Hassam Paving Co. v. Consolidated Contract Co.
Hassam Paving Co. v. Consolidated Contract Co.
Opinion of the Court
The time at my disposal will not permit the formation of an elaborate and exhaustive opinion, and I can do nothing more than state my conclusions briefly.
The suit is brought to restrain infringement of letters patent granted to the complainants’ assignor for what is known as Hassam pave-. ment. The defense rests on the ground that the patents in question are invalid (1) for want of invention or discovery, and (2) that the defendants have a license to use complainants’ patent without .royalty because the city of Portland, at the request of its agent, specified that the pavement covered by complainants’ patent should be used on a certain street in the city, and since the ordinances of the city require that’contracts for street improvement shall be awarded to the lowest bidder, and defendant contract company obtained such contract by underbidding its competitors, it is entitled to use the complainants’ patent without being liable for infringement thereof.
The patents in question are for an art or process and the methods of carrying it into effect and making it useful, and for claims laid directly on the pavement itself. The manner of constructing the pavement, as described in the patents in brief, is: First, covering the sub-grade of the street or road with a layer of uncoated broken stone and compressing the same by a heavy steam roller, thus reducing the voids to a minimum. Second, after the stone has been thus compressed, it is grouted by pouring over it in place a mixture of cement, sand, and water and agitating the same by a steam roller during the process of grouting until the grout flushes to the surface, thus expelling the water and filling up the voids or spaces between the stones with grout. And,
I am unable to distinguish this case in principle from Elizabeth v. Pavement Co., supra, sustaining the Nicholson patent for pavement, or Warren Bros. Co. v. City of Owosso, 166 Fed. 309, 92 C. C. A. 227, holding valid the Warren patent.
The prior publication consists of extracts from encyclopedias, dictionaries, scientific works, and the like, describing various kinds'" of roads and their construction, and defining some of the elements going to make up the complainants’ patent, but they do not describe the complete plant in such a full and intelligible manner as to enable persons •skilled in the art to which it relates to make or construct the pave
The evidence as to the alleged prior use consists of the oral testimony of the witness Gordon describing, or attempting to describe, some cement pavements or walks which he assisted in laying in England some 40 years ago, and the McClintock experiment. The construction of the pavement described by Gordon differs materially from the process described in complainants’ patent, and, moreover, there is no evidence that it has ever been patented or described in any printed publication, and therefore cannot affect the validity of complainants’ patents. R. S. § 4923 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3396); Westinghouse Mchy. Co. v. Gen. El. Co., 207 Fed. 75, 126 C. C. A. 575. McClintock was the city surveyor of Rochester, N. Y., in , 1893. Owing to the unsatisfactory condition of the streets, he asked and obtained permission from the city authorities to try an experiment on one of the streets. The experiment was not satisfactory, but, as McClintock says, “demonstrated that I might have something of practical value, but that I had not carried it far enough or experimented enough at length to demonstrate its practical value.” The pavement laid by McClintock was never used elsewhere or tried again. It comes clearly within the category of an abandoned experiment, which is not sufficient in law to anticipate a successful patent. The Cornplanter Patent, 23 Wall. 181, 23 L. Ed. 161; Smith v. Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Co., 93 U. S. 486, 23 L. Ed. 952; Deering v. Winona Harvester Works, 155 U. S. 285, 15 Sup. Ct. 118, 39 L. Ed. 153; King Co. Raisin & Fruit Co. v. U. S. Consol. S. R. Co., 182 Fed. 59, 104 C. C. A. 499.
Injunction will issue as prayed for, and the cause be continued for an accounting. The same order will be entered in the suit against the Reliance Construction Company.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HASSAM PAVING CO. v. CONSOLIDATED CONTRACT CO.
- Status
- Published