Smith v. Snow 8212 1934

• Decision Date: 07 January 1935
• Docket Number: No. 102,102
• Citation: 294 U.S. 1,24 USPQ 26,79 L.Ed. 721,55 S.Ct. 279
• Parties: SMITH v. SNOW et al. * Argued Dec. 3—4, 1934
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

294 U.S. 1

55 S.Ct. 279

79 L.Ed. 721

SMITH

v SNOW et al.^*

No. 102.

Argued Dec. 3—4, 1934.

Decided Jan. 7, 1935.

Messrs. Newton D. Baker, of Cleveland, Ohio, Albert L. Ely, of Akron, Ohio, and Amasa C. Paul, of Minneapolis, Minn., for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from page 2 intentionally omitted] Mr. Ralph E. Williamson, of Minneapolis, Minn., for respondents.

Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

Certiorari was granted, 293 U.S. 537, 55 S.Ct. 78, 79 L.Ed. -, to review a decree of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 70 F.(2d) 564, which reversed the decree of the District Court and held valid, but not infringed, the first claim of the Smith patent, No. 1,262,860, of April 16, 1918, for an improved apparatus and method for the incubation of eggs.¹ The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held the same claim valid and infringed in Waxham v. Smith, 70 F.(2d) 457, in which case certiorari was also granted, 294 U.S. 20, 55 S.Ct. 277, 79 L.Ed. 733. The question thus presented is one of the scope of the claim.

Only so much of the patent as relates to a method for incubation is now involved. Correct appreciation of the contentions made requires a brief exposition of the well-known phenomena which attend the incubation of eggs under natural conditions.

The period for hatching eggs of the domestic hen is twenty-one days. The eggs are cold at the beginning of the period of incubation, although at that time generation has already progressed slightly. Continuation of this process and successful incubation depend upon the application of heat to the eggs, and the maintenance of their temperature at not less than body heat, about 100 F., and not more than 105 F. Any substantial divergence from this range of temperature results in deterioration or death of the embryo, and consequent failure of the hatching process. If the temperature is maintained within this range, the eggs during the first ten days of the period absorb heat required to generate and maintain the life of the embryo. The eggs are then said to be endothermic or heat absorbing. From the eleventh day until the end of the period the embryo has developed to a point at which the egg generates more heat than is needed to keep the embryo alive. They are then said to be exothermic. From that time on the excess heat is given off to the surrounding air or to objects in contact with the eggs, if at a lower temperature than the eggs.

The development of heat accompanies the oxidation of food elements within the egg, in consequence of which it gives off carbon dioxide during the period of incubation and absorbs oxygen from the external air, both of which pass through the shell of the egg and its lining membrane. During the period of incubation there is also gradual evaporation of moisture from the egg, which tends to reduce its temperature slightly. The best results are obtained if the total evaporation during incubation does not exceed about 15 per cent. Evaporation in excess of that amount affects the embryo adversely; the chick when hatched being undeveloped and lacking normal strength.

Successful artificial incubation therefore involves conformity to three principal requisites: The maintenance of proper temperature during the period of incubation, the prevention of excessive evaporation of moisture, and the supply of an adequate amount of oxygen, which involves also the removal from the incubator of the carbon dioxide which results from oxidation of the contents of the egg.

The artificial incubation of eggs is an ancient art. It appears to have been known to the Egyptians two thousand years ago, and for a comparable period to the Chinese. Until Smith, the patentee, carried on his experiments, the effort had been generally to reproduce as nearly as practicable the natural conditions of incubation. In practice eggs, in relatively small numbers, seldom more than 300, and usually less, were placed, on the same level, in a cabinet with heating means above the eggs, so that the temperature above the eggs was maintained at a higher point, about 103 F., than that below. To secure the requisite exposure of the eggs to the higher temperature, it was necessary, in the course of incubation, to turn the eggs frequently, as is done by the hen in nature. Provision was made for supplying fresh air to the cabinet and for humidifying the air within the cabinet. All incubators were of the still air type; that is to say, the only movement of air within the incubator was that caused by variations of temperature at different points within the cabinet, resulting in some transmission of heat by radiation or convection. The opinion seems to have prevailed that the presence of currents of air either within or surrounding the cabinet was harmful. Successful operation of this method required nice adjustments of the heating means so as to avoid overheating as the eggs passed into the more advanced stages of incubation, reaching their highest temperature about the seventeenth day.

Smith, conceived the idea, embodied in his patent, of setting the eggs in staged incubation within the cabinet and applying to them, in convenient arrangement for that purpose, a current of heated air, propelled by means other than convection. Staged incubation is the successive setting of eggs in the same cabinet at brief intervals, of about three days. At the twenty-first day there would thus be several settings of eggs in the incubator, each at a different stage of incubation, part in the endothermic stage and part in the exothermic. Smith arranged the egg trays or racks in tiers, so that air could be freely circulated among the eggs. He subjected them to a continuous current of air of the requisite constant temperature of about 100 F., propelled by a fan so that it would circulate freely and repeatedly throughout the cabinet. The heat of the eggs in the later stages of incubation was thus carried by the circulating air of lower temperature to the cooler eggs, in the earlier stages, so that there was a continuous tendency to equalize the temperature throughout the cabinet at approximately the temperature of the introduced current of air.

Before Smith there had been efforts to set eggs in staged incubation, but without practical success, because of the difficulties of securing adequate heat distribution within the incubator. He was the first to apply mechanically circulated currents of air to eggs so arranged. He followed this procedure in conjunction with the use of a restricted opening for the elimination of foul air. By this combination the difference in temperature of the eggs was equalized within the desired range throughout the incubator during the period of incubation, the air within the incubator was gradually replaced by fresh air, and the moisture of the eggs was conserved. His method thus solved the major problems of artificial incubation in a highly efficient manner. It was novel and involved invention. See The Barbed Wire Patent Case, 143 U.S. 275, 283, 12 S.Ct. 443, 36 L.Ed. 154; Krementz v. S. Cottle Co., 148 U.S. 556, 559, 560, 13 S.Ct. 719, 37 L.Ed. 558.

That it was invention is not seriously disputed here, and of the many courts which have passed on the patent none has denied its validity. The new method had certain marked advantages over earlier ones. It was possible to carry on the process of incubation continuously by placing fresh eggs in the incubator at intervals, as those of the most advanced stage hatched and the new-born chicks were removed. It was possible to apply heated air to the eggs at a constant temperature, thus avoiding the necessity of varying by nice adjustments the temperature of the applied air, so as to conform to the varying temperatures of the eggs as they passed through successive stages of incubation. As the egg racks or trays could be placed in tiers, instead of on a single level, it was possible to arrange them more compactly and greatly increase the number of eggs in a single incubator. Before staged incubation, as developed by Smith, it had not been practicable to operate incubators of a capacity of more than about 300 eggs. By use of the new method, it is possible to operate successfully an incubator containing as many as 52,000 eggs, and the percentage of eggs successfully hatched by artificial incubation has been materially raised.

The commercial success of the new method was immediate and striking. At first the inventor devoted himself to developing his own hatchery for the use of the new method; it was the largest in existence, with a capacity of over 1,000,000 eggs. In 1922 he began the manufacture and sale of the new incubator.

In ten years he, and a corporation which he had organized for the purpose, had made sales of incubators aggregating about $24,000,000, having a total egg capacity of over 188,000,000. The old type of incubation, with eggs arranged at a single level, all in a single stage of incubation, has thus become obsolete.

That the method employed in the Smith type of incubator was novel and revolutionary in the industry is not challenged. The question presented here is, What scope may rightly be given to claim 1 of the patent; whether the petitioner has drafted it in such form as to secure the fruits of his invention? Claim 1 reads as follows:

'1. The method of hatching a plurality of eggs by arranging them at different levels in a closed chamber having restricted openings of sufficient capacity for the escape of foul air without undue loss of moisture and applying a current of heated air, said current being created by means other than variations of temperature and of sufficient velocity to circulate, diffuse and maintain the air throughout the chamber at substantially the same temperature, whereby the air will be vitalized, the moisture conserved and the units of heat will be carried from the eggs in the more advanced stage of incubation to those in a less advanced stage for the purpose...