Henry Billings Brown

“ The only patents requiring special notice are the Maxfield and Terry patents for making paper boxes, which relate to mechanism for pressing a strip of glued paper upon the edge of circular collar boxes at the junction of the bottom and sides, or rim, so as to form a union of the circular end with the cylindrical side of the box. The operation of the machines seems to be only partly mechanical, and differs so widely from the Beach patent that they can be hardly be seriously insisted upon as anticipating it. ”

“ Would the thought enter the mind of the skilled mechanic with the Dennis and York device before him on his work bench; and if it did, would it not be a creative thought whose presence would convert the mechanic into an inventor?'
In passing upon the question of novelty we feel at liberty to consider the fact that the Beach machine and its congeners have completely supplanted the former method of applying strips by hand; that no manufacturer can successfully compete for the trade without adopting such machine ”

“ There is no evidence that anyone could have been prejudiced by the reissue, and we see no reason to doubt that it was applied for in good faith, and with a design only of securing to the patentee what he had actually invented. To justify a reissue it is not necessary that the patent should be wholly inoperative or invalid. It is sufficient if it fail to secure to the patentee all of that which he has invented and claimed. ”

“ The principal difference between the two devices consists in the details of the mechanism, and in the fact that under the Beach patent the stay-strip is fed at right angles to the line of the opposing dies and the corner joint of the box, while in the Horton machine the stay-strip is fed on a line parallel to the line of the box-corner, in other words, a back feed instead of a side feed; but they are both alike in that they grasp the paper and project it forward over the corner of the box when the dies are open. ”

“ With all the anticipating devices before us, it is apparent that the mere change in the shape of the dies was a minor part of the work involved in so changing the Dennis and York machine as to make it perform a wholly different function, the invention consisting rather in the idea that such change could be made than in making the necessary mechanical alterations. ”

“ The reissue was applied for April 9, 1891, but a few weeks after the original patent was issued, merely to correct, as it would seem, an obvious error in one of the drawings. Possibly the error was such as would not have impaired the patentee's rights under his original designs; but he was entitled to the full scope of his invention, and if he were dissatisfied with the drawings as they stood, and the error was purely an inadvertent one, we think it was within the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Patents to order the patent to be reissued. The defense is purely a technical one. ”

“ The bed on which the papers rest is called a 'follower,' and instead of being rigid, is supported upon light, coiled springs, and by lever action, so that it will move up and down freely and produce just enough pressure under all circumstances to receive that pasted slip upon the upper sheet. Being designed for light work it is not built with the solidity required for pasting strips upon boxes, and in other particulars differs from the Beach device. ”

“ At the same time, we feel ourselves bound to defer somewhat to this unanimity of opinion upon the part of so many learned and distinguished judges, whose lives have been largely devoted to the examination of patent causes. ”

“ The possibility of adapting these devices to the attaching of gummed strips to the corners of paper boxes might occur to an ordinary mechanic, but could scarcely be carried into effect without the employment of something more than mechanical skill. ”