Stilz v. Babcock & Wilcox Co.
Stilz v. Babcock & Wilcox Co.
Opinion of the Court
This suit is for infringement of patent No. 1,066,163 granted July 1, 1913, to appellant. The claims in suit are 1, 5, 6, and 7, and are as follows:
“1. A nozzle having a small discharge orifice, means immediately adjacent to said orifice for producing a whirling motion in a liquid fluid passing therethrough, a easing surrounding said nozzle and having a restricted discharged port concentric with said orifice and means for causing a gaseous fluid passing through the space within said easing to enter said port in a whirling current.”
“5. A liquid spray nozzle having, a passage abruptly contracted at one end by a cone shaped surface into a small delivery orifice a transverse spiral within said passage and resting against the base of said cone shaped surface, a casing surrounding said nozzle and having a restricted discharge port in line with said orifice and means within said casing for whirling a gaseous fluid passing therethrough.
“6. In combination, a furnace having an admission hole through its casing, a nozzle having means for projecting a hollow cone shaped film of oil from a round unobstructed delivery orifice into said furnace through said hole, means surrounding said nozzle for producing a whirling stream of gaseous fluid directed' so as to penetrate said film of oil and means for supplying air into the furnace through said hole.
“7. In combination, a furnace having an admission hole through its casing, a lining of refractory material for said hole, a nozzle having means for projecting a hollow cone shaped film of oil into said furnace through said hole, means surrounding said nozzle for producing a whirling stream of gaseous fluid directed so as to penetrate said film of oil, ahd means for supplying air into the furnace through said hole.”
Oil burners have been used for many years commercially in burning fuel oil. The inventor says his invention relates to improvements in oil burners in which the oil is atomized principally by mechanical means ¿nd has for its object to produce a'bumer which .shall be simple in construction and reliable- and efficient in operation. In the patent appellant points out that in burning fuel oil, atomized ' in passing through the nozzles-
In claims 1 and 5 this restricted discharge port means a small opening, 19, somewhat larger than the small discharge orifiee, 14, of the nozzle, 12, and in a casing, 17, surrounding said nozzle; that is, so close to it that the gaseous fluid (steam) will be directed into the conical film emerging from the small discharge orifiee. In claims 6 and 7, these elements are described as means surrounding the nozzle for producing- a whirling stream of the gaseous fluid (steam and compressed air) directed so as to penetrate said film of oil, while the hollow cone shaped film of oil is issuing from the orifice, 14, in a nozzle, 12. It thus appears the invention is limited strictly on the face of' the patent to the structures shown in the drawings.
In the appellee’s device, highly heated oil under high pressure, enters pipe 4', flows through passages 7' to the outer ends of tangential passages, 12', into the bottom of the conical recess, 15', where it is whirled as it moves to the orifice, 14'; this cone extending a very short distance from one-quarter to one-half an inch. The film then breaks up into fine drops which continue on in straight lines forming a continually enlarging cone of oil spray. The appellee’s device atomizes by the pressure on the oil only. It is a mechanical atomizer, not a combined mechanical and steam atomizer, as is the appellant’s. In order to mix combustion air with the oil spray before and as it enters the furnace chamber, the appellee provides an air register over the hole, 1, in a furnace wall, this register having openings, 5, through which the air enters. Openings, 5, are provided with movable vanes which are used to regulate the size of the openings, and therefore the amount of combustion air which will enter the furnace. These vanes also act to direct the air into the register tangentially and make it whirl. A casing, 3, leads from the register to the opening, 1, this casing being conical and having spiral blades in it at relatively low pitch to give a relatively slpw turning motion to the combustion air flowing into the furnace. The appellant’s embodies a combined mechanical steam atomizer either alone or as may he read from claims 6 and 7, in combination with means for supplying combustion air. Appellee uses a mechanical atomizer only as a means for supplying combustion air to the oil spray. This specific means is different in many respects from the appellant’s for supplying combustion air. When the appellant’s burner is operating, he is using' three fluids to produce his result, oil, high-pressure atomizing steam or air, and low-pressure combustion air, and the appellee uses two only, oil and low-pressure combustion air. The appellant can shut off one of the fluids and still have his device working satisfactorily at times, but the appellee cannot shut off one of the fluids without stopping the operation.
Appellant contends that the appellee’s mechanical casing, 3, surrounding the oil nozzle and the end of the easing as the restricted discharge port reads on claims 1 and 5— the means for whirling the gaseous fluid being the curved vanes in the easing, 3, and the inclined doors at the opening, 5. The gaseous fluid of these claims being £he combustion air.
The appellant seeks to read claims 6 and 7 by saying the impeller plate, 15, which has become the means for producing the whirling stream of gaseous fluid, directed so as to penetrate the film of oil while the casing, 3, and the openings, 5, have become the means for supplying air into the furnace. But in making this contention for claims 1 and 6, the appellant is obliged to designate' different parts of appellee’s structure to meet the same elements in the different claims. In 'claim 1 appellant employs language without regard to the meaning of the claim as determined by his specification, and this can be done because the functions of the elements are omitted in that claim. But as to claim 6, the elements are described by a recital of' other functions, and appellant necessarily selected the part, from which he argues that it has the function called for, and this part in appellee’s structure is not a part which responds to the description of the same element in claim 1. He argues that the impel
We are satisfied that in the appellee’s structure the oil is not directed into the oil film but into the oil spray, the air is not moving at sufficient velocity to atomize even if it were directed into the oil film, and tests made on the appellee’s device prove that there is no difference in the atomization, whether the air is flowing or not. The air passing through the slots of the impeller blade is not directed to penetrate the oil film, because the impeller blade is too far in advance of tbe apex of the cone, and because the air continues to move away from the axis of the cone rather than toward it. The velocity of the air through the impeller blade, 15, would have no effect on the cone of oil film even if it did strike it. In the test made upon the appellee’s structure, where the white cards were passed quickly across the oil spray, one with the air on and the other with the air off, it resulted in showing that the oil drops in the two cases were about the same. The inflowing combustion air passing through the appellee’s impeller blade, 15, could not, in theory or practice, have any effect on the oil atomization, so that it does not function like the high-pressure steam of the appellant’s structure in the matter of atomization. It is apparent that the alleged infringing device will produce a better mixture of the combustion air and the oil spray so as to give more perfect combustion — not atomization — for in appellee’s device that is completed by the mechanical atomization alone.
Having reached these conclusions, there is no basis upon which to support the appellant’s claim of infringement. We therefore need not consider the question of the validity of the patent which has been argued at bar. The decree below holding that there is no infringement is affirmed.
Decree affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STILZ v. BABCOCK & WILCOX CO.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published