Fowler & Wolfe Mfg. Co. v. Richmond Radiator Co.
Fowler & Wolfe Mfg. Co. v. Richmond Radiator Co.
Opinion of the Court
We have held that claims 1 and 2 of the Fowler & Wolfe patent, No. 609,800, for radiators read in connection with the specification, while of narrow scope, are valid. Fowler & Wolfe v. McCrum-Howell Co., 215 Fed. 905, 132 C. C. A. 143, to which reference may be made for a fuller statement of the facts. Thf radiator of that patent is a cast-iron section or unit containing four outside large hollow tubes and two or more similar cross tubes, the latter being connected by smaller connecting tubes. It is primarily a
In this case, however, there are produced two floor radiators manufactured some years before the Fowler & Wolfe patent was applied for, the Jarecki and the International, which are made up of unitary sections of four large outside tubes, two large cross tubes with two smaller connecting tubes. This is the construction of the Fowler & Wolfe patent, The fact that there are fewer connecting tubes than those appearing in the drawings of that patent and that they are shorter is immaterial, because it calls for a series without prescribing any particular number or any particular length of the connecting tubes. Moreover, it makes no difference whether the cross tubes are of a perpendicular or horizontal position. We think that a radiator made after the Fowler & Wolfe patent, though with but from two to five connecting tubes and shorter than the series of six appearing in the drawings of the patent, would unquestionably infringe, and conversely, if in use before the patent, was applied for, would anticipate it. The principle of construction and the function is the same, and accomplished in the same way; the difference being only one of degree.
In view of the prior uses now established, the decree of the District Court is reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FOWLER & WOLFE MFG. CO. v. RICHMOND RADIATOR CO.
- Status
- Published