Re Hogan

District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Re Hogan, 42 App. D.C. 337 (D.C. 1914)
1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 2283
Orsdel

Re Hogan

Opinion of the Court

Mr. Justice Van Orsdel

delivered the opinion of the Court:

Appeal from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents refusing appellant a’patent for a bedpan described in the following claims:

“1. As a new article of manufacture, a bedpan comprising a pan portion and a top portion, said portions being welded along their proximate edges so as to form a smooth jointure devoid of fouling crevices.”

“2. As a new article of manufacture, a bedpan comprising a fluid-receiving pan portion having upwardly inclined sides, and a body-supporting top portion having complementary downwardly turned sides, the proximate edges of said portions being joined by a smooth butt weld, so as to form a smooth jointure devoid of fouling crevices.

“3. As a new article of manufacture, a bedpan comprising a fluid^receiving pan portion having upwardly inclined sides, and a top portion having complementary downwardly inclined sides and a downwardly sloped, inwardly projecting, body-supporting web; the proximate edges of said pan and top portions being joined by a butt weld, so as to form smooth unbroken surfaces at the joint devoid of fouling crevices.”

Appellant secured a patent, No. 967,638, for a metal bedpan of the same shape and design as that disclosed in the present application, except that the patent shows the two parts fastened together by a crimped seam instead of by butt-welding. It is conceded that butt-welding of metal is old. We are of opinion that the Commissioner was correct in holding that the idea of joining the parts of the patented bedpan by this well-known method is obvious to anyone skilled in the art, and therefore does not constitute invention. The present application was properly refused-

The decision of the Commissioner of Patents is affirmed, and the clerk is directed to certify these proceedings as by law required. . Affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
RE HOGAN
Status
Published
Syllabus
Patents; Patentability; Substitute Methods. There is nothing patentably inventive in substituting the well-known method of butt-welding for a crimped seam between the top and pan portions of a bedpan.