Opinion ID: 1548615
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Scope of Plaintiff's Patent.

Text: Into this field already well occupied with patches and processes for applying the same the Bowes entered. Their main idea seems to have been to provide at the point on the tube where the patch was to be applied, a clean new soft surface of substantially the same nature and condition as the protected surface of the patch    whereby there will be a perfect welding of the rubber tube and patch when the latter is applied and the surfaces are pressed together. The theory of the Bowes was erroneous. Applying a softener and solvent to the vulcanized rubber of the tube would not devulcanize the rubber as they supposed. However, it was not the theory, but the process that was patented; and the fact that the Bowes had an erroneous theory as to how their process worked would not render the process unpatentable. Eames v. Andrews, 122 U. S. 40, 55, 7 S. Ct. 1073, 30 L. Ed. 1064; Hemolin Co. v. Harway Dyewood & Extract Mfg. Co. (C. C. A.) 138 F. 54. But the Bowes in preparing their claims described their process with considerable particularity, and, in order to get the claims allowed, they were obliged, in view of the prior art, to limit or condition the claims with still further particularity. Thus, to exclude the use of gasoline or cement, the words, the surface of the tube and of the patch both being free from gasoline or cement coating, were introduced into each of the claims, and the examiner was assured applicants soften the surface to be patched in a manner to cause a rubber patch to adhere without the use of a cement of any kind. In applicants' instructions, a copy of which accompanies this amendment, the fact that no cement or gasoline should be used is emphasized. Another qualification or limitation was inserted in view of the prior art by introducing the words, thoroughly removing all softener and solvent. And, finally, when the order of sequence of the steps of the process was sought by the applicants to be changed or eliminated, the examiner refused any alteration. No appeal was taken from the decision of the examiner as to these various limitations and qualifications. As a result, the patentees found themselves with a very narrow patent. And these limitations and qualifications form a part of their contract with the government, and cannot be removed or disregarded by the courts. White v. Dunbar, 119 U. S. 47, 52, 7 S. Ct. 72, 30 L. Ed. 303; Roemer v. Peddie, 132 U. S. 313, 10 S. Ct. 98, 33 L. Ed. 382; Hennebique Const. Co. v. Urban Const. Co., 182 F. 496, 498 (C. C. A. 8); Geo. E. Lee Co. v. Fort-ified Mfg. Co., 284 F. 315 (C. C. A. 8). In White v. Dunbar, supra, the court in its opinion said: The claim is a statutory requirement, prescribed for the very purpose of making the patentee define precisely what his invention is; and it is unjust to the public, as well as an evasion of the law, to construe it in a manner different from the plain import of its terms. This has been so often expressed in the opinions of this court that it is unnecessary to pursue the subject further. It is true that the patent is entitled to a range of equivalents. But the patent is not a pioneer and entitled to a broad range of equivalents. It is a very narrow patent, and therefore limited to a correspondingly narrow range of equivalents. Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co., 210 U. S. 405, 415, 28 S. Ct. 748, 52 L. Ed. 1122; National Hollow B. B. Co. v. Interchangeable B. B. Co., 106 F. 693, 710 (C. C. A. 8); Mallon v. Wm. C. Gregg & Co., 137 F. 68, 78 (C. C. A. 8). And a range of equivalents will not be allowed which would give to a claim an enlarged scope that was expressly denied to it in the Patent Office. I. T. S. Rubber Co. v. Essex Rubber Co., 272 U. S. 429, 47 S. Ct. 136, 71 L. Ed. 335; Brill v. St. Louis Car Co., 90 F. 666 (C. C. A. 8); Hennebique Const. Co. v. Urban Const. Co., supra; Thacher v. Transit Const. Co. (D. C.) 228 F. 905; Dry Hand Mop Co. v. Squeez-Ezy Mop Co. (C. C. A.) 17 F.(2d) 465; Wood v. Boylan, 19 F.(2d) 48 (C. C. A. 8).