Sieber & Trussell Mfg. Co. v. Chicago Binder & File Co.

• Decision Date: 10 January 1911
• Docket Number: 1,732.
• Citation: 184 F. 930
• Parties: SIEBER & TRUSSELL MFG. CO. v. CHICAGO BINDER & FILE CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

184 F. 930

SIEBER & TRUSSELL MFG. CO. v. CHICAGO BINDER & FILE CO.

No. 1,732.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

January 10, 1911

Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois.

Charles B. Gillson, for appellant.

John H Lee, for appellee.

The appeal is from a decree dismissing the bill for want of equity. 177 F. 439. The bill was to restrain the infringement of letters patent No. 806,702, issued December 5th, 1905, for a new and useful improvement in Loose-Leaf Binders. The claims sued upon are as follows:

'1. In a binder, in combination, a pair of side plates having end flanges and being pivotally united; a spring-stud carried by a flange of one of the plates and adapted to enter a T-slot in the adjacent flange of the other plate such stud having its body enlarged at its base to a greater diameter than the throat of the slot.

'2. In a binder, in combination, a pair of angle-plates hinged together and having end flanges of such width that they overlap when the binder is closed, one of such end flanges having a T-slot entering from its front end; and a spring-stud having its body enlarged at its base to a greater diameter than the throat of the slot, such enlargement being beveled.'

Other patents cited are the following:

No. 226,174, A. Kaufman, Apr. 6, 1880.

No. 335,822, G. B. Lehy, Feb. 9, 1886.

No. 638,726, F. Korsmeier, Dec. 12, 1899.

No. 652,439, F. X. Mudd, June 26, 1900.

No. 736,338, E. T. A. Akass, Aug. 18, 1903.

No. 746,052, J. J. Duffy, Dec. 8, 1903.

No. 794,827, A. C. Wiechers, July 18, 1905.

No. 819,275, W. N. Hall, May 1, 1906.

Complainant's patent, and the Duffy Patent No. 746,052, mentioned in the opinion, are illustrated in the following diagrams:

Diagram of Complainant's Patent.

(Image Omitted)

Diagram of Duffy Patent.

(Image Omitted)

The facts are stated in the opinion.

Before GROSSCUP, BAKER, and SEAMAN, Circuit Judges.

GROSSCUP Circuit Judge, delivered the opinion.

The prior art in loose leaf binders is shown in the Duffy patent. It shows a binder comprising curved binder plates, pivotally connected together, and having end flanges adapted to slide past each other with a shearing action, one of the end flanges being equipped with a leaf-spring carrying a beveled locking-stud, adapted to register with a perforation in the companion end-flange-- the leaf-spring being equipped with a push-button, adapted to force the spring inwardly and withdraw the locking-stud from locking engagement. The locking is automatic.

The complainant's patent differs from this in nothing except that in complainant's patent the latching...