Paul Boynton Co. v. Morris Chute Co.

• Citation: 82 F. 440
• Parties: PAUL BOYNTON CO. v. MORRIS CHUTE CO. et al.
• Decision Date: 26 July 1897
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

82 F. 440

PAUL BOYNTON CO. v. MORRIS CHUTE CO. et al.

United States Circuit Court, D. New Jersey.

July 26, 1897

P. C Dyrenforth, for complainant.

Strawbridge & Taylor, for defendants.

KIRKPATRICK District Judge.

This suit was brought for the infringement of the complainant's two patents, No. 411,255, dated September 17, 1889, and no. 419,860, dated January 21, 1890. During the progress of the suit the charge of infringement as to patent No. 419,860 was withdrawn, so that the only matters for the consideration of the court are those connected with patent No. 411,255. The invention sought to be protected by this patent, which was taken out by John P. Newburg, and is held by the complainant by assignment, is stated in the specifications to relate to improvements in coasters or inclined pleasure railways; and what is claimed to be new is set out as follows:

(1) 'In an inclined pleasure railway, in combination with an inclined way and track which is located or erected near a body of water, a boat-shaped car or toboggan, adapted, when it reaches the foot of the incline, to enter and float forwardly on the water, substantially as described.'

(2) 'In combination with an inclined railway which is located with its foot near a body of water, a boat-shaped car or toboggan, adapted to move downwardly over said inclined railway, and, entering the water at its foot, to float thereon, and be propelled forwardly thereon, by the momentum derived from its descent over the inclined railway substantially as described.'

(3) 'In combination with the inclined railway having rails E, the boat-shaped car or toboggan having runners and guide plates extending below said runners on its bottom substantially as described.'

(4) 'In combination with the boat-shaped car or toboggan, the spray deflectors fixed to its sides, substantially as described.'

(5) 'In combination with the boat-shaped toboggan the spray deflectors and the convoluted plates fixed thereon, substantially as described.'

(6) 'In combination with an inclined railway which may be located near a body of water, a boat-shaped car or toboggan having runners, J, guard plates, K, and spray deflectors, I substantially as described.'

It is claimed for Newburg that he conceived and disclosed to the world a new amusement, known as 'Shooting the Chutes.' The agencies by which the amusement is afforded consist of an inclined plane erected adjacent to, and terminating in, a body of water, and a boat-shaped car or toboggan having runners and guides and spray deflectors, which shall not only slide down the inclined plane, but float and be propelled by momentum upon the water at the foot of the inclined plane. It appears from the record that Randall A. Harrington, on January 24, 1888, filed an application for, and on June 19, 1888, obtained, a patent, No. 284,843, for an inclined railway and water tobogganing apparatus, in which a wheel toboggan slide or inclined railway was so combined with a lake or other body of water that the momentum acquired by the car in its run down the railway should serve to carry it a considerable distance on the surface of the water. This would have been in clear anticipation of claims 1 and 2 of the complainant's patent had it not been shown that prior to the date of filing Harrington's application, and as early as the summer of 1887, Newburg had put into practical use his idea of a water toboggan. It will be noticed that the Harrington patent includes no claim of patentable novelty in placing the inclined plane near by or adjacent to a body of water, as does the complainant's patent. Inventions which afford amusement and diversion are classed among patentable subjects, but only the mechanical agencies employed can be patented; so that while the adaptation of certain mechanical agencies may be the means of bringing great pleasure to many, and large profits to those first in the field, unless the agencies are new either in themselves or in combination, or a new result is attained by the co-operation of the agencies, they will not be protected by law, or a monopoly of their use granted.

Inclined pleasure railways of the roller coaster and toboggan slide type were in use long before Newburg made application for his patent, and that he knew of their existence is evidenced by the fact that, in the specification of his patent (page 1 line 9), he says that his invention relates to improvements in coasters or inclined pleasure railways. In his opinion, the novelty of his invention consisted in locating his inclined railway near a lake or other suitable body of water, and adapting a car or boat-shaped toboggan, which, descending the railway by gravity, should acquire a momentum that, when it entered and floated upon the water, should propel it forwardly. The boat-shaped car was intended to descend the inclined railway by gravity, as did the roller coasters known to the prior art, and, upon reaching the bottom of the railway, was to be propelled forward by its acquired momentum, as in the case of toboggans sliding over ice. What Newburg sought to secure by his patent he has set forth in his claims, which may be considered separately. Claims 1 and 2, which have been hereinbefore set out at length, contain the same elements. Claim 2 differs from claim 1 in that it states that the car or toboggan, on entering the water, is 'propelled forwardly thereon by the momentum derived from its descent over the inclined plane. ' Taken...