Hoyt v. Horne

Bill by William J. Hoyt, individually and as administrator of John Hoyt, deceased, against John H. Horne for infringement of a patent. Decree below dismissing the bill. 35 Fed. Rep. 830. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

STATEMENT BY MR. JUSTICE BROWN.

This was a bill in equity for the infringement of letters patent No. 303,374, issued August 12, 1884, to John Hoyt, for a rag engine for paper making. 'This invention,' said the patentee in his specification, 'relates to engines for beating rags and similar fibrous material into pulp for the manufacture of paper. In these machines a beater roll set with knives around its periphery is used, in combination with a bedplate also set with knives, the said parts being placed in a tank or vessel in which a constant circulation of the material to be pulped is maintained.

'Heretofore ordinarily the material has been circulated horizontally around an upright partition termed a 'mid-fellow,' and the beater roll and bedplate have been placed in the alley or channel between this mid-fellow and one side of the tank. The beater roll lifted the material over a sort of dam, (termed a 'back fall,') and the material then flowed by the action of gravity around the mid-fellow and entered again between the beater roll and the bedplate. It has, however, been proposed to dispense with the mid-fellow, and have the material turned under the back-fall and bedplate. In either case, however, the circulating force is that of gravity due to the pilling up of the liquid or semiliquid on the side of the back-fall opposite from the beater roll. Cousequently the flow is comparatively feeble, and it is necessary to use a large quantity of water in order to prevent the fiber in suspension from depositing. In the present invention a much more rapid and vigorous circulation is maintained. The beater roll is placed at one end of the vat, which is of a depth sufficient to contain it, and the other part of the vat is divided by a horizontal partition or division, which extends from the beater roll nearly to the other end. The material to be pulped is carried around by the beater roll, and is delivered into the upper section above the partition. It flows over the partition, then passes down around the end of the same, and returns through the lower section of the vat to the beater roll. The bedplate is placed at the bottom of the vat under the beater roll. The beater roll not only draws in the material, creating a partial vacuum in the lower section of the vat, but delivers it into the upper section with considerable force, impelling it forward very rapidly. By the aid of this more rapid as well as more vigorous circulation not only is the material returned more quickly, and therefore acted upon more often by the beater roll in the same time, but it may be worked with a much less quantity of water, and thereby very important advantages may be secured. These advantages are-First, in the improved quality of the product, for when a considerable body of the fibrous material is drawn between the knives the different pieces are rubbed together, and thus disintegrated, without destroying the length and felting quality of the fiber, whereas when the pulp is thin the pieces are ground individually, as it were, between the knives, and the integrity of the fiber in large measure destroyed; secondly, in the greater quantity of pulp which can be prepared in a medium of given size, owing to the larger proportion of fibrous material in the charge; and, thirdly, in avoiding the liability of the fibrous material depositing out of the liquid and lodging in the channels. * * *

'The operation of the engine is as follows: The beater roll and bed plate knives being adjusted properly, the vat is filled with the rage or fibrous material to be pulped and the proper quantity of water. The beater roll being revolved at the proper speed,-say, for a roll four feet in diameter, at the speed of 120 revolutions per minute,-the rags and liquid are drawn between the knives, are carried up by the beater roll, and thrown over the edge of the plate, P. They flow around the partition, N, with considerable velocity, and return again and again to be acted upon by the knives. The roll is revolved until the pulp is properly reduced.

'Modifications may be made in details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and parts thereof can be separately used if desired.'

The claims alleged to have been infringed were as follows:

'(1) The improvement in beating rags to pulp in a rag engine having a beater roll and bedplate knives, consisting in circulating the fibrous material and liquid in vertical planes, drawing the same between the knives at the bottom of the vat, carrying it around and over the roll, and delivering it into the upper section of the vat, substantially as described.

'(2) A rag engine for paper making comprising the vat, the beater roll mounted on a horizontal shaft in one end of the vat, and the horizontal partition dividing the body of the vat into an upper and a lower section or passage, the fibrous material and liquid being carried from the lower section between the knives and delivered over the top of the beater roll into the upper section or passage, substantially as described.'

The device employed by the defendant was manufactured under letters patent No. 347,043, issued August 10, 1886, to John H. Horne, the defendant. With relation to the peculiar feature of his invention he stated in his specification as follows: 'One great difficulty hitherto in the construction of these engines, whatever may be the path of travel given to the material contained in them, consists in the fact that the various fibers or bunches of fiber, after being placed within the engine, maintain concentric paths of movement with respect to each other. Thus a piece of stock located near the sides of the tub, or one placed near the mid-fellow, will continue to travel in concentric paths until the engine is emptied, except in case manual labor is applied with a paddle to disturb their courses and compel them to deviate therefrom; hence it is obvious that the fiber traveling the more rapidly will be reduced more quickly, and the 'stuff' is of uneven quality. * * *

'The essential object of my invention is to effect a change in the course of the material in the engine automatically and obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the engine during each complete passage thereof around the tub, and thereby thoroughly mix the stock. Thus the particles which are nearest the mid-fellow in one passage about the tub, and which therefore traveled the fastest, are directed and changed obliquely across the engine prior to their passage about the roll, and hence they will emerge and are located near the side. Such stock will consequently travel the slowest during the next passage around the tub, since it remains contiguous to the retaining walls of the latter. This mixing and stirring of the material within the tub is effected primarily by the shape of the tub in cross section, the width of which is equal to the active face of the roll, or thereabouts, the latter located in one end thereof. Thus to effect the desired change in the path of movement of the stock the proportions of the tub are altered, and in cross section the two passages formed in the tub by the mid-fellow are twice as deep as they are wide, or thereabout. Again, the stock is permitted to fill the entire width of the engine just prior to its entrance beneath the roll, and also immediately after leaving the same; hence the mid-fellow terminates a short distance before reaching the roll, and the stock, as it approaches the latter, as before premised, is permitted to spread out and fill the entire width of the engine. * * * After the passage of the stock between the roll and the bedplate, the particles composing it are directed upon and over the backfall, which here extends entirely across the engine and in front of the roll, but contracts as it extends away from the latter, until it unites with the mid-fellow, whence it is continued down-ward between the latter and the side of the engine to the bottom of the tub. This contraction of one half its width again restores the mass of stock to a general vertical position, and the latter is so maintained until just prior to its return passage beneath the roll. Thus it will be evident that the fibers composing the material in process of being pulped cannot travel in continuous concentric paths of movement, but are changed and forced obliquely of the engine, whereby a thorough mixing of the stock is automatically effected by the spiral motion imparted to it both before and after leaving the roll.'

The case was heard in the circuit court upon pleadings and proofs, and a final decree entered dismissing the bill upon the ground that the defendant had not infringed the plaintiff's patent. 35 Fed. Rep. 830. From this decree the plaintiff appealed to this court.

A. Pollok and Philip Mauro, for appellant.

F. P. Fish, for appellee.

Mr. Justice BROWN, after stating the case in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.