Oglebay Norton Co. v. Universal Refractories Corp.

• Decision Date: 11 June 1969
• Docket Number: No. 65-C-310.,65-C-310.
• Citation: 300 F. Supp. 1106
• Parties: OGLEBAY NORTON COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSAL REFRACTORIES CORPORATION, a Wisconsin corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin

300 F. Supp. 1106

OGLEBAY NORTON COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSAL REFRACTORIES CORPORATION, a Wisconsin corporation, Defendant.

No. 65-C-310.

United States District Court E. D. Wisconsin.

June 11, 1969.

Paul R. Puerner, Milwaukee, Wis., M. Hudson Rathburn, Robert L. Rohrback, and Walther E. Wyss, Chicago, Ill., J. Herman Yount, Jr., Cleveland, Ohio, for plaintiff.

Edward D. Cleveland, Ronald E. Barry, and Fred Wiviott, Milwaukee, Wis., for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

REYNOLDS, District Judge.

This action for patent infringement arises under the patent laws of the United States, Title 35 U.S.C. §§ 271, 281 et seq. The jurisdiction of this court is based on Title 28 U.S.C. § 1338, and venue lies in this district by virtue of Title 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).

This matter was tried to the court on February 5, 1968. In addition thereto, the court and counsel visited a steel mill in Gary, Indiana, for the purpose of familiarizing the court with the pouring of steel molds and the use of the hot top in conjunction with the commercial product of the Carpenter patent. Subsequent to trial, counsel have prepared and submitted post-trial briefs along with proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.

THE PARTIES

Plaintiff, Oglebay Norton Company (hereinafter referred to as "Oglebay"), is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in the Hanna Building, Cleveland, Ohio. Defendant, Universal Refractories Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Universal") is a Wisconsin corporation having its principal place of business at 9800 West Rogers Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

THE PATENT IN ISSUE

Oglebay is the owner of United States Letters Patent No. 3,216,689 (hereinafter referred to as "Carpenter patent") issued to Oglebay on November 9, 1965, as assignee of Joel C. Carpenter on an application, Serial No. 233,949, filed on September 17, 1962. The claimed invention relates generally to hot tops, but more particularly to a multiple panel wrap-up unit for insertion in a reusable ingot mold hot top.

Hot tops are used by the steel industry in the casting of metal ingots. Their function is to reduce or eliminate from the main body of a steel ingot the piping or shrinkage cavities that would otherwise be formed in the main body of the ingot as the steel passes from the molten to the solid state.

Hot tops accomplish this desired result by providing a reservoir (hereinafter referred to as a "sinkhead") at the upper end of the ingot mold, which sinkhead is insulated so that the molten steel in the sinkhead is kept molten while the steel in the mold solidified. Thus, during cooling and solidification of the steel in the mold, the hotter and more fluid steel in the sinkhead keeps feeding down into the main ingot body with the result that the cavities are confined to the sinkhead which can be discarded after solidification with a minimum loss of steel.

There are various types of hot tops employed by steelmakers, including a class known as "Adjustable Floating Hot Tops" which are made slightly smaller in cross section than the mold and are set into the upper end of the mold and supported on temporary blocks that are removed immediately after the molten steel is poured so that the hot top floats with the molten steel during solidification. These adjustable floating hot tops include "Reusable" hot tops that can be used over and over for a substantial number of heats but which require reconditioning and/or rebuilding to some extent for each successive pouring.

The Carpenter patent claims a multiple panel wrap-up unit for insertion inside such a reusable hot top structure.¹ In general terms, this wrap-up insert unit consists of a plurality of panel members which have a predetermined configuration and which are hingedly interconnected by a flexible means, such as corrugated cardboard. This insert unit may be and is packaged and shipped in a flat position and then folded into a preselected, open-ended, hollow configuration for insertion into a reusable hot top so as to provide an insulating lining therefor. The panels of the insert unit are made of a material which weakens when subjected to the high temperature of molten steel so as to facilitate removal of the hot top from the solidified sinkhead. The hot top is then rendered reusable by cleaning it out and inserting a new multiple panel insert unit.

More specifically, the hot top includes a permanent outer casing formed of cast iron having a central opening, preferably tapered, and provided with a refractory lining of relatively soft insulating brick (hereinafter referred to as "brick lining") that is in itself incapable of withstanding the heat of molten steel. In order to protect this brick lining against heat and mechanical damage, the hot top is provided with a panel insert unit which includes a plurality of heat collapsible panels formed of a granular refractory material (sandlike in appearance) bonded by a heat destructible binder. A flexible backing member (preferably corrugated cardboard) is connected to the back sides of these panels. The panels are preformed to a particular shape and size, and when secured to this flexible backing member, they are disposed in a side-by-side, spaced relation so that the entire unit may be shipped to the steel mill in a flat condition and readily wrapped up at the steel mill for insertion into the reusable hot top casing. When the unit is wrapped up, the panels move from their side-by-side relation to edge-abutting positions with the edge surfaces of adjacent panels in area engagement. When inserted into the hot top casing, the cardboard backing is disposed between the back surfaces of the insulating (sandlike) panels and the insulating brick lining. When thus inserted into the hot top casing, a bottom refractory ring having a portion engageable with a portion of the bottom side of the insert unit is secured to the hot top casing to support the insert unit therein. When employed with a hot top having a tapered central opening, the corrugated cardboard backing member and the panels are suitably shaped, the panels having converging sides, so that when wrapped up, the panels of the insert unit define a tapered opening through the hot top.

Recited objects of the claimed invention are an improved method for emplacement of preformed hot top panel linings; improved methods for the packing, shipping, and assembly of such preformed panel linings; an improved means of venting the gases generated during the pouring of metal ingots; improved provisions for the stripping of the hot top from the ingot mold; and an improved veneer facing for the insulating lining of a hot top structure.

I find that all of these objectives of the claimed invention were in fact proved at trial with the exception of an improved means of "venting the gases generated during the pouring of the metal ingots." There was much testimony about the effect of the burning of the corrugated cardboard, but I am satisfied that all of the claimed virtues of this effect were minor or incidental, were not contemplated by the inventor, and are of no real significance to the functioning of the Carpenter patent.

Claim 1 of the patent² recites the combination of a hot top casing having a central opening and a brick lining with a panel insert unit which includes a plurality of heat-collapsible refractory insert panels and flexible material hingedly interconnecting the panels for relative movement. The panels are composed of a refractory material bonded by a heat-destructible binder to retard heat transmission. The flexible interconnecting material allows the panels to be relatively moved from a side-by-side position where the adjacent edge surfaces face each other to an angularly related position wherein the adjacent edge surfaces are in area contact and define the opening in the casing.

Claim 2 is substantially the same as claim 1 except for the recitation that the casing has a tapered opening and the insert panels are also tapered.

Claim 4 is substantially the same as claim 2 except that the flexible material is recited as being corrugated cardboard, and the panels are recited as having converging sides rather than being tapered. Claim 5 is similar to claim 4 except that the panels in the former are not recited as having converging sides.

Claims 3 and 6 are identical to claims 2 and 5, respectively, except for the recitation of the refractory bottom ring for supporting a panel unit.

Universal's Exhibit No. 34, reproduced here illustrates the features³ of the claimed invention. This figure is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of a hot top constructed in accordance with the claimed invention and shown mounted in the open upper end of an ingot mold (29). It discloses the upper (10) and lower (11) sections of the metal casing of the hot top; an integral inwardly extending canopy or flange (12) at the upper end of the metal casing (10); an integral inwardly extending lip or flange (13) at the lower end of the metal casing (11); the insulating fire brick lining (21); sealing compound (28); flexible material (preferably corrugated cardboard) forming a backing sheet for the preformed panels (42); and the preformed panels consisting of an essentially self-sustaining refractory supporting layer (47) having integrated therewith on one side an exothermic facing layer (48).

The patent statutes, Title 35 U.S.C., prescribe three requirements of patentability; namely, novelty, utility, and nonobviousness as set forth and defined in §§ 102 and 103. The sole question for the court's determination in this particular action, however, is whether claims 1 through 6 of the patent in issue are valid over the prior art.⁴ More particularly, invalidity of the Carpenter claims is asserted on the ground that they do not meet the statutory requirement of non-obviousness set forth in § 103⁵ which provides that a patent may not be obtained if the...