United States Printing Co. v. American Playing-Card Co.

• Decision Date: 26 July 1895
• Citation: 70 F. 50
• Parties: UNITED STATES PRINTING CO. v. AMERICAN PLAYING-CARD CO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

70 F. 50

UNITED STATES PRINTING CO. v. AMERICAN PLAYING-CARD CO.

United States Circuit Court, W.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

July 26, 1895

Arthur V. Briesen, for complainant.

Boudeman & Adams, for defendant.

SAGE District Judge.

This suit is for infringement of patent No. 381,716, issued April 24, 1888, to the Russell & Morgan Printing Company, as assignee of Samuel J. Murray, for an improvement in a machine for printing cards.

The present complainant, the United States Printing Company, is the Russell & Morgan Printing Company, under a name adopted under due process of law, on February 20, 1891.

The patented improvement is a contrivance for punching playing cards. The 52 prints for a complete pack of cards are printed on a single sheet of paper. The sheet is then cut into strips, and fed to the machine, to be punched, one card at a time. This work requires great accuracy, that perfect cards not distinguishable one from another by the appearance of their backs, or by the sense of touch, may be produced. To this end, they must not only be of uniform size, but the design for the back must have an even margin on all sides and exactly the same on every card. The complainant's machine is an improvement on the Bliss single-feed machine referred to also in the record as the 'Bliss & Williams single-feed machine.' In that machine the strip of card prints was fed by the hands of the operator directly under the punch, so that on its every downward movement a card was cut out. The punch was held suspended by a spring during the insertion of the strip. The push of the operator's foot upon a treadle threw into action a clutch, and the punch then descended by the action of the main shaft. While in its upward position, a clamp to the left of the die was held open by suitable mechanism, and the strip was inserted under the clamp, and between the jaws of a feeding device, which were opened and closed mechanically. When the operator started the machine, the clamp pressed on the strip, and held it firmly during the process of punching. Simultaneously with the lifting of the punch, the clamp was raised, and the jaws of the feeding device closed on the strip, and moved to the right, in the direction of the punch, far enough to bring the next card slip into position. The clamp then closed on the strip, the feeding device returned to its starting point, and the punch was brought down. When all the cards were punched out from the strip, the operator stopped the machine, the clamp and feeding jaws were again automatically held open, a fresh strip was inserted, with its first card under the punch, and the machine again set in operation. A suitable gauge was provided to enable the operator to adjust the strip so that the separate cards would be punched out uniformly, and with even margins.

Among the chief disadvantages of this machine were the danger to the operator's fingers in feeding the strips, and the lessened punching capacity resulting from the frequent stoppage of the machine to insert new strips and adjust the gauge. In placing the strip in position, the hand was brought into close proximity to the punch, so that the pressure of the treadle by the foot an instant too soon was liable to result in cutting off the operator's fingers. It is in testimony that, in the course of a few years' operation of these machines in the complainant's manufactory, 15 or 18 girls lost portions of their fingers in this way.

The complainant's patent shows an additional, supplementary or auxiliary feeding mechanism to carry the card strip to the feed, which had been used in the Bliss & Williams machines, at the same time providing an adjustable gauge in such relation to this auxiliary feed mechanism as to effect the essential requisites of indicating the correct placing of the strip in order to insure the accurate punching out of the card slips. This was accomplished by adding to the single feed a second feed, which took the material from the operator, and fed it to the single feed, which thereby became the main feed. By this means the strip was placed in position in the auxiliary feed at such a distance from the punch that the danger of maiming the operator was entirely avoided. There was the additional advantage that a new strip could be placed in the auxiliary feed, and adjusted by gauge to its correct position, while the machine was still at work upon the preceding strip, and the necessity for stopping the punch whenever a new strip was to be used was...