Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/326/242/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 16:44:42+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 326 › General Electric Co. v. Jewel Incandescent Lamp Co.
1. Pipkin Patent No. 1,687,510 for a frosted glass electric lamp bulb, characterized by the presence on the interior of rounded instead of sharp, angular crevices so as to strengthen resistance against breakage by impact, held invalid for want of invention. Pp. 326 U. S. 243, 326 U. S. 248.
2. It did not appear that, prior to the patent in question, electric bulbs had been frosted on the interior with rounded, rather than sharp, angular crevices. But an earlier patent, as well as the art which preceded it, showed how to produce such a surface on the exterior of electric bulbs, and another earlier patent showed how to frost the inside of an electric bulb. Held that, in view of these disclosures, there could be no invention in frosting either the outside or inside of an electric bulb so as to produce rounded, rather than sharp, angular crevices. Principle of Ansonia Brass & Copper Co. v. Electric Supply Co., 144 U. S. 11, applied. Pp. 326 U. S. 247-249.
3. Where the method of the manufacture of an article is known, more than a new advantage of the product must be discovered in order to claim invention. P. 326 U. S. 249.
Certiorari, 324 U.S. 838, to review affirmance of an order, 47 F.Supp. 818, dismissing a suit for infringement of a patent.
"A glass electric lamp bulb having its interior surface frosted by etching so that the maximum brightness of an ordinary incandescent lamp comprising such a bulb will be less than twenty-five percent of that of said lamp with a clear bulb, said interior bulb surface being characterized by the presence of rounded, as distinguished, from sharp angular, crevices to such an extent that the strength to resist breakage by impact is greater than twenty percent of that of the clear bulb."
"I have found, however, that, if the bulb is given a further treatment, which I term a strengthening treatment, in which it is subjected to an etching or frosting treatment of lower degree than that to which it was first subjected, it becomes quite strong. Indeed, it may be made practically as strong as the original clear glass bulb."
referred to by the court below as "Pipkin's paradox." The patent contains charts showing the relative extent to which the strength of the bulb is weakened by the first frosting treatment and its strength restored by the second treatment. The patent also shows that, while the bulb of the patent materially reduced the glare obtained in a clear bulb, the lighting efficiency of the two is substantially the same for any given wattage.
"Such a screen is also useful for rendering the bulbs of incandescent lamps diffusing without at the same time causing the very marked loss in the efficiency of the lamp, which results from frosting the bulbs in the usual manner."
Wood, to be sure, did not describe frosting the inside of the bulb. Kennedy, however, had shown that. Moreover, prior to Wood, it was well known in the art, as we have noted, that successive acid treatments of glass produced a surface characterized by the presence of rounded, as distinguished from sharp, angular crevices or pits. If there was novelty in applying that process to electric bulbs, Wood achieved it. At least since Kennedy, it was known that inside-frosted electric bulbs were preferable to outside-frosted bulbs.
strengthening was inherent in the method he proposed. And it appears that an electric bulb which had been frosted inside pursuant to his method would have inevitably obtained the rounded pits, and hence the attendant strength characteristic, of the Pipkin bulb.
"the application of an old process to a new and analogous purpose does not involve invention, even if the new result had not before been contemplated."
144 U.S. at 144 U. S. 18. Since the two insulators were practically the same in their method of construction, the patentee was not allowed to claim the feature of incombustibility as his invention. The benefits of the "potencies and values more important than the uses that were immediately apparent" belong to him who establishes priority of discovery. Radio Corporation of America v. Radio Engineering Laboratories, Inc., 293 U. S. 1, 293 U. S. 14.
rounded, rather than sharp angular, crevices -- an article that never existed before. It points out that, prior to Pipkin, no one knew why inside frosted bulks were weak, nor knew how to remedy the weakness. Pipkin, indeed, seems to be the first to have recognized that the form of the pitting had an effect on the strength of the glass. The prior art appears to have made no such disclosure. And it is true that the Pipkin bulb met with commercial success. The question remains, however, whether the Pipkin patent was invalid because of anticipation.
latent qualities in an old discovery and adapted it to a useful end. But that did not advance the frontiers of science in this narrow field so as to satisfy the exacting standards of our patent system. Where there has been use of an article or where the method of its manufacture is known, more than a new advantage of the product must be discovered in order to claim invention. See De Forest Radio Co. v. General Electric Co., 283 U. S. 664, 283 U. S. 682. It is not invention to perceive that the product which others had discovered had qualities they failed to detect. See Corona Cord Tire Co. v. Dovan Chemical Corporation, 276 U. S. 358, 276 U. S. 369.
The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in General Electric Co. v. Save Sales Co., 82 F.2d 100, and the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in General Electric Co. v. Wabash Appliance Corp, 93 F.2d 671, held the patent valid. The corresponding Canadian Pipkin Patent No. 289,379 was held invalid by the Supreme Court of Canada. Fuso Electric Works v. Canadian General Electric Co., 1940 Can.L.Rep. 371. The British Pipkin patent, No. 228,907, was held invalid by the High Court of Justice. British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd. v. Tungstalite, Ltd., 57 Pat.Journ. 271 (1940).
"Because, in the instance where we have sharp angular crevices on the inside surface and the bulb is subjected to impact on its outer surface, the inner surface tends to be extended, and therefore it is put into tension, and the sharp angular crevices are the starting point for cracks, whereas, in the case . . . where the crevice has been rounded out, the impact against a bulb having on its inner surface this type of frosting is such that the testing effort is spread over a very much larger area, and the bulb is almost as strong as it was before frosting."
Die Glashutte of 1887, Contributions to the Knowledge of Glass Etching.
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, October, 1917.
It was largely on the basis of this prior disclosure that the British patent was held invalid. See British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd. v. Tungstalite, Ltd., supra, note 1 pp. 288, 289.

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