Sutter v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 20 December 1886
• Citation: Sutter v. Robinson, 119 U.S. 530, 7 S.Ct. 376, 30 L.Ed. 492 (1886)
• Parties: SUTTER and others v. ROBINSON and another. 1
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

119 U.S. 530

7 S.Ct. 376

30 L.Ed. 492

SUTTER and othersv.ROBINSON and another.¹

December 20, 1886.

Ephraim Banning and Thos. A. Banning, for appellants, Sutter and others.

John W. Munday and Edmund Adcock, for appellees, Robinson and another.

MATTHEWS, J.

This is a bill in equity filed by Isaac Robinson and Abraham Robinson against the appellants to restrain an alleged infringement of letters patent granted by the United States to Abraham Robinson on June 10, 1879, for an improved apparatus for resweating tobacco.The defenses relied on are that the patent is invalid for want of novelty, and a denial of the alleged infringement.The specifications and claims of the patent, with reference to accompanying drawings, are as follows:

'Figure 1 is a top or plan view of an apparatus embodying my improvements, and Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the steam-receiver and tobacco holder.

'Like letters of reference indicate like parts.

'It is usual to soften the leaves of tobacco, as is well known, in order to prepare them for being manufactured into cigars and other manufactured goods, and to bring out a good and uniform color.This has been done heretofore in various ways, and, among others, by dampening the leaves, and exposing them to heat while in that condition.

'The object of this invention is to provide improved means for exposing the leaves to the action of the steam for the purposes above set forth; and to that end my invention consists of a tobacco-holding vessel made of wood sufficiently porous to permit the steam to percolate through it, in combination, substantially as hereinafter described, with a steam-generating apparatus and a steam-receiving chamber surrounding the vessel for containing the tobacco.

'I am aware that the general structural plan of the apparatus hereinafter described is old, and I do not, therefore, here intend to claim the same independently of a tobacco-receiving vessel made of wood sufficiently porous to permit the steam to percolate through it, as and for the purposes set forth; the said wooden vessel constituting, as I believe, an improvement upon the apparatus heretofore in use, for the reason that, in employing wood instead of metal in the construction of the said vessel, the tobacco is prevented from being tainted, and may be kept continually moist by the action of the steam, instead of being merely heated and sweated by it, or steamed only by the generation of steam in the same vessel containing the tobacco, it being obvious that, if the tobacco-receiving vessel be made of metal, as heretofore in devices of this class, the steam in an outer surrounding vessel would merely heat the tobacco, and sweat it without imparting new moisture to it.Neither do I here intend to claim the process, as such, of steaming tobacco.

'In the drawings, A represents an ordinary boiler for generating steam.B is a tank or vessel for receiving the steam generated by the boiler, A. C is a tight wooden vessel for receiving the tobacco to be treated.This vessel should be provided with a tight-fitting cover, a. I make the vessel, C, of wood, as an essential feature of my invention, in order that the steam may sweat or percolate through it from the tank, B, and so that the tobacco will not be tainted by contact with metal.The vessel, C, is enough smaller than the tank, B, to be suspended in the latter, and leave an annular space, b. between the two, as well as a space underneath the bottom of the vessel, C, as shown.The space, b, should also be covered.In order to provide a cover for the space, b, and also suspend the vessel, C, firmly in the tank, B, I employ an annular rim or lid, c, having an upwardly turned flange c', fitted to the vessel, C, and a downwardly turned flange, c", fitted to the tank, B,—screws or other fastenings passing through the flanges into the parts to which they are fitted; but it is not essential that these flanges should be continuo s, or extend entirely around the vessels.Neither is it essential that the flanged portions of the lid, c, should be continous or in the same piece with the remaining part of the said lid.It is, in fact, much the easier way to make the flanged portions separately from the lid proper, and I have represented them as made in that manner.

'I do not, however, here intend to be restricted to any particular way of applying the lid c, and suspending the vessel, C as both may be done in various suitable ways; but I deem the manner shown to be the best.

'D is a steam-pipe leading from the upper part of the boiler, A, into the upper part of the space, b; and E is a water-pipe leading from the lower part of the said space into the lower part of the boiler.To use this apparatus for the purpose for which it is intended, the water in the boiler should be heated until steam is generated.The tobacco to be treated should be placed in the vessel, C, and covered; the tobacco being then in the condition in which it exists when taken from the cases or packages in which it may have been packed by the producers or shippers.

'The water, as well as the steam, will enter the space, b, and produce a sufficient temperature in the vessel, C, to sweat the tobacco therein; the steam producing moisture in the vessel, C, by sweating or percolating through it from the space, b, in addition to the moisture originally in the tobacco before it was confined in the vessel.The steam which enters the space, b, through the pipe, D, finding a lower temperature in the said space than in the boiler, becomes condensed, and is added or returned to the volume of water which flows from the said space into the boiler, and thus keeps the latter supplied.A circulation of water and steam is also kept up to a certain extent.

'In a building where steam is supplied through pipes, the steam may be conducted into the space, b, from the boiler which supplies the steam, wherever the boiler may be situated.The tobacco should be exposed to this treatment from three to eight days, according to the result desired to be produced, and it will thus be rendered soft and pliable, and of a uniform and dark color, without being in any way injured.The tobacco prepared in this manner may be manufactured into various articles, like cigars and cigarettes.

'I deem it preferable to make the tank, B, as well as the tank, C, of wood, so as to prevent tainting the tobacco, and so as to render the apparatus capable of treating large quantities of tobacco at the same time, and without making the apparatus heavy and expensive, and to employ a boiler wholly detached from the tank, B, excepting by the steam and water pipes connecting the same, thus enabling me to make the outer or larger tank of wood without exposing it to danger from fire.A detached boiler amply sufficient to be employed in connection with very large tanks will be comparatively simple and cheap.

'Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by letters patent, is: (1) The apparatus, substantially as described, for treating tobacco, to-wit: The tight vessel or tank, B; the tight vessel, C, made of wood, and suspended in the tank, B; and a steam generator or heater, combined and operating together, substantially as and for the purposes specified.(2) The combination of the boiler, A, the tight tank, B, made of wood, the tight vessel, C, made of wood and suspended in the bank, B, and the pipes, D and E, entering the tank, B, and the boiler, all arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes specified.'

On the hearing in the circuit court it was found, upon the evidence, that the device used by the defendants differed from that of the complainants, as described in the patent, only in this respect: that the defendants' tobacco holder is not made tight so as to exclude moisture except through the pores of the wood; the defendants using the ordinary tobacco cases n which the leaf tobacco comes packed, to hold the tobacco during the process of resweating.It was contended on the part of the defendants that this was a substantial difference, because the complainants' claim required their tobacco holder to be tight, while that of the defendants was not.In disposing of the case upon this point, the judge holding the circuit court, in his opinion, said: 'The essential feature of complainants' invention consists in subjecting the mass of leaf tobacco to moisture and heat in a comparatively close wooden box for a sufficient time to have it undergo the process of resweating, and it is no answer to complainants' charge of infringment of their patent to say that defendants' box is not quite so tight as that complainants deem desirable or necessary for the most satisfactory operation of their levice.'Robinson v. Sutter, 10 Biss. 100;S. C. 8 Fed. Rep. 828.

The issue as to novelty, upon the proof, was also decided against the defendants, for the reason that the two devices relied upon—one described in the Oppelt patent of June...