Opinion ID: 1495625
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Emerson Mechanical Dispenser Patent.

Text: This patent was held by Judge Coleman to be valid and infringed by the device of defendant. We believe that this patent, too, is invalid under the prior art for lack of patentable novelty, since the device in question discloses not a new and patentable combination but rather a mere aggregation of elements, which were old and well known. This distinction between a new combination, which is patentable, and an aggregation of old elements, which is not, was well drawn by Justice Strong, nearly seventy years ago, in Hailes v. Van Wormer, 20 Wall. 353, 368, 87 U.S. 353, 368, 22 L.Ed. 241: It must be conceded that a new combination, if it produces new and useful results, is patentable, though all the constituents of the combination were well known and in common use before the combination was made. But the results must be a product of the combination, and not a mere aggregate of several results each the complete product of one of the combined elements. Combined results are not necessarily a novel result, nor are they an old result obtained in a new and improved manner. Merely bringing old devices into juxtaposition, and there allowing each to work out its own effect without the production of something novel, is not invention. No one by bringing together several old devices without producing a new and useful result the joint product of the elements of the combination and something more than an aggregate of old results, can acquire a right to prevent others from using the same devices, either singly or in other combinations, or, even if a new and useful result is obtained, can prevent others from using some of the devices, omitting others, in combination. See, also, Reckendorfer v. Faber, 92 U.S. 347, 357, 23 L.Ed. 719; Walker on Patents, Dellers Edition, Vol. 1, page 218, Section 42. And see, also, decided by this Court, Victor Cooler Door, Inc., et al. v. Jamison Cold Storage Co., 4 Cir., 44 F.2d 288, 292; Doughnut Machine Corp. v. Joe-Lowe Corp. et al., 4 Cir., 67 F.2d 135, 137. The line between the patentable combination and the non-patentable aggregation is, in actual practice, sometimes difficult to draw with accuracy and precision. And we are not unmindful of the remarks of Mr. Justice Frankfurter in his dissenting opinion in the very recent case of Pearce v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 62 S.Ct. 754, 761, 86 L.Ed. ___, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States March 9, 1942: In law as in life lines have to be drawn. But the fact that a line has to be drawn somewhere does not justify its being drawn anywhere. The line must follow some direction of policy, whether rooted in logic or experience. Lines should not be drawn simply for the sake of drawing lines. Returning now to the terms of this patent, we find that Claim 5 of the Emerson dispenser patent reads: In a paper cup dispenser, a rear element, a front element, and a lid, said rear element comprising an elongated base and a pair of extending flanges therefrom, said front element being generally U-shaped in transverse section with the legs of the U being bulged or bellied substantially throughout their length, said rear element being hinged to the legs of said front element at their respective bottoms, said lid being hinged to said rear element and being dish-shaped with a circumferential depending flange corresponding to the shape of the horizontal section of the front element and rear element when in closed position, and cam means located within the front element whereby the bottom cup of a stack may be released from the remainder of the stack, said dispenser being open at its bottom for dispensing purposes. The first twenty lines of the patent thus set out its objects and nature: This invention related to paper cup dispensing and more particularly to the dispensing of stacked paper cups one at a time as required. Prior to the instant invention paper cups have been dispensed from stack holders but oftentimes the user obtained two cups when only one was required and frequently the user had difficulty in detaching a single cup from the remainder of the stack. Other prior cup dispenser constructions are expensive and difficult to manufacture and require much attention and servicing in endeavor to keep the dispenser in operation. It is an object of the instant invention to provide a novel paper cup dispenser which is simple to fabricate, inexpensive to manufacture, and which effects the dispensing of one cup at a time regularly without jamming the stacked cups. It is a further object of the instant invention to teach a novel method of dispensing paper cups one at a time from a stack. Subjoined is Sheet 1 of the drawing accompanying the patent: A very strong bit of evidence against the plaintiff's claim of patentability here, we think, is found in the square green dispenser made and sold by plaintiff before the granting of the patent in suit. No patent was ever issued on the square green dispenser, and this dispenser has been in use and dedicated to the public for a sufficient length of time to render it non-patentable. Diagrams of cross-sections of the two dispensers are helpful here. In these diagrams, the dotted lines indicate the cup within the dispenser: In our opinion, the variations between the two dispensers are of little importance and even less novelty. Thus, in the old dispenser, the cups are held and guided downward by the diagonally opposite corners of the square case; while, in the new dispenser, this function is performed by the guide bellies or bulges. That Emerson considered these guide bellies or bulges to be of primary importance is apparent from a casual reading of the patent; for they are set out and stressed in every claim in issue. We are not so impressed. Nor are these bellies or bulges altogether new in the art, as will be seen by an inspection of the Taylor patent (No. 1594134), the Rese patent (No. 1065395) and the Ohlsen patent (No. 1685292)  all in this same field. Further, in the old dispenser, the cups passed at the bottom through a single metal piece with a central opening extending practically from one corner of the dispenser to the opposite diagonal corner; while the new dispenser contains, set on the side at the bottom, cam means in the nature of two metal plates, and set at a V-shaped angle sloping downwards and inwardly. The reversal, front to rear, of the casings of the two dispensers, and the pinched-in bottom of the new dispenser add little of practical consequence to the picture. Our conclusion here is reinforced by an inspection of the patents of other dispensers in the prior art. Essentially these follow the same general pattern as the patent in suit. A comparison of these prior dispensers and the Emerson patent convinces us that the Emerson device is in reality a mere non-patentable aggregation of well-known elements and is in essence far from a new patentable combination.