Bossart v. Pohl
Bossart v. Pohl
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
This is an appeal from the Commissioner of Patents, in interference proceedings, awarding priorities to the respective parties upon the following issues:
“1. In combination, a means for treating the threads with a finishing solution, and a heated metallic body over which the threads are adapted to be drawn after leaving said means, the approach end of the surface portion of said body being removable.
“2. In a. combination, a means for treating the threads with a finishing solution, a heated metallic body over which said threads are adapted to be drawn after leaving said means, said body having a recess in its approach end, and a removable metallic plate arranged in said recess.
“3. In a machine for finishing and lustering textile filaments, a heated body having a contact surface for the threads, and having a part thereof which goes to make up the said surface at the approach end thereof removable.
“4. In a machine for finishing and lustering textile filaments, a heated body having a stationary contact surface for the threads, and provided, also, at its approach end, with a removable contact surface, said stationary and removable surfaces retained in register during the normal operation of the device, whereby the two said surfaces are at such times substantially continuous.
*220 “5. The combination of a suitable support, means for treating the threads in a suitable, solution, a heated thread-contact surface, and means for subjecting the threads to a steam bath subsequent to receiving the solution treatment and before reaching said heated surface.
“6. The combination of a suitable support, a heated thread-contact surface, a solution-containing receptacle, and means for subjecting the threads to a temperature intermediate between that of the solution and that of said surface, and for steaming the threads.
“7. The combination of a suitable support, a heated thread-contact surface, a solution-containing receptacle, and means for subjecting the threads to a temperature intermediate between that of the solution and that of said heated surface,, and for simultaneously moistening the threads.
■“8. In a machine for finishing and lustering textile filaments, the combination with a bath for containing liquid in which the filaments are to be immersed, and a heated contact surface over which, the filaments are arranged to travel of an absorber arranged between the bath and the contact surface, said absorber provided internally with heating means.
“9. In a machine for finishing and lustering textile filaments, the combination with a bath for containing liquid in which the filaments are to be immersed, and a heated contact surface over which the filaments are arranged to travel of a heated absorber comprising a felt-covered steam pipe arranged between the bath and the contact surfaet.”
The inventions involved in this controversy consist of improvements on a silk-finishing machine. The machine consists of a tank containing a solution, through which the silk threads are drawn, and a heated table, oyer which the threads are passed for the purpose of drying the solution. The inventions in question are intended to prevent a deposit or accumulation of the solution on the end of the table next to the tank, which becomes soiled and sticky in the course of use, and thereby prevents the proper operation of the machine. To overcome this defect, the two inventions here in controversy
As to the removable plate, Edward Pohl alleges conception of the invention on October 1, 1904, disclosure January 16, 1905, and reduction to practice February 1, 1905. Xaver Bossart alleges conception of the invention about January 18, 1905, disclosure about January 20, 1905, and reduction to practice on April 11, 1905. As to the absorber, Pohl alleges conception of the invention on October 1, 1904, disclosure .January 1, 1905, but no actual reduction to practice is alleged. Bossart alleges conception about February 20, 1905, disclosure about February 25, 1905, and reduction to practice on April 11, 1905. The matter comes here on appeals by both Pohl and Bossart from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents affirming the decision of the Examiners-in-Chief, who, in turn, affirmed the decision of the Examiner of Interferences, awarding priority of invention to Pohl as to counts 1, 2, 3, and 4, .and to Bossart as to counts 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the issue
The contestants appear to be experts in silk manufacture, and were employed during 1904 at the Meding Mills at Paterson, New Jersey. Bossart had installed a number of the machines in the Meding Mills, on which the improvements in •question were afterwards made. Pohl and Bossart, together with one Grebs, formed a partnership for the purpose of selling the machines. It appears that there was a good demand for the machines, and the venture was successful. In handling the machines, the improvements involved in the first four counts of the issue were made, and a joint application for
The evidence on behalf of Pohl shows that, on December 26, 1904, he disclosed the removable-plate invention involved in counts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Bossart’s evidence as to this invention is to the effect that Pohl told him of a suggestion he, Pohl, had received from one Wadsworth, that involved a removable plate covered with cloth, as described in counts 1, 3, and 4, and that, after receiving the “Wadsworth idea,” he, Bossart, devised the copper -or “metallic” plate described in count 2. We think the evidence on this point is equivalent to an admission that Pohl was in possession of the invention before Bossart. Whether Wadsworth, upon a subsequent application, would be entitled to the patent as against Pohl, is a matter upon which Bossart cannot be heard. This court, in Prindle v. Brown, 24 App. D. C. 114, said: “Whether the senior applicant may be entitled to priority of invention as against all persons, is not the issue in an interference case between two claimants of the inventionbut the question is whether the junior applicant has established his own claim to priority over that of his opponent.”
The decision of the Commissioner of Patents, awarding priority of invention of the removable plate to Pohl, and priority of invention of the absorber to Bossart, is affirmed. The clerk is directed to certify these proceedings, as by law required. Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BOSSART v. POHL POHL v. BOSSART
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Patents; Interference; Appeals. 1. Where one of the issues of an interference calls for removable metallic plates inserted in the end of a table, and the senior party testifies that the junior party told him of a suggestion he, the junior party, had received from a third person that involved a removable plate covered with cloth, and thereafter he, the senior party, devised the copper or metallic plate described in the issue, this evidence will be deemed to be equivalent to an admission that the junior party was in possession of the invention before the senior party; and, as a party to an interference will not be heard to claim that a stranger to the interference is the real inventor of the issue and entitled to a patent, the junior party, under such circumstances, will be entitled to an award of priority. (Following Prindle v. Brown, 24 App. D. C. 114.) 2. Where there was a sharp conflict of the evidence in an interference proceeding as to whether the junior party disclosed the invention to the senior party, and all the tribunals of the Patent Office decided the question in favor of the senior party, this court affirmed a decision of the Commissioner of Patents awarding priority to the senior party.