms a midget two-segment commutator for the completed motor.

The field magnet is made of three separate pieces of the same size metal ribbon as is employed for the bearings and the armature core. It includes a core piece so bent that it has a central portion raised slightly from the base, two end sections which serve as feet, and intermediate shoulders. Twenty turns of wire are wound on the central portion, thus providing a field winding. The pole pieces are shaped so that they have feet which rest against the end portions of the core piece and then rise in a semicircular fashion, so that they partially surround the armature which, in turn, is free to rotate in the circular space between the pole pieces.

Two pieces of bare wire are also mounted on the base in such a manner that they extend upwards and rest lightly against the commutator previously described. These wires serve as brushes. The brushes have feet terminating in loops of wire. The loops of wire are mounted underneath the inner prongs of a pair of two-pronged copper plates provided for the purpose. Connecting wires equipped with similar loops are fastened underneath the outer prongs of these plates.

The armature winding and the field winding are connected in series and together are connected to a dry cell battery. If carefully put together, the motor is supposed to attain a speed of 6,000 revolutions per minute for short intervals.

At the trial, counsel for the plaintiff stated that he would rely upon claims 1, 4 and 5 of the patent. Claim 1 reads: "A toy electric motor comprising motor elements including a field magnet, a rotary armature having a shaft, bearings for said shaft, a commutator on the shaft, and a pair of commutator brushes, said magnet, bearings, and brushes having feet, a base supporting said feet and having indicating means showing the required relative positions of the feet thereon, and fasteners securing said feet to the base, said indicating means showing the required location of said fasteners and feet, and enabling said elements to be assembled by a novice in building the motor."

Claim 4 covers, in addition to the features set forth in claim 1, certain details in the...