Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. v. Union Carbide Co.

• Decision Date: 11 November 1901
• Docket Number: 7.,6
• Citation: 112 F. 417
• Parties: WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MFG. CO. v. UNION CARBIDE CO. THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC CO. v. SAME.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

112 F. 417

WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MFG. CO. v. UNION CARBIDE CO.

THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC CO. v. SAME.

Nos. 6, 7.

United States Circuit Court, W.D. New York.

November 11, 1901

Kerr Page & Cooper, for complainants.

Alfred W. Gray, and George Clinton (A. C. Fowler, of counsel), for defendants.

HAZEL District Judge.

These two suits in equity for infringement of United States letters patent No. 366,362, granted to George Westinghouse, Jr., July 12, 1887, and No. 508,654, issued to Elihu Thomson, November 14, 1893, substantially relate to the same general subject. They are for improvements in electrical converters or transformers. The suits were heard at the same time by consent of parties. The complainants own the patents by assignments, and are jointly interest as cross licensees. Patent No. 366,362 relates to the construction of an apparatus for transforming alternating currents 'into currents differing therefrom in certain characteristics ' The object of the invention is thus stated in the patent:

'To provide a simple and efficient converter, which hill not become overheated when employed for a long time in transforming currents of high electromotive force, and which will be thoroughly ventilated.'

The specifications, after describing in detail the accompanying drawings, which set forth features of the invention, contain the following:

'It may be preferred in some instances to surround the converter with some oil or paraffin or other suitable material, which will assist in preserving insulation, and will not be injured by heating. This material, when in a liquid form, circulates through the tubes and the intervening spaces of the coils and plates, preserves the insulation, excludes the moisture, and cools the converter.'

The patent has five claims. The fourth only is stated to be infringed. It reads as follows:

'The combination, substantially as described, of an electric converter, constructed with open spaces in its core, an inclosing case, and a non-conducting fluid or gas in said case adapted to circulate through said spaces and about the converter.' Patent No. 508,654 is designed for transformer substations of comparatively large capacity, requiring care to prevent excessive heating, especially when they are kept in long continuous operation. The patent states that:

'Heretofore it has been customary to immerse transformers in oil contained within a metal casing, whereby heat is conducted and radiated away from the transformer. But there are many installations where such means of cooling are impracticable or insufficient, as, for instance, where transformers are built into the walls of buildings, or located in underground chambers, where the casing cannot be ventilated, or where, with large transformers immersed in oil, insufficient radiating surface is obtainable to prevent overheating. For such installations as these it is specially desirable to provide an artificial cooling medium, as contemplated in the present invention.'

The patentee claims as new:

'(1) The combination of a receptacle or chamber containing one or more transformers, surrounded by oil or like insulating fluid, with a cooling medium circulating in a pipe passing through a greater or less portion of the fluid, as set forth. (2) The combination with a receptacle containing one or more transformers, surrounded by an insulating fluid, of a pipe passing through said chamber and fluid, and means of causing a cooling medium to flow through said pipe, substantially as described.'

The answer in each case pleads anticipation and want of novelty. It was stipulated at the time of taking proofs that defendant had in use one or more transformers, described by patents in suit, at its works, subsequent to the grant and assignment of said patents to complainants. If, then, the defense of anticipation and want of novelty fails, infringement is admitted. The Wagner Electric Manufacturing Company of St Louis, Mo., furnished the alleged infringing transformers to the defendant, and it may therefore be regarded as the real defendant in each case. A brief recital of the state of the art will aid to a better understanding of the patents. The discovery and perfection of mechanical generators for the production of electrical current energy demanded an exact distribution and apportionment of the generated electricity for its employment in the many uses to which it could be commercially applied. By the generator an alternating current is produced, which changes uniformly in strength and intensity, and flows successively in one direction, until it reaches a maximum, and thereupon gradually diminishes in intensity until it ceases, only to immediately begin its flow in the opposite direction. For this reason great difficulty was experienced in bringing this powerful current, for the purpose of distribution, within such desired control as to permit its utilization for lighting, power, and many other purposes. Commutators having for an object the rectifying of alternating currents so as to secure uniformity of direction were invented, and proved highly successfully. An apparent obstacle, however, was the limitation which the use of the commutator and dynamo imposed upon the generating capacity, and upon the distance to which the electricity could be transmitted, and assigned for its useful and extensive application. The practicability of varying the volume and pressure of a primary and secondary current, so called, with reference to each other, was completely demonstrated by changing the relative length of the primary and secondary circuits within the influence of an alternating magnetic field. This was accomplished by the numerical arrangement of the coils encircling the core. In this manner a volume and pressure of the induced and inducing current may be equalized. By similar arrangement, or by the varying size, thickness, character, or stability of the surrounding coils, a current of the desired intensity is obtainable. Thus the problem of simultaneous generation of electricity and its distribution at either high or low pressure was solved. The apparatus required for this purpose was named a converter or induction void, and latterly a transformer. It is composed of two coils of insulated copper wire, wound around an iron core or frame near each other. They are designated primary and secondary coils, respectively. The former initially receives the electric current from the generator, and magnetizes the core, which thereupon becomes a conductor from the primary to the secondary coil. The particular purpose and object of transformers is tersely stated in defendant's brief to be 'an apparatus whereby the current is generally transformed or converted from a certain pressure and quantity to a certain other pressure and quantity, or it may be transformed or converted to the same pressure or quantity, but usually is transformed or converted from a higher pressure and small quantity to a lower pressure and a larger quantity, in order that the higher pressure may be transmitted on the lines outside of buildings, and transformed or converted to lower pressure and greater quantity for use in buildings. ' Their utility is well established. It has resulted in the expansion of the use of electric energy to such an extent that there is substantial basis for the claim that the invention of the static transformer and subsequent improvements has created a science, followed by amazing commercial success. It made possible the utilization of electricity at far distant points, as well as its application in various ways, 'and in any desired machine, from motors developing hundreds of horse power to the fragile filaments of incandescent lamps. ' Noteworthy as was the success attained by the generator, dynamo, and commutator, the supprisingly noteworthy advance in electrology made possible by the transformer is equally deserving of great praise. That improvements were needed to adapt the transformer to the manifold uses anticipated by those skilled in the art is not astonishing. The necessity of rapidly magnetizing and demagnetizing the core in a transformer resulted in the production of a great amount of heat, and a consequent loss of electrical energy. In order to obviate this difficulty, the plates which constitute the core, were made of laminated iron, so as to suppress the Eddy currents in the core which caused the heating. This brings on a discussion of the patents...