Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/69/591/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 03:56:26+00:00

Document:
1. A declaration that a certain improvement, containing in reality one principal and three distinct minor improvements, was patented on a day named is supported by evidence that four patents -- reissues -- were subsequently granted on an original patent of the date named, such original having, in its specification, described all and no more than the improvements specified in the four reissues. The reissues relate back.
2. Where the purchaser of a claim for a patent agrees that as soon as the patent is issued he will give his notes, payable at a future date, the fact that no patent has issued until after the day when the last note, if given, would have been payable is no defense to assumpsit for not having given the notes, the patent having finally issued in form.
"to alter or modify the drawings, specifications, and claims thereunto attached in such manner as circumstances might require or to withdraw the application altogether should it be deemed advisable, and in that event to receive and receipt for such sums of money as should be returnable under the act of Congress in that case made and provided."
right to said invention, as set forth and described in the specifications which I, in company with Whitaker, have prepared, executed, and filed with the Commissioner of Patents at Washington, preparatory to obtaining letters patent therefor. To have and to hold,"
&c. Then, in a separate paragraph, the assignment proceeds, for the same consideration ($4,500), and the further consideration of one dollar, to assign to Whitaker Read's right, title, and interest in and to three claims to inventions made by Read & Whitaker, for which the specifications had not been fully made, describing them.
The specifications above referred to contained a description of all the improvements in the case, which were plainly but parts of one invention.
"for which the said Whitaker has agreed to pay the said Read as follows: $1,500 on the 1st January, A.D. 1859, and $1,500 on the 1st January, A.D. 1860, with interest."
"Now therefore, we, the said J. Lloyd, F. H. Bowman, and J. T. Whitaker, do hereby agree, for a valuable consideration to us paid by the said Read (the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge), as soon as the patent for the improvement in the grain reaper and grass mower aforesaid is obtained by the said Read and Whitaker, to execute unto the said Read our joint and several notes for the said amounts, payable as aforesaid, with interest as aforesaid."
three other persons continuing it, and using all four improvements.
The "specifications" referred to in Read's assignment, as filed by him and Whitaker with the Commissioner of Patents, presented in reality four improvements. Mr. Hanna, their solicitor, withdrew three of the claims, and on the 11th of August, 1857, accepted a patent for one of them only, as specified in a specification amended by him; the patent embracing all the improvements in its specification, but the claim being restricted to the principal improvement, that of the "tubular finger bar." On the 12th of February, 1859 -- this date, too, must be noted -- "Bowman & Lloyd," who now ceased to use any of the improvements, notified to Read that as more than a sufficient time had elapsed for procuring the patent for improvements, and as the same had not been procured, they (Bowman & Lloyd) considered themselves discharged, and the contract void so far as they were concerned. About one year after this notice, that is to say, on the 7th February, 1860, Read did obtain four patents -- reissues upon the patent of August 11, 1857, which reissued patents, it was admitted, did contain the said four improvements, being all the improvements in the matter.
Read accordingly brought assumpsit against Whitaker, Bowman & Lloyd, for breach of contract in not executing their two notes for $1,500 each, the declaration alleging that subsequently to making the agreement, "to-wit, on the 11th day of August, 1857, the said improvement was duly patented," nothing being said about any surrender or about the reissues and the one patent of August 11, 1857, being alone offered in proof.
The question below was whether this declaration was sustained by the evidence and whether Lloyd & Bowman were discharged. The court held the declaration sufficient on the reissued patents being granted, that both Bowman & Lloyd were bound, just as Read was, that Bowman & Lloyd were chargeable with notice of Mr. Hanna's authority and were bound by such changes and modifications as he made. Verdict was given for the amount of the notes with interest.
Judgment having gone accordingly, the defendants brought the case here on error.
This is a writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. The principal question in the case arises upon the exceptions of the defendants to the instructions given by the court to the jury.
as the unpaid balance of the consideration for the title and interest of the invention as conveyed.
Declaration was an assumpsit, and was founded upon a contemporaneous written agreement, signed by the assignee in that assignment and the other two defendants. Agreement declared on refers to the instrument of assignment, describes the subject matter assigned as improvements "to grain reapers and grass mowers, belt tightener," &c., specifies the entire consideration, states that the balance unpaid is three thousand dollars and that the same is to be paid in two annual installments with interest at ten percent per annum, and concludes with what is the material clause in the controversy. Substance of the clause is that the defendants agreed to execute to the assignor of the invention their joint and several notes "for said amounts, payable as aforesaid, with interest, as aforesaid" as soon as the patent for the improvement in the grain reaper and grass mower aforesaid is obtained by the said inventors. Material allegations of the declaration are, that the letters patent described in the agreement were, on the eleventh day of August, 1857, duly obtained, and that the defendants, after due notice thereof, neglected and refused to give to the plaintiff their joint and several notes as they had agreed to do. Plea was non assumpsit, and the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff.
the machines are called in the written contract. Specifications of the patent of the eleventh of August, 1857, embraced all of the improvements described in the assignment, but the claim of the patent limited the invention to the tubular finger bar, therein described, which is by far the most important feature of the entire improvement, and really constitutes the principal merit of the invention. Description of the improvement in the assignment is that it is an improvement in reaping and mowing machines, and there can be do doubt that it was regarded by the parties as constituting the principal matter of the assignment and transfer. But the other improvements are embraced in the assignment, and cannot be separated from the consideration specified in the instrument. Two of the claims are described as the subjects of one application, and the other as an invention for a belt "tightener" operated by a right and left-hand screw. They were four in all, and in point of fact were all described in the original specification, and are the same as those described in the reissued patents set forth in the record.
First one, as before stated, consists of an improvement in the construction of the finger bar in reaping and mowing machines, substituting a rolled tubular finger bar in the place of the solid bar previously used.
Second one consists of an improvement in the arrangement and combination of the raker's seat with a supporting wheel, and the frame and finger bar of the machine.
Third one consists of an improvement in the mode of mounting the driving wheel, and of driving the pulley that communicates motion to the belt and reel pulley.
Fourth one consists of an improvement for tightening the belt which draws the reel for the purpose of gathering the grain into the sickle.
were partners in 1856, and that the partnership used the improvement in the manufacture of machines. When the plaintiff assigned his interest in the invention to the first named defendant, he retired from the firm and the other partners continued the business, using all four of the improvements. Express reference is made, both in the assignment and in the agreement, to the pendency of the application for a patent in respect to the principal improvement, and in the latter both to the pending specifications and to those which were "not fully made." Such reference to the specifications and pending proceedings render it allowable to examine those documents in connection with the assignment and agreement as means of ascertaining the true intent and meaning of the parties.
Pending application for the patent was dated the 27th day of December, 1856, and was signed by both of the inventors. Authority was therein conferred upon their solicitor to alter or modify the drawings, specifications, and claims thereunto attached in such manner as circumstances might require, or to withdraw the application altogether should it be deemed advisable, and in that event to receive and receipt for such sums of money as should be returnable under the act of Congress in that case made and provided.
Pursuant to the authority conferred by both the inventors, he amended the specifications and received the patent described. Effect of the assignment was not only to transfer the whole title of the several improvements to the assignee but also to confer upon him the entire control of the pending application for letters patent. He could cancel the authority of the solicitor or he could suffer it to remain without restriction or limitation. Plaintiff reserved no control in the matter, and it does not appear that he ever attempted to interfere in the premises. Purchase of the assignee was an absolute one, and he was bound to pay the consideration at all events. Plainly the other defendants were not parties to the assignment, nor were they parties to the promise of the assignee to pay the consideration as therein specified and repeated in the introductory part of the written agreement.
Bonar v. McDonald, 1 English Law & Equity 8; McWilliams v. Mason, 5 Duer 276; Maher v. Hall, 5 Barnwall & Cresswell 269; Bouler v. Cox, 4 Beavan 380; Islyn v. Hartell, 8 Taunton 208.
18 Sergeant & Rawle 100.
Barclay v. Lucas, 1 Term 291, n.; Miller v. Stewart, 9 Wheat. 703; 4 Stat. at Large 122.
Shaw v. Cooper, 7 Pet. 315; Grant v. Raymond, 6 Pet. 244; Stanley v. Whipple, 4 McLean 35.

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