Court Opinion

ID: 9643523
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:32:00.592153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:01.195398
License: Public Domain

On Petition for Rehearing.
Schwartz Sales Company has filed a petition for rehearing. It asserts that to sustain the validity of the claims in s$it17 of reissue patent number 17,352 we have read into the claims the elements of a hinged section and a feed roll adapted to move forward with the hinged section, and that if the claims are so construed its device does not infringe. It is true that in our former opinion herein we referred to the specification and patent drawings which describe and illustrate a movable feed roll and a hinged section. While the language of our opinion was perhaps too general, it was not our intention to limit the claims by the specification or drawings, nor to read into the claims specific elements not present therein. The specification and claims of a patent constitute a contract between the United States and the patentee, and they should be read and construed together, not for the purpose of limiting, contracting, or expanding the claims, but for the purpose of ascertaining from the entire agreement the actual intention of the parties.18 None of the claims in suit calls for a movement of the feed roll or a hinged joint for' the inner section or closure member. That is merely one embodiment of the invention which the drawings illustrate,— one means for permitting forward movement of the inner section and its closure member.
The elements of claim 14 are (1) a towel cabinet comprising an (a) outer and (b) inner section, (2) devices for permitting the inner section to be moved forwardly to provide a hand receiving gap in the rear thereof, (3) a closure member for the rear of the inner section separating the clean and soiled towel, and (4) means including a receiving instrumentality whereby toweling may be fed from said inner section downwardly in the front of the cabinet and thence upwardly in the rear to the receiving instrumentality.
The elements of claim 20 are (1) a towel cabinet adapted to. receive a supply of clean toweling and comprising an (a) outer and (b) inner section, located so as to provide a gap between the inner section and the rear wall of the outer section, (2) a delivery and a take-up feed roll having a driving'connection between them for simultaneous movement and mounted in *1012said cabinet, (3) a take-up roll for the soiled towel supported to contact with the taikeup feed roll, (4) a closure in the rear of the inner section for separating the clean portion of the towel from the soiled portion, and having means to permit its forward movement to temporarily enlarge the gap, and (5) a tension device adjacent to the take-up feed roll and engaging the towel web.
It will be observed that claims 14 and 20 are not limited to means for moving the closure member by a hinged joint, nor to means which effect movement both of the clean towel feed roll and the clean towel roll. The clean towel roll is located in the inner section. The closure member forms the rear of the inner section. When the closure member is moved forward to provide space for insertion of the hand of the attendant the clean towel roll moves forward with the inner section. But this is not necessarily true of its feed roll which is located above the clean towel roll. It seems plain to us that the claims are not limited to the specific devices illustrated in the drawings.
We are of the opinion that a device having ribs which project from the base of the inner section, extend along the sides thereof and travel in grooves or channels in the side walls of the outer section, and by means of which the inner section may be moved back and forth horizontally, responds to the claims in suit equally with one where the inner section may be tipped back and forth on a hinged joint.
The improvement over the prior Steiner patent, number 1,564,292, consists of a new arrangement of the rolls and an inclusion of means which permits the inner section, including the closure member, to be moved sufficiently forward to leave adequate space for insertion of the hand of the attendant, thereby enabling him to thread the open end of the clean towel roll over the various succeeding rolls in the path,the toweling is to travel and to attach it to the take-up or soiled towel roll. The problem was to provide adequate space for the insertion of the attendant’s hand. This was accomplished by a rearrangement of the rolls; the clean towel roll was placed at the base of the cabinet in the inner section and the feed roll for the clean towel roll was positioned above the latter. In the prior Steiner patent, number 1,564,292, the feed roll was positioned in the base of the cabinet and the clean towel roll was positioned above it. This limited the forward movement of the closure element. By placing the clean towel roll in the inner section at the base of the cabinet and by making it movable with the inner section, adequate space is provided for the forward movement of the closure member.
We adhere to our conclusion that reissue patent number 17,352 is valid and infringed by the Schwartz device.
The petition for rehearing is denied.

 Claims numbered 13, 14, 16, 18, and 20.

 Tschappat v. Hinderliter Tool Co., 10 Cir., 98 F.2d 994, decided September 8, 1938;
Jensen-Salsbery Lab. v. O. M. Franklin B. Serum Co., 10 Cir., 72 F.2d 15, 19;
Callison v. Pickens, 10 Cir., 77 F.2d 62, 64.