Permutit Co. v. Paige & Jones Chemical Co.

• Decision Date: 05 December 1927
• Docket Number: No. 183.,183.
• Citation: 22 F.2d 916
• Parties: PERMUTIT CO. v. PAIGE & JONES CHEMICAL CO., Inc.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

22 F.2d 916 (1927)

PERMUTIT CO. v. PAIGE & JONES CHEMICAL CO., Inc.

No. 183.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

December 5, 1927.

Briesen & Schrenk, of New York City (Hans v. Briesen and Charles Neave, both of New York City, of counsel), for appellant.

James Q. Rice and M. C. Massie, both of New York City, for appellee.

Before MANTON, L. HAND, and SWAN, Circuit Judges.

MANTON, Circuit Judge.

A preliminary injunction has been granted for infringement of claim 5 of the patent in suit, No. 1,195,923, issued August 22, 1916, now owned by the appellee. Claims 1 and 5 of the patent have heretofore been sustained in this court in Permutit v. Harvey Laundry Co., 279 F. 713, and in the Sixth Circuit in Permutit v. Wadham et al., 13 F.(2d) 454.

This injunction was granted upon motion, supported by affidavits; no testimony having been taken. The patent relates to zeolite water softeners. The softeners produce a water which is completely free from hardening constituents and is called "zero water." Water is hard, because it contains the salts of lime and magnesium in solution. Water softening zeolites are sandlike grains or green sand, called glauconite. The zeolites are a chemical composition, consisting of an acid and a base, and their value in water softening resides in the fact that they change their chemical constitution by exchanging and reexchanging their bases. The idea of the invention is that water passing through zeolites is softened. When the zeolites have exhausted their capacity for this exchange of sodium for lime and magnesium, the hard water is cut off, and a solution of sodium chloride is run through them. They give up, by this process, to the brine the lime and magnesium which they have taken up from the water, and take back the sodium base. This is referred to as regenerating the zeolites. After the salt solution has been washed out of the bed thoroughly, the zeolites are in condition for another softening run.

The apparatus constructed and used by the appellee comprises a casing containing a suitably supported layer of zeolites, an inlet at the top for hard water, and an outlet at the bottom for soft water; also an inlet for regenerating the salt solution, and an outlet connected with the lowest point in the casing for permitting the salt solution, at the end of the regenerating period, to be completely drawn from the casing. It is constructed much as an ordinary sand filter, with provision for the regenerating or salting operation required by the greensand. The zeolites are put into the casing, and means provided for alternately flowing the hard water, and regenerating the mineral by treatment with the salt solution. This arrangement of inlet and outlet pipes permits the hard water first to come in contact with the finer particles of zeolite, which are at the top of the zeolite layer by reason of their small size, and form a layer of hard resistance to the water flow, and an even distribution of the water throughout the entire bed.

We pointed out in Permutit v. Harvey Laundry Co., 279 F. 715, that there was necessity for a back-washing operation, such that, when it occurs, the mineral is boiled up, and thereby automatically regrades itself, so that the coarser particles are at the bottom and the finer at the top. It is essential that the salt solution be completely drawn from the casing, so that, when the water softening period begins, no part of the liquid used during the regenerating period can possibly enter the service line, or the line which conducts the soft water to the point of use. Claim 5 reads as follows:

"5. Water softening apparatus, comprising a casing, a filter bed consisting of a layer of zeolites or alumino-silicates, supporting means for said layer, means for permitting the passage of water through the casing, means for cutting off the supply of water on the exhaustion of the zeolites, means for supplying and passing into the casing a solution of a salt capable of regenerating zeolites, and means connected to the lowest...