U.S. Supreme Court SMITH v. SNOW, 294 U.S. 1 (1935)

[Page 294 U.S. 1, 3]

Mr. Ralph E. Williamson, of Minneapolis, Minn., for respondents.

Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

Certiorari was granted, 293 U.S. 537, 55 S.Ct. 78, 79 L.Ed. --, to review a decree of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 70 F.(2d) 564, which reversed the decree of the District Court and held valid, but not infringed, the first claim of the Smith patent, No. 1,262,860, of April 16, 1918, for an improved apparatus and method for the incubation of eggs. [Footnote 1] The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held the same claim valid and infringed in Waxham v. Smith, 70 F.(2d) 457, in which case certiorari was also granted, 294 U.S. 20, 55 S.Ct. 277. The question thus presented is one of the scope of the claim.

[Page 294 U.S. 1, 17]

Other patents named, as Winkler, No. 286,756, of 1883, and Zimmer, No. 1,075,747, of 1913, show types of staged incubation, but made no use of a current of air propelled by means other than variations of temperature, and in other respects were so plainly impractical as to call for no extended discussion. This is true also of the description in the 1867 edition of Ure's Dictionary, 652, 653, said to represent a method of incubation devised in 1777 by Bonnemain, a Frenchman, and not used since the French Revolution, by which eggs in staged incubation were placed in a closed room heated by hot-water pipes, but without other means of producing currents of air. Such rudimentary experiments with isolated elements of Smith's combination did not anticipate his invention. See Smith & Griggs Mfg. Co. v. Sprague, 123 U.S. 249, 255, 8 S.Ct. 122.

Other patents are cited showing varying types of incubators in which the eggs were placed at different levels, but in which the circulation of air through the incubating chamber by means other than variations in temperature is wanting. [Footnote 2]

[Page 294 U.S. 1, 20]

levels within the space occupied by the tiers of trays the movement is not in the same direction, is immaterial. It is enough that there is a movement of air in current form following substantially defined paths through the tiers of egg trays, sufficient to effect the desired transfer of heat units. Claim 1 does not prescribe that a current of air is to be maintained throughout the chamber. It calls for the application to the eggs of a current of air 'of sufficient velocity to circulate, diffuse and maintain the air throughout the chamber at substantially the same temperature.' This respondents accomplish by the currents of air set in motion either directly or indirectly by the movement of the blades of the propellers. The method is that of Smith. Respondents do not avoid infringement of the method by varying the details of the apparatus by which they make use of it. Cochrane v. Deener, , 788; Tilghman v. Proctor, 102 U.S. 707, 730, 731 S..

Reversed. Footnotes

[Footnote *] Rehearing denied 294 U.S. 732, 55 S.Ct. 514, 79 L.Ed. --.

Footnote 1 The patent has been extensively litigated. Claim 1 has been held valid and infringed in Buckeye Incubator Co. v. Wolf (D.C.) 291 F. 253, affirmed 296 F. 680 (C.C.A.6th); Buckeye Incubator Co. v. Cooley, 17 F.(2d) 453 (C.C.A.3rd); Miller Hatcheries, Inc., v. Buckeye Incubator Co., 41 F.( 2d) 619 (C.C.A.8th); Smith v. Jensma, 1 F.Supp. 999 (D.C.); Waxham v. Smith, 70 F.(2d) 457 (C.C.A.9th). It has been held valid, but not infringed, in Buckeye Incubator Co. v. Blum (D.C.) 17 F.(2d) 456, affirmed 27 F.(2d) 333 (C.C.A.6th); Buckeye Incubator Co. v. Petersime, 19 F.(2d) 721 (C.C.A.6th); Buckeye Incubator Co. v. Hillpot (D.C.) 22 F.(2d) 855, affirmed 24 F.(2d) 341 (C.C.A.3d); Boling v. Buckeye Incubator Co. (D.C.) 33 F.(2d) 347, reversed on other grounds, 46 F. (2d) 965 (C.C.A.6th); Snow v. Smith, 70 F.(2d) 564 (C.C.A.8th).

Footnote 2 Guerin, United States patent, No. 3,019, March 30, 1843; Bassini & Heyden, United States patent, No. 330,457, November 17, 1885; Van Keuren, United States patent, No. 1,160,793, November 16, 1915; Bell, United States patent, No. 691,837, January 28, 1902; Koons, United States patent, No. 916, 454, March 30, 1909.