[Supreme Court of the United States.]

HOFFHEINS, APPELLANT, v. RUSSELL ET AL.

Decided January 22, 1883.

23 O. G., 2030.

1. CERTAIN CLAIMS OF HOFFHEINS'S HARVESTER PATENTS, REISSUES Nos. 2,224 AND 2,490, CONSIDERED.

Claims 1, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 19 of reissue letters patent No. 2,224, granted April 10, 1869, to Reuben Hoffheins, for an improvement in harvesters, the original patent (No. 35,315) having been granted to him May 20, 1862, and claims 1, 2,6,7, and 9 of reissue letters patent No. 2,490, granted February 19, 1867, to Reuben Hoffheins, for an improvement in harvesters, the original patent (No. 40,481) having been granted to him November 3, 1863, and reissued in two divisions, one (No. 1,888) February 28, 1865, and the other (No. 2,102) November 7, 1865, and No. 2,490 having been issued on the surrender of No. 2,102, considered. 2. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPECIFICATIONS AND the Drawings or No. 35,315 (THE ORIGINAL) AND THOSE OF NO. 2,224 (THE REISSUE) POINTED Our NEW MATTER.

There is no warrant in No. 36,315 for locating the rake-support, or any part of it, on the finger-beam, and, as each of the above-named claims of No. 2,294 has as an element either a rake or a rake and reel mounted on or attached to the cutting apparatus or the finger-beam, No. 35,315 could not lawfully be reissued with those claims.

3. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE RAKING APPARATUS AND Rake-SupporT OF No. 2,224 AND THOSE OF THE DEFENDANTS POINTED OUT.

The defendants devised a new arrangement of rake, which made it possible for them to mount their rake-support on the heel of the finger-beam, whère the rakesupport of No. 2,224 could not be mounted. The difference between the yielding belt-tightener of No. 2,224 and the defendants' arrangement for driving the raking apparatus pointed out, and the latter held not to be a mechanical equivalent for the former.

4. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL PATENT (No. 40,481) AND ITS RE188UE (NO. 2,490) POINTED OUT--New Matter.

No. 40,481 negatives the idea of mounting the rake-post on the finger-beam, while an element in claim 1 of No. 2,490 is the mounting of the raking mechanism on the finger-beam. In No. 2,490 a driver's seat mounted on the main frame, so as to enable the driver to ride on the machine while the rake is in operation, is an element in claims 1 and 9, while the driver's seat in No. 40,481 is not and cannot be in such a position that the driver can ride on the seat while the rake is in operation.

5. SAME THE DIFFERENCE BETtween the Raking Mechanism or Rake-Post OF No. 2,490 AND THOSE OF The DefendaNTS POINTED OUT.

The raking apparatus is an element in claims 2, 7, and 9 of No. 2,490; and, in view of the differences between the two machines in the construction of the raking mechanism and the arrangement and location of the rake-post, the rake of claims 2, 7, and 9 is to be construed to be such a rake, and one so arranged on a rake-post so mounted, as is shown and described in the specification, and thus does not include the defendants' raking mechanism or rake-post.

6. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE DRIVING DEVICE OF No. 2,490 AND THAT OF The Defendants POINTED OUT.

The driving device in claims 6 and 7 of No. 2,490 held not to include the defendants' driving device, the former being an extensible tumbling shaft and the latter a chain-belt with open links, and patentability or invention inhering only in the device and not in its location.

7. NO INFRINGEMENT.

No cause of action is established against the defendants on either of the patents sued on.

Mr. George H. Christy and Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe for the appellants. Mr. George Harding and Mr. John R. Bennett for the defendants. APPEAL from the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Ohio.

Mr. Justice BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court:

This suit is brought for the infringement of two reissued letters patent granted to the appellant. One (No. 2,224) was issued April 10, 1866, for an improvement in harvesters, the original patent (No. 35,315) having been issued to him May 20, 1862. The other (No 2,490) was issued February 19, 1867, for an improvement in harvesters, the original patent (No. 40,481) having been issued to him November 3, 1863, and reissued in two divisions, one (No. 1,888) February 28, 1865, and the other (No. 2,102) November 7, 1865, and No. 2,490 having been is sued on the surrender of No. 2,102.

No. 2,224 contains nineteen claims and No. 2,490 contains nine claims. In No. 2,224 claims 1, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 19, and in No. 2,490 claims 1, 2, 6, 7, and 9 are alleged to have been infringed. The circuit court rendered a decree that the appellees had not infringed any invention of which the appellant was the original and first inventor, recited in the two reissues sued on; that No. 2,224 "contains inventions different from that contained" in No. 35,315; that No. 2,490 contains inventions different from that embraced in No. 40,481; that the said reissues, respectively, are therefore void, and that the bill be dismissed. From this decree this appeal is taken.

In No. 2,224 the claims in question are these:

1. A sweep-rake which is mounted upon the heel of the finger-beam proper, or upon the inner front corner of the platform of a harvester which has its cutting apparatus and platform hinged to the draft-frame, all in such manner that the rake-arm sweeps the platform from front to inner side, and maintains a correct position in relation to the finger-bcam and platform during the rising or falling movements thereof on the joint or joints by which the finger-beam is connected to the draft-frame, substantially as set forth.

8. In a harvesting-machine which has its cutting apparatna binged or jointed to the main frame in such manner as to allow it to conform at both ends to the undulations of the ground, and a rake mounted upon the said cutting apparatus, or upon the platform thereof, I claim so constructing and arranging the several parts that the support of the rake can occupy a position outside of the inner drive-wheel B, or a position which is between the point of suspension A and the outer divider G, and can also be hung or be suspended below the draft-frame, substantially as described.

9. Effecting a combination of a rake and reel located substantially as described and ■ Anger beam and platform with the main frame by means of a hinged draw-bar, b, and hiuged brace, I, or hinged suspender, f, and an extension-bracket, 2, or their equiv alents, substantially as and for the purposes described.

11. Preventing a too sudden or abrupt deflection of a rake and reel mounted upon

a hinged joint-outting apparatus by carrying the point of suspension beyond the rakesupport toward the center of the draft-frame by means substantially as described. 12. A continuously revolving rake which is mounted directly and wholly upon the platform or finger-beam, so as to rise and fall therewith independently of the draftframe, when said rake is located between the center of the draft-frame and the outer divider, and passes in at the front of the machine upon the platform, and sweeps around to the inner side of the platform, substantially as described.

14. The combination of a suspended hinge-joint cutting apparatus of harvesters and a combined rake and reel which is mounted directly and wholly upon the suspended platform or hinged finger-beam, substantially as and for the purpose described.

16. The combination of a combined rake and reel mounted upon a hinged-joint cutting apparatus and a yielding belt-tightener, substantially as and for the purpose described.

19. Providing, in a harvester with the rake attached to its hinged finger-beam or platform, an extensible means for driving the rake which will permit the platform and rake to rise and fall together, and accommodate themselves independently of the draft-frame to the undulations of the ground, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

The original patent (No. 35,315), in stating what the invention is, says that it consists of certain improvements in the manner of mounting and operating a revolving rake. There were three features set forth in the specification No. 35,315: (1) the peculiar construction of the reel and rake; (2) the peculiar form and location of the rake-post; (3) the peculiar manner of operating the rakes. There were only three claims in No. 35,315-one covering each of said three features-as follows:

1. A combined reel and rake rotating upon a vertical axis, and having its arms successively turned up into an inverted position to pass over the main frame, substantially as explained.

2. The inclined standard I, rigidly mounted upon a loosely-hinged platform, and employed to support a revolving reel and rake in an unchangeable position in relation to the said platform, without obstructing the free motion of the latter.

3. The yielding and swiveled rod Q, operating in combination with the band P and pulleys O and R, in the manner and for the purposes herein shown and explained.

A copy of the model filed in the Patent Office with the original. application for No. 35,315 is in evidence. The invention shown in the specification of No. 35,115 consists, in general terms, in mounting a rake upon a quadrant-shaped platform, said platform being hinged to the frame of a two-wheeled machine in such manner that the raking-arms will maintain at all times a proper working position relatively to the surface of the platform, and at the same time receive motion from driving mechanism mounted on the main frame, the result being accomplished by constructing the raking apparatus in a peculiar manner, and mounting it in a peculiar manner upon the platform of the machine, and, also, by connecting the driving mechanism of the rake with the driving mechanism on the main frame by a belt mounted in a peculiar manner, so that the varying changes in the position of the platform and the rak. ing apparatus relatively to the main frame and the gearing therein will not affect the driving mechanism of the rake.

The specification says:

D is a segmental platform, provided with a divider, E, at its outer end, and resting upon a roller, e. F is a draw-bar, connected at front by a universal joint to the frame A, and attached at back to a shoe, f, upon which the inner side of the platform may rest. G is a lateral brace-rod, hinged at one end beneath the right-hand rear corner of the main frame, and at the other to the draw-bar F or shoe f. His a link by which the inner end of the platform is suspended from the back of the main frame.

This language describes the parts which relate to the platform and the devices by which it is attached to the main frame, and by which it is permitted to vary its movement relatively to the main frame, to conform to the unneveness of the ground, and there is nothing else on the subject in the text of the specification. In the drawings of No. 35,315 the suspending-link H, by which the inner side of the platform is suspended from the main frame, so as to keep it on a level with the wheel at the outer shoe at the opposite side of the platform, is attached at its lower end to an arm which extends out from the platform nearly to but short of the middle of the width of the tread of the left-hand driving-wheel B; but the drawing represents the central line of the link H as in the vertical plane of the left-hand edge of the tread of the wheel B, so as to put the point of suspension in a vertical line with the left-hand edge of the tread of the wheel B. The model referred to shows the link as being suspended at a point on the frame to the right of the vertical plane of the left-hand edge of the tread of the wheel, but not to the right of the vertical plane of the middle of the width of the tread. In the reissue great stress is laid upon this point of suspension.

In the specification of the reissue it is said:

From the inner corner of the finger-beam or platform, or from the metal foot-piece of the rake and reel support by which the support is screwed to and braced on the platform and finger-beam, a strong bracket, 2, is extended beyond the left-hand side beam of the draft-frame. To the extremity of this arm a swinging link or chain, ƒ, is loosely connected or jointed, as at g, and by means of this link or chain the fingerbeam, platform, and rake, though arranged at the left of the left-hand drive-wheel B, can be suspended from a point which is to the right of the said left-hand side beam. The suspension is effected by hanging the upper end of the link or chain to the rear beam of the draft-frame, as represented at h.

In the drawings of the reissue the point of suspension of the link is located a little to the right of the vertical plane of the middle of the width of the tread of the left-hand driving-wheel, and the arm or bracket to which the lower end of the link is attached extends to a point beyond and at the right hand of the middle of the width of such tread. In the specification of No. 35,315 the word "finger-beam" is not found, nor is a finger-beam described in it or shown in the drawings.

As to the method of mounting the rake the specification of No. 35,315 says:

I is a post rigidly secured to the inner side of the platform, and inclining over the rear of the main frame. i is a brace-rod extending from the draw-bar to the said post, to support the latter at top. J is a box mounted on the top of the post I, and constituting the bearing in which the disk K rotates. The rakes or reel-arms L L' are

mounted in couples upon the ends of horizontal shafts M M' which are journaled at right angles across the rotating disk K.

This is all that is found in that specification as to the location of the axis of the rake. On the other hand the specification of the reissue says: Fig. 9 is a rear elevation of a portion of the machine, showing the manner of suspending the rake and reel support upon the hinge-joint finger-beam or platform thereof.

The drawings of the reissue show a finger-beam, and it is lettered, and referred to by letter in the text. The specification of the reissue further says:

It is also important to have the suspension of the rake made in such a manner that the base of the support of the axis of the rake is wholly upon the hinged finger-beam, or the platform thereof, and also that the rake, the finger-beam, and the platform shall be rigidly connected together.

Here the word "finger-beam" is again introduced as important in connection with the support of the axis of the rake. The expert for the defendants states that the drawings of No. 35,315 show the base of the support of the rake so far back, or to the rear of the front edge of the platform, that it cannot, in his opinion, be brought in contact with the finger-beam without changing its locality very materially or the mode of its construction or attachment. But the specification of the reissue says:

D is the finger-beam, and E the platform, of the harvester, the cutting apparatus and guari-fingers being left off. F is a support for a combined rake and reel. This support is mounted rigidly upon the inner front corner of the platform and heel of the finger-beam; but it may be mounted either wholly on the finger-beam or wholly on any part of the platform which is to the left of the left-hand drive-wheel B, or to the right of said drive-wheel if it is a right-hand machine,

There is no warrant in the original patent for locating the rake support, or any part of it, on the finger-beam.

As to claim 1 of the reissue, the finger-beam is made an element of the combination, while in the specification and drawings of No. 35,315 there is no reference to a finger-beam. Moreover, the raking apparatus of the appellaut is so constructed that when one of the arms has de. scended to force the grain toward the platform and to sweep across the platform, the opposite arm must be raised to such a point as to clear the wheel of the machine. The arms are in pairs, and the motion of one arm of a pair is controlled by the motion and operation of the opposite arm of that pair. The inclination of the two to each other is such that when one is sweeping across the platform the other forms an exactly opposite angle to the axis on which they both revolve. Therefore the support of the rakes must be so mounted that they can descend to the grain at the proper point in front of the cutters to press in the grain and sweep across the platform and deliver the gavels, and then rise out of the way of the frame. To effect this the point of vibration of the pair of arms must be raised so high and carried over toward the frame so far that the descending arın may reach its proper position to