Source: https://openjurist.org/22/f1d/781
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 00:33:40+00:00

Document:
H'FABLAND V. DEEBlll & MANSUR MANUJI"G 00.
of machinery, and it was one of the termS of sale that he would give his personal attention to the running of the engine, and thoroughly try it at the well, and report to the plaintiff if he found anything wrong with it. To secure such thorough trial was the principal inducement with the plaintiff to make the sale. Upon the whole evidence it is plain that the transaction was altogether experimental; therefore the invention was not "in public use, or on sale," within the meaning of the statute. Birdsall v. McDonald, 1 Ban. & A. 165; Elizabeth v. Pavement Co. 97 U. S. 126; Campbell v. Mayor, etc., 9 FED. REP. 50B; Graham v. Geneva Lake Manufg Co. 11 FED. REP. 138; Graham v. McCormick, Id. 859. Nor am I prepared, under the proofs, to accept the view that the trial was unreasonably prolonged. The inventor swears that he regarded a year's actual use as necessary to obviate the objection that had been raised to his invention. The sequel shows that he was right; for even after more than a year's use of the engine at Rosenfield & Guyer's well, he experienced great difficulty in effecting other sales on account of a lack of confidence among oil operators in the durability of the engine. The fact that at the end of about 10 months he began patterns for the engines he built in the fall of 1875, is a circumstance too equivocal to justify the conclusion that the success of the engine was then fully assured, even in his mind. It being once shown that the use was experimental, then, upon the question of its reasonableness in poi,nt of duration, eve!y presumption should be made in favor of the inventor. The plea must be overruled; aud it is so ordered.
PATENTS FOR INVENTIONS-OoR.."i-PLANTERS-BEHGEN PATENT, CLAIM 6-PUBLIO USE.
An automatic scraper, precisely as described in Bergen's patent, No. 46,629, for an improvement in corn-planters, was well known and in public use for at least three years before the date of the Bergen patent, and such patent cannot be sustained. 2. SAME-REISSUE No. 1,935-INFRlNGEMENT. The first, second, third, and eighth claims of reissued patent No. 1,935" granted to George I. Bergen, April 18,1865, for an improveQlent in corn-planters construed, and held not infringed by the device used by defendants.
(1) '.rhe slotted joint by which the two frames are coupled together so as to allow eaGh frame a certain amount of free vertical motion, so that, if the wheels pass over obstructions, or fall into depressions, they will not correspondingly raise or depress the forward frame. (2) A windlass journaled upon the rear frame, projecting over the forward frame, so that, by means of a chain or other flexible connection between the forward end of the windlass and the forward frame, the latter can be raised or lowered to regulate the depth which the runner shall go into the ground when planting, and also to raise the forward frame wholly off the ground for the purpose of turning the planter at the ends of the rows, or for transporting it from field to field.
"(1) The combination in a seed-planter of a front frame carrying the seeding mechanism and a drop-man's seat, and a rear frame carrying a coupling windlass and a driver'S seat, with a slotted coupling, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth. "(2) Balancing the front and rear frames of a seed-planter by a windlass, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth. "(3) The windlass, 0, to balance the front and rear frames or control the depth of planting in a deeding-machine, or to regulate the weight of the tongue upon the team, as set forth. "(8) The slotted joint connecting the front and rear frames when the draft of the l'ear frame is effected by this coupling alone, and so as to allow a vertical movement of the front or rear frame, as and for the purposes set forth."
.' "(6) Thescra,pets, H, described: and mounted on the such a manner as to automatICally remove themselves from contact WIth .the .wheels,' as and for the purpose set forth. "
II'FABLAND .". DE;BBB& KANBUB MANUF'a 00.
.'I'ARLAND tI. DEERE .. HANSUR HANUI"G 00.
enough to say that the proof in this case shows abundantly and conclusively that George W. Brown used scrapers upon machines which he manufactured in the year 1861, and over 1,100 of which were put into the market and sold in the spring of 1862, where the scrapers used are precisely the kind shown in the Bergen patent No. 46.629. It is true, that courts are qsually wary in allowing parol evidence to defeat a patent; but the proof in this case is so complete and satisfactory as to the number of machines made, the time when they were made, and one of the original machines is also produced in evidence, with the testimony of the persons who bought it in 1862 and used it that year, showing an automatically-acting scraper, precisely as described in the Bergen patent, that it leaves no room for doubt that this device was well known, and in public use for at least three years before the date of the Bergen patent. The bill is therefore dismissed for want of equity.
In Equity. J. G. Manahan and C. H. RoblJ'l'tB, for complainants. John R. Ben'Mtt, for defendant. BLODGETT, J. This case was argued and submitted upon the same proof as the case of this 8MM Complainant v. DelJ'l'e tI: Mansur Manuf'g 00., ante, 781, and the reasons which led me to the conclusion that there was no infringement in the first case are equl\l1y l\pplicable to this case. The bill is therefore dismissed for of equity.
proved paint-can having a top with an annular disk, with an upward projectlUg bead, presenting a round, smooth surface to the brush, compared with patent No. 225,499, issued to Francis A. Walsh, on March 16, 1880, for a paint-can having a top with a similar annular disk, but with a sharp upturned inner edge, and held not infringed thereby.
Patent No. 209,070 did not differ substantially from the patent granted to H. M. Olark, October 1. 1872, for an .. improvement in dredge-boxes," and was not a patentable invention.

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